Patent ID: 8213503

Claim:
A method of processing inter-layer residual video, the method comprising: with a computing device implements a video encoder, encoding inter-layer residual video to produce at least part of a bit stream of encoded for the inter-layer residual video, wherein the encoding includes processing plural macroblocks of a current picture of the inter-layer residual video, including, for a current macroblock of the plural macroblocks that is skipped: selecting a skip mode for the current macroblock that is skipped, wherein the skip mode is selected from among plural available skip modes, including; determining context information for each of one or more context macroblocks in the current picture around the current macroblock that is skipped; and determining the skip mode based upon the context information for the one or more context macroblocks; and using the selected skip mode for the current macroblock that is skipped; and outputting the at least part of the bit stream, wherein the bit stream of encoded data for the inter-layer residual video includes macroblock skip information indicating which of the plural macroblocks are skipped.