Patent ID: 7006575

Claim:
A picture decoding and coding apparatus comprising: a picture coding apparatus including a picture coding unit operable to code pictures and provide a picture identifier for each picture as an I, P or B picture, a priority providing unit operable to correlate each coded picture with a priority identifier which is independent of the picture identifier, and a transmission control unit operable to transmit or store the coded pictures with the priority identifiers, and a picture decoding apparatus including a reception control unit operable to receive or read the coded pictures, and a picture decoding unit operable to decode the coded pictures with the priority identifiers, wherein each priority identifier is used by the picture decoding apparatus to determine whether each picture should be processed or not be processed according to a processing capacity of the picture decoding apparatus, and each priority identifier is used independently of the picture identifiers and independently of whether the picture is an I, P or B picture.