Hierarchical coding involving partitioning child level coefficients based on the partitioning of the parent level

摘要

Systems and methods for coding data, particularly image data such as video data, are described. The invention relates to a method of hierarchical coding in which data is coded into at least parent and child coding levels and the parent and child levels are both quantized. The method comprises partitioning the coefficients of the parent coding level, partitioning the child level based on the parent level, and independently assigning coding parameters to each portion of the child level. The coding parameters may be quantization parameters and the partitioning of the parent level may be based on the quantized coefficients of the parent level. The parent level may be communicated to a decoder prior to the child level. The partitioning of the child level can therefore be deduced at the decoder based on the partitioning of the parent level.