Patent ID: 8482758

Claim:
A method of processing a sequence of digital images during a coding process to provide a bit stream comprising compressed output images of at least two temporal hierarchy levels in accordance with a predetermined scalable format, wherein at least one output image of a higher temporal hierarchy level is computed using a transformation comprising a temporal prediction and filtering process with respect to at least one output image of a lower temporal hierarchy level, the method comprising: obtaining and storing original images; and generating output images, by the transformation of original images and/or intermediate images based on the original images, and/or output images, wherein the step of generating output images comprises reorganizing the order of said images for transformation in a first chosen order according to the output image which they are used to generate, enabling generation of said output image by the transformation as soon as the image or images of the lower temporal hierarchy level necessary for its generation are available and before transformation of the next images in said first chosen order for a next output image, so that the number of images to be stored simultaneously in a memory buffer, necessary for transformation by the transformation of the original images into output images, is minimal, said first chosen order being such that the processing intermingles images of different temporal hierarchy levels, the original images and/or intermediate images and/or output images being removed from the memory buffer as soon as the images are no longer necessary for any subsequent transformation by the transformation.