Joint Design of Multi-resolution Codes and Intra/Inter-layer Network Coding

In this paper, we study the joint design of multi-resolution (MR) coding and network coding. In the network coding model, we present two coding schemes, intra-layer and inter-layer network coding and use two elements as design parameters: 1) redundancy at different layer; 2) whether to code within a layer or across layers. Two metrics, average distortion and total redundancy, are used to characterize quality and efficiency. We define the notion of redundancy plane and provide coding strategies based on this plane. We show that inter-layer coding is always better or at least as good as intra-layer coding in the whole redundancy plane. Our coding strategies give guidelines for choosing between the two coding schemes in different situations and how to replace inter-layer coding with intra-layer coding while achieving the same performance in terms of quality and efficiency.