Patent ID: 7469012

Claim:
A decoder comprising: a preprocessor for transcoding a bitstream encoded with variable length coding to a bitstream encoded with fixed length coding, said preprocessor further comprising: an input bitstream decoder for receiving a portion of the bitstream encoded with variable length coding, said portion of the bitstream being associated with a particular picture and decoding a set of syntax elements from said portion of the bitstream encoded with variable length coding; and an output bitstream encoder for encoding the set of syntax elements from said portion of the bitstream associated with the particular picture to form the bitstream encoded with fixed length coding, prior to motion compensating the portion of the bitstream associated with the particular picture; and a decompression engine for decoding the bitstream encoded with fixed length coding, wherein decoding the bitstream with fixed length coding further comprises motion compensating the portion of the bitstream associated with the particular picture; and wherein the decoder receives the bitstream encoded with variable length coding from a communication medium.