Patent ID: 7856149

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a source generator configured to convert image information into digital image information; and an encoder coupled to the source generator, the encoder configured to receive the digital image information from the source generator and comprising: a parameter generator to output a final set of parameters, wherein the final set of parameters is determined to result in a compressed data bit rate below a selected threshold so that a decoder will not stop during playback, wherein the final set of parameters define quantization steps (Q-steps) for quantizing coefficients, a block size threshold that limits a number of blocks associated with one or more block sizes, one or more weighting functions that define weightings to be applied during quantization, and one or more variable length coding tables to be applied during variable length coding; and an image compressor coupled to the parameter generator, the image compressor to compress the digital image information using the final set of parameters, wherein the encoder outputs the compressed digital information.