Patent ID: 7840403

Claim:
In a computer system that implements an audio decoder, a method of decoding data comprising plural encoded vectors, the method comprising: decoding, by the computer system that implements the audio decoder, a first code, wherein the decoding the first code comprises: receiving the first code; looking up the first code in a first code table in a group of plural code tables; determining whether the first code is an escape code from the first code table; if the first code is the escape code from the first code table: receiving a second code, wherein the second code is not included in the first code table; and decoding the second code; if the first code is not the escape code from the first code table: looking up a first vector, having a first number of plural symbols, in the first code table, wherein the first vector is associated with the first code in the first code table; and including the first number of plural symbols of the first vector in a decoded data stream; wherein sum of values of the first number of plural symbols is a basis for whether the first code is the escape code or not the escape code from the first code table, wherein the second code is associated in a second code table with a second vector that has a second number of symbols, and wherein the first number of plural symbols differs from the second number of symbols by a factor of 2.