'Encode a single byte.'

def _encode_byte(self, byte):

    quotient = ((byte // 4) + ord('0'))
    remainder = (byte % 4)
    ch = np.array([(quotient + remainder), quotient, quotient, quotient], dtype='int32')
    check = True
    while check:
        check = False
        for x in self._EXCLUDE:
            for j in [0, 2]:
                if ((ch[j] == x) or (ch[(j + 1)] == x)):
                    ch[j] += 1
                    ch[(j + 1)] -= 1
                    check = True
    return ch
