Apparatus and method for recovery of quantization codes in a lossy transmission environment

• US 6,212,663 B1
• Filed: 07/06/1998
• Issued: 04/03/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 10/23/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Kondo, Tetsujiro, Carrig, James J., Fujimori, Yasuhiro, Ghosal, Sugata
• Primary Examiner(s): Tu, Trinh L.
• Application Number:
  US09/111,116
• Time in Patent Office: 1,002 Days
• Field of Search: 714/746, 714/752, 714/755, 714/758, 714/774, 714/779, 714/791, 714/795, 714/788, 714/787, 714/48, 714/49
• US Class Current: 714/779
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/59 involving spatial sub-sampling or interpolation, e.g. alteration of picture size or resolution
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/85 using pre-processing or post-processing specially adapted for video compression
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/88 involving rearrangement of data among different coding units, e.g. shuffling, interleaving, scrambling or permutation of pixel data or permutation of transform coefficient data among different blocks
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/89 involving methods or arrangements for detection of transmission errors at the decoder
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/895 in combination with error concealment
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/98 Adaptive-dynamic-range coding [ADRC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/426 Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof H04N5/44 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/21 Circuitry for suppressing or minimising disturbance, e.g. moiré or halo

Abstract

A system and method for decoding a signal comprising fixed-length data (FL-data) and variable length data (VL-data) is disclosed. In one embodiment, groups of fixed length data (FL-data) and blocks of variable length data (VL-data) are stored in a predetermined space. Each group of FL-data corresponds to a block of VL-data. The blocks of VL-data are retrieved by referencing corresponding groups of FL-data. In one embodiment, this system and method permits bidirectional recovery of data. In one embodiment, this is used in the transmission of video signals over a potentially lossy communications channel.

Claims

1. A method for decoding a signal comprising fixed-length data (FL-data) and variable length data (VL-data), said method comprising:

storing groups of fixed length data (FL-data) and blocks of variable length data (VL-data) in a predetermined space, each of the group of FL-data having a corresponding block of VL-data;

decoding sequentially in a first direction blocks of VL-data by referencing corresponding groups of FL-data; and

decoding sequentially in a second direction blocks of VL-data referencing corresponding groups of FL-data if an error is encountered in the decoding in the first direction.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein storing further comprises storing post-amble data in unused areas of the predetermined space, the post-amble data comprising a predetermined bit pattern.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein decoding in a first direction further comprises decoding starting at a beginning of the sequential blocks of VL-data and decoding towards an end of the sequential blocks of VL-data.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein decoding in a first direction continues until lost/damaged FL-data is encountered.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein decoding in a second direction further comprises decoding starting at an end of the sequential blocks of VL-data and decoding towards a beginning of the sequential blocks of VL-data.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein decoding in the second direction continues until lost/damaged FL-data is encountered.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein decoding in a second direction starts prior to a location of post-amble data, the post-amble data comprises a predetermined bit pattern delineating an end of the sequential blocks of VL-data.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

recovering an obstructed VL-data block, the obstructed VL-data block is between a VL-data block having an error found during decoding n the first direction and a VL-data block having an error found during decoding in the second direction.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

decoding sequentially the obstructed VL-data blocks by referencing corresponding groups of FL-data.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the VL-data represents video data.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the VL-data represents audio data.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein decoding in the first direction and decoding in the second direction are performed simultaneously.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

decoding VL-data blocks having errors by recovering damaged corresponding FL-data.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the decoding of VL-data blocks having errors is performed independently of decoding in a first direction and decoding in a second direction.

15. A system comprising:

a memory configured to store groups of fixed length data (FL-data) and blocks of variable length data (VL-data) in a predetermined space, each of the group of FL-data having a corresponding block of VL-data; and

a processor coupled to said memory, the processor configured to decode sequentially in a first direction said blocks of VL-data by referencing corresponding groups of FL-data and decode sequentially in a second direction blocks of VL-data referencing corresponding groups of FL-data if an error is encountered in the decode in the first direction.

16. The system of claim 15, the memory further configured to store post-amble data in unused areas of the predetermined space, wherein said post-amble data comprises a predetermined bit pattern.

17. The system of claim 15, the processor is further configured to decode in the first direction starting at a beginning of the sequential blocks of VL-data and to decode towards an end of the sequential blocks of VL-data.

18. The system of claim 15, the processor is further configured to decode in the first direction until lost/damaged FL-data is encountered.

19. The system of claim 15, the processor is further configured to decode in the second direction starting at an end of the sequential blocks of VL-data and decoding towards a beginning of the sequential blocks of VL-data.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the decode in the second direction continues until lost/damaged FL-data is encountered.

21. The system of claim 15, the processor further configured to decode the sequential blocks of VL-data starting prior to a location of post-amble data, the post-amble data comprises a predetermined bit pattern delineating the end of the sequential blocks of VL-data.

22. The system of claim 15, the processor further configured to recover an obstructed VL-data block, the obstructed VL-data block is between a VL-data block having an error found during decoding in the first direction and a VL-data block having an error found during decoding in the second direction.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the processor is further configured to decode sequentially the obstructed VL-data blocks by referencing corresponding groups of FL-data.

24. The system of claim 15, wherein the VL-data represents video data.

25. The system of claim 15, wherein the VL-data represents audio data.

26. The system of claim 15 wherein the processor is further configured to decode in the first direction and decode in the second direction simultaneously.

27. The system of claim 15 wherein the processor is further configured to decode VL-data blocks having errors by recovering damaged corresponding FL-data.

28. The system of claim 27 wherein the processor is further configured to decode VL-data blocks having errors independently of the decode in a first direction and the decode in a second direction.

29. A computer readable medium containing executable instructions which, when executed in a processing system, cause the system to decode a signal comprising fixed-length data (FL-data) and variable length data (VL-data), said system performing the steps of:

storing groups of fixed length data (FL-data) and blocks of variable length data (VL-data) in a predetermined space, each of the group of FL-data having a corresponding block of VL-data;

decoding sequentially in a first direction blocks of VL-data by referencing corresponding groups of FL-data; and

decoding sequentially in a second direction blocks of VL-data by referencing corresponding groups of FL-data if an error is encountered in the decoding in the first direction.

30. The computer readable medium of claim 29, wherein storing further comprises storing post-amble data in unused areas of the predetermined space, the post-amble data comprising a predetermined bit pattern.

31. The computer readable medium of claim 29, wherein decoding in the first direction further comprises decoding starting at a beginning of the sequential blocks of VL-data and decoding towards an end of the sequential blocks of VL-data.

32. The computer readable medium of claim 29, the decoding in a first direction continues until lost/damaged FL-data is encountered.

33. The computer readable medium of claim 29, wherein decoding in a second direction further comprises decoding starting at an end of the sequential blocks of VL-data and decoding towards a beginning of the sequential blocks of VL-data.

34. The computer readable medium of claim 29, the decoding in the second direction continues until lost/damaged FL-data is encountered.

35. The computer readable medium of claim 29, wherein the decoding in the second directions starts prior to a location of post-amble data, the post-amble data comprises a predetermined bit pattern delineating an end of the sequential blocks of VL-data.

36. The computer readable medium of claim 29 further comprising:

recovering an obstructed VL-data block, the obstructed VL-data block is between a VL-data block having an error found during decoding in the first direction and a VL-data block having an error found during decoding in the second direction.

37. The computer readable medium of claim 36 further comprising:

decoding sequentially the obstructed VL-data blocks by referencing corresponding groups of FL-data.

38. The computer readable medium of claim 29, wherein the VL-data represents video data.

39. The computer readable medium of claim 29, wherein the VL-data represents audio data.

40. The computer readable medium of claim 29 wherein decoding in the first direction and decoding in the second direction are performed simultaneously.

41. The computer readable medium of claim 29 further comprising:

decoding VL-data blocks having errors by recovering damaged corresponding FL-data.

42. The computer readable medium of claim 41 wherein the decoding of VL-data blocks having errors is performed independently of decoding in a first direction and decoding in a second direction.

43. A system comprising:

means for storing groups of fixed length data (FL-data) and blocks of variable length data (VL-data) in a predetermined space, each of the group of FL-data having a corresponding block of VL-data;

means for decoding sequentially in a first direction said blocks of VL-data by referencing corresponding groups of FL-data; and

means for decoding sequentially in a second direction blocks of VL-data referencing corresponding groups of FL-data if an error is encountered in the decoding in the first direction.

44. The system of claim 43, wherein means for storing further comprises means for storing post-amble data in unused areas of said predetermined space, the post-amble data comprising a predetermined bit pattern.

45. The system of claim 43, wherein means for decoding in a first direction further comprises means for decoding starting at a beginning of the sequential blocks of VL-data and decoding towards an end of the sequential blocks of VL-data.

46. The system of claim 43, wherein means for decoding in a second direction further comprises means for decoding starting at an end of the sequential blocks of VL-data and decoding towards a beginning of the sequential blocks of VL-data.