Efficient significant coefficients coding in scalable video codecs

1. A device comprising:

a processing circuit configured to execute a first set of instructions operative to generate initialization tables for a current frame or slice, the initialization tables having statistics of a significant coefficient pass for a previous encoded frame or slice using scalable video coding, wherein the statistics in the initialization tables are defined by an index, and wherein the processing circuit is further configured to execute a second set of instructions operative to limit the index to one of 0 and scanIndex, wherein scanIndex defines a starting scan position index of the significant coefficient pass; and

a transmitter to transmit the initialization tables with the current frame or slice to a decoder.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the initialization tables includes a variable length coding (VLC) table, an End of Block (EOB) shift table and a special EOB (sEOB) shift table.

3. The device of claim 2 , wherein the processing circuit is further configured to execute a third set of instructions where after cycle 0 , the VLC table is not updated for the index equal to 0.

4. The device of claim 1 , wherein the initialization tables are for luminance only.

5. The device of claim 1 , wherein the initialization tables are for luminance and chrominance.

6. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the device is a cellular phone, wireless device, handset, wireless communications device, a video game console, a wirelessly-equipped personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop computer, or a video-enabled device.

7. An integrated circuit comprising:

a processing circuit configured to execute a first set of instructions operative to generate initialization tables for a current frame or slice, the initialization tables having statistics of a significant coefficient pass for a previous encoded frame or slice using scalable video coding, wherein the statistics in the initialization tables are defined by an index, and wherein the processing circuit is further configured to execute a second set of instructions operative to limit the index to one of 0 and scanIndex, wherein scanIndex defines a starting scan position index of the significant coefficient pass; and

a transmitter to transmit the initialization tables with the current frame or slice to a decoder.

8. The integrated circuit of claim 7 , wherein the initialization tables includes a variable length coding (VLC) table, an End of Block (EOB) shift table and a special EOB (sEOB) shift table.

9. The integrated circuit of claim 8 , wherein the processing circuit is further configured to execute a third set of instructions where after cycle 0 , the VLC table is not updated for the index equal to 0.

10. The integrated circuit of claim 8 , wherein the initialization tables are for luminance, chrominance or both the luminance and the chrominance.

11. A device comprising:

generating means for generating initialization tables for a current frame or slice, the initialization tables having statistics of a significant coefficient pass for a previous encoded frame or slice using scalable video coding, wherein the statistics in the initialization tables are defined by an index, and wherein the generating means is also configured to limit the index to one of 0 and scanIndex, wherein scanIndex defines a starting scan position index of the significant coefficient pass; and

transmitting means for transmitting the initialization tables with the current frame or slice to a decoder.

12. The device of claim 11 , wherein the initialization tables includes a variable length coding (VLC) table, an End of Block (EOB) shift table and a special EOB (sEOB) shift table.

13. The device of claim 12 , wherein the initialization tables are for luminance, chrominance or both the luminance and the chrominance.

14. A computer program product including a non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions for causing a computer to:

generate initialization tables for a current frame or slice, the initialization tables having statistics of a significant coefficient pass for a previous encoded frame or slice using scalable video coding, wherein the statistics in the initialization tables are defined by an index;

limit the index to one of 0 and scanIndex, wherein scanIndex defines a starting scan position index of the significant coefficient pass; and

transmit the initialization tables with the current frame or slice to a decoder.

15. The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein the initialization tables includes a variable length coding (VLC) table, an End of Block (EOB) shift table and a special EOB (sEOB) shift table.

16. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the initialization tables are for luminance, chrominance or both the luminance and the chrominance.

17. A method comprising:

encoding a current frame or slice using scalable video coding;

generating initialization tables for the current frame or slice, the initialization tables having statistics of a significant coefficient pass for a previous encoded frame or slice using the scalable video coding, wherein the statistics in the initialization tables are defined by an index;

limiting the index to one of 0 and scanIndex, wherein scanIndex defines a starting scan position index of the significant coefficient pass; and

transmitting the initialization tables with the current frame or slice to a decoder.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the transmitting includes transmitting a variable length coding (VLC) table, an End of Block (EOB) shift table and a special EOB (sEOB) shift table in the initialization tables.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the transmitting includes transmitting a variable length coding (VLC) table, an End of Block (EOB) shift table and a special EOB (sEOB) shift table in the initialization tables for luminance, chrominance or both luminance and chrominance.

20. The method of claim 17 , further comprising:

decoding by the decoder the current frame or slice using the transmitted initialization tables.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the decoding includes decoding by the decoder the current frame or slice using default tables residing at the decoder.