MULTILAYERED CODING SUPPORTS MIGRATION TO NEW STANDARDS

摘要

Initially a service provider makes content information available to the end user in a coding scheme with a base layer and an enhancement layer. The base layer is encoded in a conventional standard, the enhancement layer is encoded in an emerging standard. Later on, the content is made available entirely in the new standard. The end-user has decoder circuitry that selectively operates in one of multiple modes. In a first mode, the circuit operates as two decoders in parallel, one for each layer. In a second mode, the circuit operates as an emerging standard decoder. Therefore, the provider efficiently uses his/her channel capacity during and after the transition to the new standard.