The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 13, 1998
Filed:
Nov. 03, 1994
Xiancheng Yuan, Bedford, MA (US);
Matthew M Bace, Arlington, MA (US);
PictureTel Corporation, Andover, MA (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for providing a flexible and scalable videoconferencing system for use in connection with a network provides for scalably encoding an image sequence for transmission onto the network. The encoding enables the encoded image sequence to be decoded at any one of at least two spatial resolutions and any one of at least two frame rates. The decoder, depending upon the computing platform, its resources, speed, and efficiencies, can select to decode the received image at any of the available spatial resolutions and at any of the available frame rates. A lower spatial resolution and/or a lower frame rate require less computing resources. Multiple received image sequences can be decoded simultaneously, at, for example, a lowest resolution. The decoded images can be displayed for viewing on the computer monitor at the desired spatial resolution level and frame rate.