PREDICTION APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR IMPROVING CODING EFFICIENCY IN SCALABLE VIDEO CODING

A prediction method, merged method, has been introduced in the enhancement layer of a multiple layer video coding. This merged method was designed to efficiently handle the prediction of the non moving parts in coding of the enhancement layer VOP or frame. All the information for this merged mode prediction is obtained from the base layer, and no additional side information is transmitted. This prediction mode when used together with combination of the existing forward mode, backward mode, and interpolated mode, can improve the coding efficiency for enhancement layer video coding, especially in low bit rate coding. The method can be used in most multiple layer video coding schemes, especially in spatial scalability video coding.