Due to the fast growth in multimedia applications including transport of video over limited bandwidth capacity and error-prone networks (such as the Internet and wireless networks), a high degree of flexibility from video compression systems has become necessary. Scalable video coding is a popular technology for providing an efficient representation of video and a robust method of transmitting video over a heterogeneous environment. However, although several scalable coding algorithms have been proposed in the literature and the international standards over the past decade, these schemes can...