Patent ID: 6990246
Filing Date: 2006-01-24
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
1. An image coding method comprising generating an ordered sequence of coded image data, the sequence beginning with coded data representative of an area of the image having high importance, and ending with coded data representative of an area of the image having lower importance, wherein the image is one of a sequence of images, the image is compared to a reference image determined using preceding images of the sequence and the coding method is used to code differences between the image and the reference image in a coding loop, wherein when an image is coded to a lower resolution than an immediately preceding image, on adding the image to the reference image, artefacts at high resolution in the reference image are removed by setting the higher resolution data to zero so that the resolution of the reference image corresponds to the resolution of the image that was coded, thereby allowing the amount of data which is used to represent the coded images to be increased or decreased, to adjust the amount of coded data to match an available bandwidth.