Overview of the basic principles of the Q-Coder adaptive binary arithmetic coder

The Q-Coder is a new form of adaptive binary arithmetic coding. The binary arithmetic coding part of the technique is derived from the basic concepts introduced by Rissanen, Pasco, and Langdon, but extends the coding conventions to resolve a conflict between optimal software and hardware implementations. A robust form of probability estimation is used in which the probability estimate is derived solely from the interval renormalizations that are part of the arithmetic coding process. A tutorial of arithmetic coding concepts is presented, followed by a discussion of the compatible optimal hardware and software coding structures and the estimation of symbol probabilities from interval renormalization.