Patent ID: 8358701

Claim:
A method of varying a decode resolution of a video signal during decoding, the method comprising: decoding, using a processor, a first portion of a video signal at a first resolution to generate a first portion of an output signal; caching, during said decoding the first portion of the video signal, reference pictures associated with the video signal that have been decoded at the first resolution, the cached reference pictures to be used for decoding subsequent pictures at the first resolution; determining, during said decoding the first portion of the video signal, a second resolution, different from the first resolution, at which a second portion of the video signal is to be decoded; identifying, using the processor in response to said determining the second resolution, a reference picture from the first portion of the video signal that is required to decode the second portion of the video signal; instead of re-decoding the identified reference picture at the second resolution, generating, by the processor, an instance of the identified reference picture at the second resolution at least in part by adjusting a cached instance of the identified reference picture that has been decoded at the first resolution; and decoding, using the processor and at least in part based on the instance of the identified reference picture that has been generated at the second resolution, the second portion of the video signal at the second resolution to generate a second portion of the output signal.