Encoder, decoder and method employing palette compression

1. A method of encoding input data to generate corresponding encoded data, wherein the method includes:

(i) encoding the input data, using at least one palette, into a plurality of symbols in the encoded data, wherein the plurality of symbols represent data as defined by the input data and the at least one palette, and each palette of the at least one palette includes a respective set of palette entry values and a corresponding set of indices, each index in the corresponding set of indices associated with a corresponding palette entry value of the respective set of palette entry values; and

(ii) compressing, for each palette of the at least one palette, the respective set of palette entry values into a corresponding compressed palette in a lossless manner for inclusion into the encoded data, wherein the corresponding compressed palette includes the respective set of palette entry values in compressed form, without the corresponding set of indices, arranged according to a specific order in a consecutively adjacent manner within the encoded data, the specific order allowing a decoder device to deduce the corresponding set of indices associated with the respective set of palette entry values, wherein the compressing comprises: compressing a plurality of channels of the palette, wherein the corresponding compressed palette includes, for each channel of the plurality of channels, a corresponding set of channel entry values in compressed form, without the corresponding set of indices, arranged according to a specific order in a consecutively adjacent manner within the encoded data, and wherein the encoded data includes availability data indicative of combinations of channel entry values used to encode the input data.

2. The method of claim 1 , characterized in that the method includes generating the corresponding compressed palette in a dynamically changing format depending upon content or data structure present in the input data, during encoding of the input data.

3. The method of claim 1 , characterized in that the availability information is represented by way of at least one of: ordinal numbers of used or unused combinations, bits.

4. A method of decoding encoded data to generate corresponding decoded data, wherein the method includes:

decompressing each compressed palette of at least one compressed palette included in the encoded data to determine a respective set of palette entry values, each compressed palette including the respective set of palette entry values in compressed form, without the corresponding set of indices, arranged according to a specific order in a consecutively adjacent manner within the encoded data, wherein the compressed palette includes a plurality of channels and the corresponding compressed palette includes, for each channel of the plurality of channels, a corresponding set of channel entry values in compressed form, without the corresponding set of indices, arranged according to a specific order in a consecutively adjacent manner within the encoded data, and wherein the encoded data includes availability data indicative of combinations of channel entry values to be used to decode the encoded data;

deducing, for each compressed palette of the at least one compressed palette, based on the specific order of the respective set of palette entry values, the corresponding set of indices, wherein for each compressed palette of the at least one compressed palette a corresponding decompressed palette is defined using the respective set of palette entry values and the deduced corresponding set of indices; and

employing at least one decompressed palette to decode a plurality of symbols in the encoded data to generate the decoded data, the plurality of symbols representing data defined by input data.

5. The method of claim 4 , characterized in that the method includes generating the decompressed palette in a dynamically changing format during decoding of the encoded data.

6. The method of claim 1 , characterized in that the availability information is represented by way of at least one of: ordinal numbers of used or unused combinations, bits.

7. An encoder device, including a memory and at least one processor, for encoding input data to generate corresponding encoded data, wherein the encoder device is operable to:

encode, using at least one palette, the input data into a plurality of symbols in the encoded data, wherein the plurality of symbols represent data as defined by the input data and the at least one palette, and each palette of the at least one palette includes a respective set of palette entry values and a corresponding set of indices, each index in the corresponding set of indices associated with a corresponding palette entry value of the respective set of palette entry values; and

compress, for each palette of the at least one palette, the respective set of palette entry values into a corresponding compressed palette in a lossless manner for inclusion into the encoded data, wherein the corresponding compressed palette includes the respective set of palette entry values in compressed form, without the corresponding set of indices, arranged according to a specific order in a consecutively adjacent manner within the encoded data, the specific order allowing a decoder device to deduce the corresponding set of indices associated with the respective set of palette entry values, wherein the compressing comprises: compressing a plurality of channels of the palette, wherein the corresponding compressed palette includes, for each channel of the plurality of channels, a corresponding set of channel entry values in compressed form, without the corresponding set of indices, arranged according to a specific order in a consecutively adjacent manner within the encoded data, and wherein the encoded data includes availability data indicative of combinations of channel entry values used to encode the input data.

8. The encoder device of claim 7 , characterized in that the encoder device is operable to generate the corresponding compressed palette in a dynamically changing format depending upon content or data structure present in the input data, during encoding of the input data.

9. The encoder device of claim 8 , characterized in that the availability information is represented by way of at least one of: ordinal numbers of used or unused combinations, bits.

10. A decoder device, including a memory and at least one processor, for decoding encoded data to generate corresponding decoded data, wherein the decoder device is operable to:

decompress each compressed palette of at least one compressed palette included in the encoded data to determine a respective set of palette entry values, each compressed palette including the respective set of palette entry values in compressed form, without the corresponding set of indices, arranged according to a specific order in a consecutively adjacent manner within the encoded data, wherein the compressed palette includes a plurality of channels and the corresponding compressed palette includes, for each channel of the plurality of channels, a corresponding set of channel entry values in compressed form, without the corresponding set of indices, arranged according to a specific order in a consecutively adjacent manner within the encoded data, and wherein the encoded data includes availability data indicative of combinations of channel entry values to be used to decode the encoded data;

deduce, for each compressed palette of the at least one compressed palette, based on the specific order of the respective set of palette entry values, the corresponding set of indices, wherein for each compressed palette of the at least one compressed palette a decompressed palette is defined using the respective set of palette entry values and the deduced corresponding set of indices; and

employ at least one decompressed palette to decode a plurality of symbols in the encoded data to generate the decoded data, the plurality of symbols representing data as defined by input data.

11. The decoder device of claim 10 , characterized in that the decoder device is operable to generate the decompressed palette in a dynamically changing format during decoding of the encoded data.

12. The decoder device of claim 10 , characterized in that the availability information is represented by way of at least one of: ordinal numbers of used or unused combinations, bits.

13. A codec device including:

at least one encoder device including a first memory and at least one first processor, and at least one decoder device including a second memory and at least one second processor, the at least one encoder device for encoding input data to generate corresponding encoded data, wherein the at least one encoder device is operable to:

encode, using at least one palette, the input data into a plurality of symbols in the encoded data, wherein the plurality of symbols represent data as defined by input data and the at least one palette, and each palette of the at least one palette includes a respective set of palette entry values and a corresponding set of indices, each index in the corresponding set of indices associated with a corresponding palette entry value of the respective set of palette entry values; and

compress, for each palette of the at least one palette, the respective set of palette entry values into a corresponding compressed palette of at least one compressed palette in a lossless manner for inclusion into the encoded data, wherein the corresponding compressed palette includes the respective set of palette entry values in compressed form, without the corresponding set of indices, arranged according to a specific order in a consecutively adjacent manner within the encoded data, the specific order allowing the at least one decoder device to deduce the index values of a the corresponding set of indices,

the at least one decoder device for decoding the encoded data to generate corresponding decoded data, wherein the at least one decoder device is operable to:

decompress, for each palette of the at least one palette, the corresponding compressed palette of the at least one compressed palette included in the encoded data to determine the respective set of palette entry values;

deduce, for each palette of the at least one palette, based on the specific order of the respective set of palette entry values, the corresponding set of indices, wherein for each palette of the at least one palette a decompressed palette is defined using the respective set of palette entry values and the deduced corresponding set of indices; and

employ the at least one palette to decode the plurality of symbols in the encoded data to generate the decoded data, the plurality of symbols representing the data defined by the input data,

wherein the compressing comprises: compressing a plurality of channels of the palette, wherein the corresponding compressed palette includes, for each channel of the plurality of channels, a corresponding set of channel entry values in compressed form, without the corresponding set of indices, arranged according to a specific order in a consecutively adjacent manner within the encoded data, and wherein the encoded data includes availability data indicative of combinations of channel entry values used to encode the input data, and the decoder device is operable to use the availability data to decode the encoded data.

14. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable instructions stored thereon, the computer-readable instructions being executable by a computerized device comprising processing hardware to execute a method comprising:

encoding, using at least one palette, input data to generate corresponding encoded data comprising a plurality of symbols, wherein the plurality of symbols represent data as defined by input data and the at least one palette, and each palette of the at least one palette includes a respective set of palette entry values and a corresponding set of indices, each index in the corresponding set of indices associated with a corresponding palette entry value of the respective set of palette entry values; and

compressing, for each palette of the at least one palette, the respective set of palette entry values into a corresponding compressed palette in a lossless manner for inclusion into the encoded data, wherein the corresponding compressed palette includes the respective set of palette entry values in compressed form, without the corresponding set of indices, arranged according to a specific order in a consecutively adjacent manner within the encoded data, the specific order allowing a decoder device to deduce the corresponding set of indices associated with the respective set of palette entry values, wherein the compressing comprises: compressing a plurality of channels of the palette, wherein the corresponding compressed palette includes, for each channel of the plurality of channels, a corresponding set of channel entry values in compressed form, without the corresponding set of indices, arranged according to a specific order in a consecutively adjacent manner within the encoded data, and wherein the encoded data includes availability data indicative of combinations of channel entry values used to encode the input data.

15. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable instructions stored thereon, the computer-readable instructions when executed by one or more processors cause the one or more processors to:

decompress each compressed palette of at least one compressed palette included in the encoded data to determine a respective set of palette entry values, each compressed palette including the respective set of palette entry values in compressed form, without the corresponding set of indices, arranged according to a specific order in a consecutively adjacent manner within the encoded data, wherein the compressed palette includes a plurality of channels and the corresponding compressed palette includes, for each channel of the plurality of channels, a corresponding set of channel entry values in compressed form, without the corresponding set of indices, arranged according to a specific order in a consecutively adjacent manner within the encoded data, and wherein the encoded data includes availability data indicative of combinations of channel entry values to be used to decode the encoded data;

deduce, for each compressed palette of the at least one compressed palette, based on the specific order of the respective set of palette entry values, the corresponding set of indices, wherein for each compressed palette of the at least one compressed palette a decompressed palette is defined using the respective set of palette entry values and the deduced corresponding set of indices; and employ at least one decompressed palette to decode a plurality of symbols in the encoded data to generate the decoded data, the plurality of symbols representing data as defined by input data.