Patent Document ID: 9818422
Application ID: 14473586
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A method for processing a signal, comprising: compressing, decompressing, or both compressing and decompressing, the signal in a processor, wherein the compressing step comprises processing the signal in the processor to generate encoded data, and the decompressing step comprises processing the encoded data in the processor to generate a reconstructed signal approximating the signal at one of two or more quality levels, wherein: the reconstructed signal is a base level reconstructed signal, or one of one or more enhancement level reconstructed signals; the base level reconstructed signal approximates the signal at a lowest of the two or more quality levels, and each subsequent one of the one or more enhancement level reconstructed signals approximates the signal at a higher one of the two or more quality levels than the base level reconstructed signal and any preceding one of the enhancement level reconstructed signals; the encoded data comprises three or more distinct data layers, including: a data layer required to generate the reconstructed signal only at a first one of the two or more quality levels, a data layer required to generate the reconstructed signal only at a second one of the two or more quality levels which is higher than the first one of the two or more quality levels, and a common data layer required to generate the reconstructed signal at the first one of the two or more quality levels and also required to generate the reconstructed signal at the second one of the two or more quality levels.