Decoder for a software-implemented end-to-end scalable video delivery system

A decoder for use with a video delivery system whose server provides an embedded bit stream, transmittable over at least one network, including information for at least two spatial resolutions wherein for at least one of said two spatial resolutions domain information provided has been vector quantized, the decoder including:

• a central processor unit coupled to a memory unit;
• a look-up table, stored in said memory unit, including preprocessed decoded versions of quantized indexable representations of frequency domain transforms of image data used by said server in creating codewords present in said embedded bit stream;
• means, operating under control of said central processor unit, for processing said information contained in said embedded bit stream;
• said means for processing decoding a first spatial resolution image by decompressing base layer data contained within said embedded bit stream;
• said means for processing further decoding a second, higher, spatial resolution image by decompressing said base layer data to obtain a first intermediate image that is up-sampled to yield a first up-sampled image to which is added decompressed error data in a first enhancement layer contained in said embedded bit stream;
• wherein said server encodes said embedded bit stream by performing a discrete cosine transform followed by tree-structured vector quantization, and
• wherein vector quantization is such that said means for processing can decode a viewable image from data in said embedded bit stream from received codewords containing less than a number of bits representing a full-length codeword.

A hardware-based decoder for use with a video delivery system whose server provides an embedded bit stream in pixel blocks including information for at least two spatial resolutions and transmittable over at least one network, the decoder including:

• a central processor unit coupled to a memory unit including a read-only memory;
• said read-only memory including preprocessed decoded versions of quantized indexable representations of inverse discrete cosine transforms of image data used by said server in creating codewords present in said embedded bit stream;
• said preprocessed decoded versions including at least information used to decode a first spatial resolution image by decompressing base layer data contained within said embedded bit stream;
• and information used to decode a second, higher, spatial resolution image by decompressing said base layer data to obtain a first intermediate image that is up-sampled to yield a first up-sampled image to which is added decompressed error data in a first enhancement layer contained in said embedded bit stream;
• wherein said server encodes said embedded bit stream by performing a discrete cosine transform followed by tree-structured quantization, and
• wherein said decoder can decode a viewable image from data in said embedded bit stream from received codewords containing less than a number of bits representing a full-length codeword.

A method of decoding information received by a decoder used with a video delivery system whose server provides an embedded bit stream in pixel blocks including information for at least two spatial resolutions and transmittable over at least one network, the method including the following steps:

• (a) providing a stored set of preprocessed decoded versions of quantized indexable representations of inverse discrete cosine transforms of image data used by said server in creating codewords present in said embedded bit stream;
• (b) processing said information in said embedded bit stream, including using information contained in said bit stream to index into said stored set of preprocessed decoded versions to decode a first spatial resolution image by decompressing base layer data contained within said embedded bit stream and to decode a second, higher, spatial resolution image by decompressing said base layer data to obtain a first intermediate image and up-sampling said first intermediate image to yield a first up-sampled image to which is added decompressed error data in a first enhancement layer contained in said embedded bit stream;
• wherein said server encodes said embedded bit stream by performing a discrete cosine transform followed by tree-structured quantization, and
• wherein said decoder can decode a viewable image from data in said embedded bit stream from received codewords containing less than a number of bits representing a full-length codeword.