Patent ID: 8401085

Claim:
A method of decoding a scalable video coded bitstream, comprising: checking whether a current picture of a current Network Abstraction Layer (NAL) unit is a quality base picture based on quality identification information, the quality identification information identifying an image quality for a NAL unit; checking whether the current NAL unit includes a reference picture; checking restriction flag information specifying whether or not a specific syntax for codec compatibility is restricted, the restriction flag information being extracted from the scalable video coded bitstream; obtaining base picture storing identification information from the scalable video coded bitstream, when the current picture of the current NAL unit is the quality base picture, the current NAL unit includes the reference picture and the restriction flag information specifies the specific syntax for codec compatibility is not restricted, the base picture storing identification information indicating whether to store the quality base picture as the reference picture; checking reference identification information specifying whether or not the quality base picture is used as a reference base picture; and marking the quality base picture as the reference picture and as a reference base picture based on the base picture storing identification information, the reference base picture being used for identifying the quality base picture, wherein the quality base picture is marked as the reference base picture when the reference identification information indicates the quality base picture is used as the reference base picture, and the base picture storing identification information indicates to store the quality base picture as the reference picture.