Patent US 7,961,965

An apparatus for transmitting multimedia, the apparatus including an image compression unit for compressing an image portion of a multimedia data frame, an audio compression unit for compressing an audio portion of the multimedia frame, a bit rate manager in communication with said image compression unit, and said audio compression unit for controlling frame flow, and a merger unit in communication with each of said image compression unit and said audio compression unit for merging a compressed image portion and a compressed audio portion into a single compressed multimedia frame, wherein the image compression unit utilizes multidimensional hierarchical categorization trees to compress said image portion, and wherein the multidimensional hierarchical categorization trees examine pixel blocks that are structurally similar to a reference block, and organize pixel blocks in a hierarchical manner.