System, method and computer readable medium for providing visual content to a user

1. A method for providing visual content to a user, the method comprising:

receiving, at a location remote from a receiving display device or decoder, information representative of an image, wherein said image is divisible in to one or more portions each having a size smaller than the image;

processing the image in order to generate a plurality of macro-blocks;

compressing individually each of said macro-blocks that correspond to the image based on a plurality of resolutions, and storing each of the plurality of individually compressed macro-blocks that represent the entire image at each of the plurality of resolutions;

receiving a request for a first portion of the image, the request including coordinates of said first portion;

responsive to receipt of the request for the first portion of the image, said first portion defined by coordinates that are within coordinates of said image such that the first portion is geometrically smaller than said image and excludes at least a second portion of the image, processing only the compressed macro-blocks from storage that are within said coordinates defining the first portion of the image to generate an encoded MPEG compliant video stream including an I-picture that represents only said first portion and dependently decodable pictures having motion vectors equal to 0 indicating that a content of the I-picture is to be duplicated; and

transmitting to the user over a cable network the encoded MPEG compliant video stream representing only the first portion of the image for display.

2. The method according to claim 1 comprising processing the information representative of the image to provide information representative of the image at different resolutions and utilizing the information representative of the image at different resolutions to fulfill zoom in or zoom out requests.

3. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a request to view a second portion of the image;

generating an MPEG compliant video stream representative of a transition from the first portion to the second portion; wherein the generating comprises processing at least macro-blocks that form the second portion; and

transmitting the MPEG compliant video stream over a bandwidth limited channel.

4. The method according to claim 3 wherein the generating comprises processing at least some of the macro-blocks that formed the first portion in response to an overlap between the first and second portions.

5. The method according to claim 3 comprising generating an MPEG compliant video stream that comprises a sequence of I-pictures, wherein an overlap between consecutive I-pictures of the sequence is responsive to: (i) a distance between the first portion and the second portion, (ii) generation rate of the MPEG compliant video stream, and (iii) a timing constraint imposed on a display of the transition from the first portion to the second portion.

6. The method according to claim 3 comprising generating the MPEG compliant video stream representative of the transition from the first portion to the second portion in response to an allowable amount of visual artifacts.

7. A non-transitory computer readable medium having computer-readable code embodied therein for providing visual content to a user, the computer-readable code comprising instructions for:

receiving information representative of an image, wherein said image is divisible in to one or more portions each having a size smaller than the image;

processing the image in order to generate a plurality of macro-blocks;

compressing individually each of said macro-blocks that correspond to the image based on a plurality of resolutions, and storing each of the plurality of individually compressed macro-blocks that represent the entire image at each of the plurality of resolutions;

receiving a request for a first portion of the image, the request including coordinates of said first portion;

responsive to receipt of the request for the first portion of the image, said first portion defined by coordinates that are within coordinates of said image such that the first portion is geometrically smaller than said image and excludes at least a second portion of the image, processing only the compressed macro-blocks from storage that are within said coordinates defining the first portion of the image to generate an encoded MPEG compliant video stream including an I-picture that represents only said first portion and dependently decodable pictures having motion vectors equal to 0 indicating that a content of the I-picture is to be duplicated; and

transmitting to the user over a cable network the encoded MPEG compliant video stream representing only the first portion of the image for display.

8. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the computer-readable code comprises instructions for processing the information representative of the image to provide information representative of the image at different resolutions and utilizing the information representative of the image at different resolutions to fulfill zoom in or zoom out requests.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the computer-readable code comprises instructions for storing the macro-blocks in an intra-encoded format.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the computer-readable code comprises instructions for:

receiving a request to view a second portion of the image;

generating an MPEG compliant video stream representative of a transition from the first portion to the second portion; wherein the generating comprises processing at least macro-blocks that form the second portion; and

transmitting the MPEG compliant video stream to the user.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the computer-readable code comprises instructions for processing at least some of the macro-blocks that formed the first portion in response to an overlap between the first and second portions.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the computer-readable code comprises instructions for generating an MPEG compliant video stream that comprises a sequence of I-pictures, wherein an overlap between consecutive I-pictures of the sequence is responsive to: (i) a distance between the first portion and the second portion, (ii) generation rate of the MPEG compliant video stream, and (iii) a timing constraint imposed on a display of the transition from the first portion to the second portion.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the computer-readable code comprises instructions for generating the MPEG compliant video stream representative of the transition from the first portion to the second portion in response to an allowable amount of visual artifacts.

14. A system for providing visual content to a user, the system comprising:

a memory unit for storing information representative of a image;

an input for receiving a request for a first portion of the image, the request including coordinates of said first portion, said first portion defined by coordinates that are within coordinates of said image such that the first portion is geometrically smaller in size than the image and excludes at least a second portion of the image;

an encoder for processing the image in order to generate a plurality of macro-blocks, the encoder operable for:

compressing individually each of said macro-blocks that correspond to the image based on a plurality of resolutions for storing each of the plurality of individually compressed macro-blocks that represent the entire image at each of the plurality of resolutions, and

processing only the compressed macro-blocks from storage that are within said coordinates defining the first portion of the single encoded picture to generate an encoded MPEG compliant video stream that includes an I-picture representative of only the first portion of said image and dependently decodable pictures having motion vectors equal to 0 indicating that a content of the I-picture is to be duplicated; and

a transmitter for transmitting over a cable network to the user the encoded MPEG compliant video stream representing only the first portion of the image for display.

15. The system according to claim 14 wherein the encoder processes the information representative of the image to provide information representative of the image at different resolutions and utilizes the information representative of the image at different resolutions to fulfill zoom in or zoom out requests.

16. The system according to claim 14 further adapted to store the macro-blocks in an intra-encoded format.

17. The system according to claim 14 wherein the encoder generates, in response to a request to view a second portion of the image, an MPEG compliant video stream representative of a transition from the first portion to the second portion; wherein the generating comprises processing at least macro-blocks that form the second portion; and the transmitter transmits the MPEG compliant video stream to the user.

18. The system according to claim 17 wherein the encoder processes at least some of the macro-blocks that formed the first portion in response to an overlap between the first and second portions.

19. The system according to claim 17 wherein the encoder generates an MPEG compliant video stream that comprises a sequence of I-pictures, wherein an overlap between consecutive I-pictures of the sequence is responsive to: (i) a distance between the first portion and the second portion, (ii) generation rate of the MPEG compliant video stream, and (iii) a timing constraint imposed on a display of the transition from the first portion to the second portion.

20. The system according to claim 17 wherein the encoder generates the MPEG compliant video stream representative of the transition from the first portion to the second portion in response to an allowable amount of visual artifacts.