Patent ID: 7627037

Claim:
A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions encoded thereon for executing a computer process on a computer, the computer process comprising: scalably generating a plurality of layers of wavelet coefficients based on a plurality of frames of video data; scalably generating motion vector data associated with the plurality of layers; combining the motion vector data and the plurality of layers of wavelet coefficients into a plurality of coded video frames representing the plurality of frames of video data; selecting a motion vector coding mode with which to scalably generate the motion vector data; wherein the selecting operation comprises selecting one of: a half magnitude mode; a forward transmit/backward generate mode; a backward transmit/forward generate mode; and an inverse direction mode; wherein scalably generating motion vector data comprises: generating a plurality of motion vectors encoded at a plurality of motion levels of resolution, including a base level and at least one enhancement level; determining a switching bit rate, wherein at a bit rate below the switching bit rate a base motion vector at the base level of resolution is transmitted and at a bit rate above the switching bit rate a fine motion vector at an enhancement level of resolution is transmitted, and wherein the determining comprises applying a function of the form: arg ⁢ ⁢ min i ⁢ { D t ⁡ ( R - R Mi ) + D Mismatch ⁡ ( M , M i ) } ⁢ , ( 1 ≤ i ≤ n ) wherein M represents a given motion vector, M i represents a motion vector encoded at an ith motion level, i represents one of n motion levels, R represent a bit rate associated with M, R Mi represents a bit rate associated with M i , D t denotes a rate-distortion function, D Mismatch represents distortion caused by motion mismatch between M and M i .