Patent ID: 8861587

Claim:
A method of coding a picture comprising N≧2 slices, said method comprising: generating, for each slice of said N slices, a coded slice representation based on pixel values of pixels in said slice; setting a slice flag associated with a first slice of said N slices to a first defined value; setting, for each slice of N−1 remaining slices of said N slices, a slice flag associated with said slice to a second defined value; generating, for each slice of said N−1 remaining slices, a slice address allowing identification of a position of a first coding unit of said slice within said picture; generating a coded picture representation of said picture comprising said N coded slice representations, said N−1 slice addresses and said N slice flags; and determining a length of said N−1 slice addresses in terms of number of bits as one of ceil (log 2 (P)) and ceil (log 2 (P−1)), wherein ceil( ) denotes the ceiling function defined as ceil(x)=┌x┐ and outputs the smallest integer not less than x, and P denotes a total number of possible slice addresses in said picture.