This chapter is devoted to the exposition of a complete video coding system, which is based on coding of three dimensional (wavelet) subbands with the SPIHT (set partitioning in hierarchical trees) coding algorithm. The SPIHT algorithm, which has proved so successful in still image coding, is also shown to be quite effective in video coding, while retaining its attributes of complete embeddedness and scalability by fidelity and resolution. Three-dimensional spatio-temporal orientation trees coupled with powerful SPIHT sorting and refinement renders 3D SPIHT video coder so efficient that it provides performance superior to that of MPEG-2 and comparable to that of H.263 with minimal system complexity. Extension to color-embedded video coding is accomplished without explicit bit-allocation, and can be used for any color plane representation. In addition to being rate scalable, the proposed video coder allows multiresolution scalability in encoding and decoding in both time and space from one bit-stream. These attributes of scalability, lacking in MPEG-2 and H.263, along with many desirable features, such as full embeddedness for progressive transmission, precise rate control for constant bit-rate (CBR) traffic, and low-complexity for possible software-only video applications, makes the proposed video coder an attractive candidate for for multi-media applications. Moreover, the codec is fast and efficient from low to high rates, obviating the need for a different standard for each rate range.

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We address multiresolutional encoding and decoding within the embedded zerotree wavelet (EZW) framework for both images and video. By varying a resolution parameter, one can obtain decoded images at different resolutions from one single encoded bitstream, which is already rate scalable for EZW coders. Similarly one can decode video sequences at different rates and different spatial and temporal resolutions from one bitstream. Furthermore, a layered bitstream can be generated with multiresolutional encoding, from which the higher resolution layers can be used to increase the spatial/temporal resolution of the images/video obtained from the low resolution layer. In other words, we have achieved full scalability in rate and partial scalability in space and time. This added spatial/temporal scalability is significant for emerging multimedia applications such as fast decoding, image/video database browsing, telemedicine, multipoint video conferencing, and distance learning.