Video processing with tiered interdependencies of pictures

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a video stream comprising a sequence of plural compressed pictures, wherein the plural compressed pictures comprises a plurality of sets of compressed pictures, wherein each set in the plurality of sets has a respective picture interdependency characteristic, wherein the compressed pictures in the first set depend for decoding only on pictures from the first set;

determining an adherence of the first and second set of compressed pictures to one or more rules prior to decoding the compressed pictures, the rules comprising the picture interdependency characteristics; and

decoding the first set, the second set, or a combination of both based on an adherence of the first set and the second set to the one or more rules.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving auxiliary information in a transport layer of the video stream, the auxiliary information conveying that the first and second compressed pictures in the video stream adhere to the one or more rules corresponding to one or more picture interdependency tiers.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving auxiliary information in the video stream, the auxiliary information conveying that the first and second compressed pictures adhere to the one or more rules of a subset of the one or more picture interdependency tiers.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving auxiliary information in the video stream, the auxiliary information comprising one or more data fields that identifies a particular picture interdependency tier scheme from a plurality of picture interdependency tier schemes, each of the schemes corresponding to a defined encoding scheme.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein at least one of the data fields comprises an indication of whether a particular picture interdependency tier or subset of a particular picture interdependency tier is a valid picture interdependency tier.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising annotating received auxiliary information using a data structure associating each compressed picture to one or more of a corresponding first or second set, sequence parameter set, picture parameter set, and location of the compressed picture.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more rules adhered to by the first or second set of compressed pictures are unique to the adhering first or second set.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first set of compressed pictures comprise a first level of importance and the second set of compressed pictures comprise a second level of importance different than the first level of importance.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first set of compressed pictures comprises a higher level of importance than the second set.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

progressively extracting the first set of compressed pictures;

decoding the first set independently of the second set; and

outputting the first set independently of the second set.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein receiving further comprises receiving a third set of compressed pictures, the third set having a third relative level of importance lower than the first and second set.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

progressively extracting the first and second set of compressed pictures;

decoding the first and second set independently of the third set; and

outputting the first and second set independently of the third set.

13. A method, comprising:

providing a video stream comprising a sequence of plural compressed pictures, including a first level and a second level of coded pictures, the first level exhibiting, when decoded, picture interdependencies different than those exhibited by a decoded second level; and

providing auxiliary information in the video stream, the auxiliary information conveying that the first level of pictures adheres to a first set of rules and that the second level of coded pictures adheres to a second set of rules; and

decoding the first level based on adherence of a first set of rules of the first picture interdependency level and process the second level based on the adherence of a second set of rules corresponding to the second picture interdependency level.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the first set of rules is different that the second set of rules.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the first set of rules corresponds to a first picture interdependency tier and the second set of rules corresponds to a second picture interdependency tier.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein providing the auxiliary information further comprises providing the auxiliary information as private data in an adaptation field of a transport layer of the video stream.

17. The method of claim 13 , wherein providing the auxiliary information further comprises providing one or more data fields that identifies a particular picture interdependency tier scheme from a plurality of picture interdependency tier schemes, each of the schemes corresponding to a defined encoding scheme.

18. A system, comprising:

an encoding device configured to: provide a video stream comprising a sequence of plural compressed pictures, including a first level and a second level of coded pictures, the first level exhibiting, when decoded, picture interdependencies different than those exhibited by a decoded second level; and provide auxiliary information in a transport layer of the video stream, the auxiliary information conveying that the first level of pictures corresponds to a first picture interdependency tier and that the second level of pictures corresponds to a second picture interdependency tier; and

a receiving device configured to:

receive the video stream; and

process the first level based on adherence of a first set of rules of the first picture interdependency tier and process the second level based on the adherence of a second set of rules corresponding to the second picture interdependency tier.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the first set of rules is different that the second set of rules.

20. The system of claim 18 , wherein the auxiliary information is provided as private data in an adaptation field of the transport layer of the video stream.