Methods and devices for the transmission of scalable data

#This application is based on and hereby claims priority to PCT Application No. PCT/EP2005/056737 filed on Dec. 13, 2005 and German Application No. 10 2005 001 286.8 filed on Jan. 11, 2005, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

#The invention relates to methods and devices for the transmission of information in which basic information complementing the basic data are transmitted.

#In communication systems, messages are transmitted between transmitter and receiver. Radio communication systems are a specific example of communication systems. Here, messages comprising, for example, voice information, image information, video information, SMS (Short Message Service), MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) or other data, are transmitted with the aid of electromagnetic waves between transmitting and receiving radio station via a radio interface. Depending on the specific embodiment of the radio communication system, the radio stations here can be various types of subscriber-side radio stations or network-side radio devices such as base stations or radio access points. In a mobile radio communication system, at least some of the subscriber-side radio stations are mobile radio stations. The electromagnetic waves are emitted using carrier frequencies which lie in the frequency band provided for the respective system.

#These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the preferred embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:

#FIG. 1 shows an extract from a communication network;

#FIG. 2 shows symbolically the components of scalable data;

#Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout.

#The extract from a communication network shown in FIG. 1 comprises the transmitter STREAMING SERVER, a distributing station MANE (Media Aware Network Element) and the subscriber station MS in the form of a mobile telephone, the subscriber station LAPTOP in the form of a portable computer, and the subscriber station PDA in the form of a personal digital assistant. The connection between the transmitter STREAMING SERVER and the distributing station MANE is effected e.g. via the Internet. Between the distributing station MANE and the subscriber stations MS, LAPTOP and PDA, which receive the information transmitted by the transmitter STREAMING SERVER via radio, transmission can be effected via further devices.

#The transmitter STREAMING SERVER transmits video information in real time as scalable data, represented symbolically in FIG. 2. The scalable data is present at the transmitter end as the result of a coding of video information. This coding is preferably carried out by the transmitter STREAMING SERVER. The block in the bottom left corner of FIG. 2 corresponds to the basic information BASE. The other blocks, indicated by the variables T, B and S, correspond to the complementing information. The T axis running to the right indicates how many images are transmitted per unit of time, for example the first blocks on the right can correspond to a data rate of 7.5 fps (fps: frames per second), the second blocks on the right to a data rate of 15 fps and the third blocks on the right to a data rate of 30 fps. The S axis running vertically upward indicates how good the spatial resolution of the respective image is, i.e. how many pixels an image contains, for example the first blocks up may correspond to QCIF (Quarter Common Intermediate Format, corresponding to an image size of 176×144 pixels), the second blocks up to CIF (Common Intermediate Format, corresponding to an image size of 352×288 pixels), and the third blocks up to 4CIF (4 Times Common Intermediate Format, corresponding to an image size of 704×576 pixels). The B axis running toward the rear indicates the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of an image. Consequently, the temporal resolution of the video information increases to the right, the spatial resolution upwards and the signal-to-noise ratio to the rear. Each block in FIG. 2 contains the data which is needed for improving the visual quality by one level in a direction of the three scalability dimensions.