Digital video decompression system

A decoder for decoding compressed video signal, said compressed video signal being region specific encoded wherein respective regions are encoded with one of a plurality of coding algorithms and said region specific codes are variable length encoded, said decoder comprising:

• means for applying said compressed video signal;
• memory means for storing a plurality of frames of video signal;
• means coupled to said means for applying said compressed video signal and conditioning said memory means for storing compressed video signal representing at least one frame of a video image;
• variable length decoding means coupled to said memory means for variable length decoding said compressed video signal stored therein;
• region specific decoding means having inputs coupled to said variable length decoder and said memory means, for selectively decoding ones of said region specific codes responsive to said region specific codes;
• and
• means for coupling decoded video signal from said region specific decoding means to said memory means.

A decoder for decoding compressed video signal provided on average at a predetermined frame rate, said compressed video signal including a plurality of region specific code types, each of which is independently variable length encoded, said decoder comprising:

• an input port for applying said compressed video signal;
• a variable length decoder, coupled to said input port, for variable length decoding said plurality of region specific codes according to respective corresponding independent variable length codes;
• region specific decoding means coupled to said variable length decoder for decoding said region specific codes to generate frames of decoded video images on average at said predetermined frame rate;
• memory means for storing said generated frames of decoded video images;
• means for reading from said memory means, successively stored frames of decoded video images at said predetermined rate for display on an output device, and for repeating the readout of stored frames if said region specific decoding means fails to provide decoded frames of video images at said predetermined rate.

Decoding apparatus for decoding a video signal, encoded using region specific coding wherein parameters of the region specific codes, including region specific variables descriptive of pixel values in respective regions, are quantized with different numbers of bits according to the size of a particular coded region, said decoding apparatus comprising:

• means for applying said encoded video signal;
• means responsive to said encoded signal for determining region size values representative of the size of respective regions;
• means responsive to said encoded signal, for extracting region specific variables quantized according to the size of corresponding regions;
• means responsive to said extracted region specific variables and said region size values for requantizing said region specific variables parameters to values having like numbers of bits.