Error-resilient video compression through the use of multiple states

Video compression enables a number of applications by reducing the required bit rate needed to represent a video sequence, however the compressed video is much more susceptible to errors such as bit errors or packet loss. Conventional video compression standards employ an architecture which we refer to as single-state systems since they have a prediction loop with a single state (e.g. the previous decoded frame) which if lost or corrupted can lead to the loss or severe degradation of all subsequent frames until the state is reinitialized (the prediction is refreshed). We combat this problem of incorrect state and error propagation at the decoder by coding the video into multiple independently decodable streams, each with its own prediction process and state, such that if one stream is lost the other streams can still be used to produce usable video. The correctly received streams provide improved error concealment and, more importantly, enable faster state recovery for the lost stream. This approach is conceptually similar to multiple description coding, however it differs in the representation used for each description as well as its use of state recovery.