VARIABLE LENGTH CODER WITH A SMALL TABLE SIZE

The invention described herein is a versatile variable length coder with a small table side. The size of the table was reduced by the use of a linked list of groups of like valued run-level code words for the code table, the effect of which is the ability to store and access the Huffman code words without reserving space for the holes in the Huffman tables. Traversing the linked list as the fixed length codes are input has the effect of eliminating the requirement that sequences of codes are run-level fixed length coded before being variable length coded. This simplifies encoder architectures and circuits. The result is the dramatic reduction in size of a programmable variable length coder, making them suitable for implementation in VLSI implementations of digital audio and video codecs.