Patent US 5,481,308

A method of coding a set of multi- level signals, such as video signals comprises filtering the set of multi-level signals into one or more sets of multi-level sub-band signals; allocating a first quantity of bits for use in coding a first set of sub-band signals; coding the first set of multi-level sub-band signals using zero or more of the first quantity of allocated bits; allocating a second quantity of bits for use in coding a second set of sub-band signals, the second quantity of bits comprising zero or more of the first quantity of bits not used in coding the first set of multi-level sub-band signals; and coding the second set of multi-level sub-band signals using zero or more of the second quantity of allocated bits. Three examples of the method am provided. A hardware implementation involving the use of digital signal processors operating in parallel is also provided.