Experiments in real-time decoding of layered video

Adelson and Wang have proposed a video compression algorithm in which moving images are decomposed into layers whose motion can be represented by a six-parameter affine transformation. Such a representation not only adds compression efficiency but also enables modification and automated scene understanding. We have previously proposed a data-flow computational framework for a flexible video decoder capable of handling both `traditional' transform-based algorithms and model-based descriptions of scenes. In this paper, we explain how such an architecture can decode Adelson and Wang's algorithm, and present the performance results for several variations of the algorithm on a data-flow video processing system.