Processing a multi-layer video stream

A video decoder comprising:

• a stream receiver to coordinate receipt of first and second packet sub-streams corresponding to first and second layers of a multi-layer video stream, each packet of the first and second packet sub-streams comprising a header and a data payload, the first packet stream being identified via a first packet identifier indicated in the header and the second packet stream being identified via a second packet identifier indicated in the header, the first and second packet sub-streams being received as part of a transport stream;
• a stream generator to receive the first and second packet sub-streams and to generate a joint elementary packet stream, the joint elementary packet stream comprising a sequence of packets comprising data for both the first and the second layers, a payload of the joint elementary packet stream comprising a sequence of network abstraction layer units for the first layer concatenated with a sequence of network abstraction layer units for the second layer;
• a first layer decoder to receive the joint elementary packet stream generated by the stream generator and to output a decoding of the data for the first layer within the joint elementary packet stream;
• a second layer decoder to receive the joint elementary packet stream generated by the stream generator and to output a decoding of the data for the second layer within the joint elementary packet stream, the second layer decoder being different to the first layer decoder;
• and
• a multi-layer controller to combine an output of the first layer decoder and an output of the second layer decoder to provide a multi-layer reconstruction of a video signal.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions which when executed cause a processor to perform the following operations:

• receiving a first packet sub-stream for the first layer, each packet of the first packet sub-stream comprising a header and a data payload, the first packet sub-stream being identified via a first packet identifier indicated in the header and being received as part of a transport stream;
• receiving a second packet sub-stream for the second layer, each packet of the second packet sub-stream comprising a header and a data payload, the second packet sub-stream being identified via a second packet identifier indicated in the header and being received as part of the transport stream;
• joining packets from the first packet sub-stream and the second packet sub-stream to generate a joint elementary packet stream, the joint elementary packet stream comprising a sequence of packets comprising data for both the first layer and the second layer, a payload of the joint elementary packet stream comprising a sequence of network abstraction layer units for the first layer concatenated with a sequence of network abstraction layer units for the second layer;
• providing the joint elementary packet stream to a first layer decoder for decoding of the data for the first layer within the joint elementary packet stream;
• providing the joint elementary packet stream to a second layer decoder for decoding of at least the data for the second layer within the joint elementary packet stream, wherein the first layer decoder differs from the second layer decoder;
• and
• combining an output of the first layer decoder and an output of the second layer decoder to provide a multi-layer reconstruction of a video signal.