Patent ID: 7639882

Claim:
A moving-picture distribution system comprising: a moving-picture distribution apparatus, comprising: means for encoding a moving picture according to spatial resolution; means for encoding the moving picture according to signal-to-noise ratio (SNR); means for packetizing the encoded moving picture; means for generating a first packet group containing the moving picture encoded according to spatial resolution, the first packet group including a plurality of layers corresponding to different spatial resolutions of the moving picture; means for generating a second packet group containing the moving picture encoded according to SNR, the second packet group including a plurality of layers corresponding to different signal-to-noise ratios of the moving picture; and means for selectively transmitting a layer in the first packet group or a layer in the second packet group, selected in a message from a receiver terminal; a first receiver terminal, comprising: means for sending a first message to the moving-picture distribution apparatus selecting a first layer in the first packet group; means for receiving the selected first layer in the first packet group from the moving-picture distribution apparatus; and means for decoding the received first layer in the first packet group; and a second receiver terminal, comprising: means for sending a second message to the moving-picture distribution apparatus selecting a second layer in the second packet group; means for receiving the selected second layer in the second packet group from the moving-picture distribution apparatus; and means for decoding the received second layer in the second packet group, wherein the means for selectively transmitting transmits the selected first layer of the first packet group to the first receiver terminal, and transmits the selected second layer of the second packet group to the second receiver terminal.