Abstract: Coding is provided in which a multi-media object is coded to obtain a bit-stream, and quality information is added to the bit-stream, which quality information indicates a quality of the object in relation to a given position in (or a given part of) the bit-stream. By adding quality information to the bit-stream, jointly storing or transmitting multiple coded objects can be optimized in that the quality of the object can be easily taken into account.

Abstract: Coding is provided in which a multi-media object is coded to obtain a bit-stream, and quality information is added to the bit-stream, which quality information indicates a quality of the object in relation to a given position in (or a given part of) the bit-stream. By adding quality information to the bit-stream, jointly storing or transmitting multiple coded objects can be optimized in that the quality of the object can be easily taken into account.

Abstract: Multiple Description Coding (MDC) has been shown to be an effective technique for robust transmission of video data over networks including wireless systems and the Internet. A method is provided where the video signal (20) is interlaced and split into multiple streams before being encoded and transmitted over separate transmission channels (308, 310). At a receiver (320) side, de-interlacing algorithms may be applied and the streams are regrouped to form the original video signal (20). The use of interlacing and deinterlacing techniques improve the robustness of video transmission without having to modify existing equipment.

Abstract: A method, system and apparatus for improving network transmission efficiency using MDS and Fine Granular Spatial coding is disclosed. In accordance with the method, a video image is partitioned into a plurality of information item frames, each frame is independently layer encoded into a base layer and an enhancement layer, at least one channel of the communication is then selected, each of the base layers are associated with one of the selected communication channels, and each base layer is transmitted over the associated communication channel. In other aspect, a residual bandwidth is determined on each associated channel and a level of an associated enhancement layer comparable to the residual bandwidth is transmitted over the associated channel.

Abstract: A method and system for producing decoding the transmission of high-resolution images transmitted as a low resolution spatially scalable FGS encoded base layer and at least one enhancement layer is presented. The low resolution received base layer is representative of a downscaled image of the original image. In this manner, a minimum resolution base layer is transmitted and higher resolutions may be obtained and utilized depending on the available bandwidth and the receiving system resolution capability. In one aspect of the invention, the base layer is decoded and a quality enhancement is next applied to the base layer. The combined base layer and quality layer video frames are then upscaled and the upscaled image is combined with a decoded spatial enhancement layer information. The spatial enhancement layer information fills in resolution lacking in the upscaled base layer/quality layer image. Thus, a high resolution image is formed.

Abstract: Improved efficiency in transmission of FGS encoded video data is achieved by reducing the transmission of overhead information items necessary to decode the received video data. After establishing an initial or first set of criteria for selectively enhancing areas within an image, each subsequent transmission frame includes an indicator that informs a receiving system to decode the current frame using the previously established criteria. The initial criteria include shift factor values specifying selectively enhanced areas of an image; position, displacement vector, size and enhancement factor for at least one area of interest with in an image; and known fixed values contained at both the transmitting and receiving systems.

Abstract: A system and method is provided for combining advanced data partitioning and fine granularity scalability in the transmission of digital video signals. A partition unit 440 located in a base layer encoding unit 410 of a video encoder 400 partitions a base layer bit stream 310, 320 into a base layer first partition bit stream 310 and a base layer second partition bit stream 320. Each of the two base layer bit streams 310, 320 may be output directly or may be encoded before output. The two base layer bit streams 310, 320 may be encoded with a scalable encoder unit 442 or with a non-scalable encoder unit 444. Fine granularity scalability is improved by providing an extended base layer bit rate. The bit rate range for advanced data partitioning is also extended. The invention provides improved video coding efficiency, complexity scalability, and spatial scalability.

Abstract: A system and method is provided for digitally encoding video signals within an overcomplete wavelet video coder. Three dimensional morphological operations are used to identify clusters of significant wavelet coefficients. A video coding algorithm unit 365 locates significant wavelet coefficients across space and time. The video coding algorithm unit [365] also uses motion information to locate significant wavelet coefficients across space and time in a direction of motion. The lengths of a three dimensional structuring element [500] may be adaptively varied depending upon characteristics of the underlying video data. The invention increases coding efficiency and provides an increased quality of decoded video.

Abstract: A system and method is provided for digitally encoding video signals within an overcomplete wavelet video coder. A video coding algorithm unit locates significant wavelet coefficients in a first video frame and temporally predicts location information for significant wavelet coefficients in a second video frame using motion information. The video coding algorithm unit is also capable of receiving and using spatial prediction information from spatial parents of the second video frame. The invention combines temporal prediction with spatial prediction to obtain a joint spatio-temporal prediction. The invention also establishes an order for encoding clusters of significant wavelet coefficients. The invention increases coding efficiency and provides an increased quality of decoded video.

Abstract: This invention provides a system and method to dynamically adapt a wireless link retry limit in real-time according to channel conditions and workload intensity in order to maximize MAC throughput and minimize packet loss. In wireless local area networks (WLANs), such as IEEE 802.11b or a, packets can get lost due to either link error or interface queue overflow. Retry is deployed by a wireless link as a link error protection mechanism to reduce packet loss due to link error. However, an improper configuration of this retry limit (such as too high) may cause more packet loss due to queue overflow than link error. The retry-limit adaptation system and method of this invention strikes a balance between queue drops and link losses. Consequently, it achieves much better network performance in terms of a significant reduction of overall packet loss when compared with situations where the retry limit is statically configured, as recommended by the current standard.

Abstract: A multiple description coding method is applied to video, and optimized to preclude transmission to the decoder of mismatch correction information that applies to portions of a frame outside a region of interest. Additional bit efficiency is realized by selectively updating, based on video content, the weighting of prediction frames motion compensated from corresponding frames used in estimating a current frame. Frequency of update is adaptively determined based on the realized increased accuracy of prediction and concomitant residual image bit savings as compared, in tradeoff, with the need to more frequently transmit the updated weights to the receiver.

Abstract: A method for decoding a stream of data includes the steps of: identifying a relationship (100) between quality of a decoded image and a bit rate for decoding the image; selecting a desired quality (110) of images to be decoded from the stream of data; determining a bit rate (112) corresponding to the desired quality using the relationship; and decoding a minimum number of bit-planes corresponding to the determined bit rate from the stream of data.

Abstract: A receiver-driven streaming method is provided. The method includes receiving an original coded video stream from a transmitter 102 at a receiver 104. An available bit rate is measured at the receiver 104. A request for a different coded video stream and a switching stream is sent from the receiver 104 to the transmitter 102 based on the available bit rate. The requested switching stream is received from the transmitter 102 at the receiver 104. The requested coded video stream is received from the transmitter 102 at the receiver 104. According to one embodiment, switching streams 132a-132f are stored separately from coded video streams 130a-130c, and each switching stream 132a-132f and coded video stream 130a-130c is stored in a separate track from each other. In this way, switching streams 132a-132f maybe generated offline. Also, the receiver 104 controls the streams provided by the transmitter 102 by requesting specific switching streams 132a-132f and coded video streams 130a-103c.

Abstract: The invention discloses an apparatus and a method for receiving multiple media data streams, which are displayed in separate windows of a multi-window display. Clipping information relating to an area of one of the windows being covered by the other window is transmitted to a source device providing the media data being covered when displayed. As a viewer may not see the covered area, the media data relating to the covered area is not needed by the destination device. Therefore, the source device based on the clipping information does not transmit any media data needed for processing of the covered area to the destination device, which does not have to process all media data relating to the covered area.

Abstract: A so-called “Virtual Clock” with varying frequency is provided for used by a multimedia streaming server to adapt its transmission rate dynamically to changing network conditions. The “Virtual Clock” system and method of the present invention compensates for a potential limitation of the Internet Real-time Transmission Protocol (RTP), that stamps every packet it delivers with a timestamp and expects the server using this timestamp to schedule the transmission of this particular packet accordingly. Consequently, the transmission rate is pre-determined by the encoded multimedia content when RPT is used. Using the “Virtual Clock” of the present invention, the streaming server has a mechanism to overcome this RTP limitation and can conduct transmission rate adaptation in a way that can balance the bandwidth requirement of the content with the bandwidth availability of the network.

Abstract: Encoding and decoding methods and apparatuses are provided for encoding and decoding video frames. The encoding method (600) and apparatus (110) use motion compensated discrete cosine transform coding for the base layer and inband motion compensated temporal filtering in the overcomplete wavelet domain for the enhancement layer. The decoding method (700) and apparatus (118) use motion compensated discrete cosine transform decoding for the base layer and inverse motion compensated temporal filtering in the overcomplete wavelet domain for the enhancement layer.

Abstract: A system, method, and computer program product for fractal video coding, based on the circular prediction mapping (CPM) in overcomplete wavelet domain. According to the disclosed process, each range block [B] is approximated by a domain block [A] in circularly previous frame [Fn-1]. The size of the domain block is made larger than that of the range block using a complete-to-overcomplete transform [FIG. 2], which provides faster convergence speed compared to the conventional CPM algorithm that uses the same domain block size. However, high temporal correlation is very well exploited between the adjacent frames, since the extended reference [210] is generated by shifting the original image [202] and hence retains the high temporal correlation to the range blocks. Furthermore, the preferred embodiment provides a spatial scalability.

Abstract: A system and method is provided for switching between multiple description coding and scalable coding that is dependent on the network characteristics and uses forward error correction (FEC) and scalable or prioritized video.

Abstract: Encoding and decoding methods and apparatuses are provided for encoding and decoding video frames. The encoding method (700) and apparatus (110) use three dimensional lifting in an overcomplete wavelet domain to compress video frames. The decoding method (800) and apparatus (118) also use three dimensional lifting in the overcomplete wavelet domain to decompress the video frames.

Abstract: A method and system for dynamically selectively enhancing desired area or areas of a video image which are FGS encoded. The method comprising the steps of determining at least one of the FGS encoded macroblocks in each of the FGS encoded bit-planes associated with the desired area or portion of the video image, determining an order of transmission of each of the determined FGS encoded macroblocks within the transmission sequence and advancing each of the determined FGS encoded macroblocks in the transmission sequence order corresponding to a known level of enhancement, wherein the advanced FGS encoded macroblocks are contained in a bit-plane having a higher transmission priority. In one aspect of the invention, the desired area may be selected by interactively by a user. In another aspect, the desired area or areas may be selected automatically.