Image transmission apparatus

Claim 2

The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said signal dividing means divides a dynamic image to be transmitted into pixel units each including N pixels (N is an integer), a pixel set consisting of N pixels constituting the pixel unit is represented by P₀, an average value of image signals of pixels belonging to said pixel set P₀ is represented by m₀₁, said pixel set P₀ is divided into two partial pixel sets P₁ and Q₁, average values of image signals of pixels belonging to said partial pixel sets P₁ and Q₁ are represented by m₂₁ and n₂₁, said partial pixel set Q₁ is divided into two pixel sets P₂₂ and Q₂₂, average values of image signals of pixels belonging to said pixel sets P₂₂ and Q₂₂ are represented by m₂₂ and n₂₂, average values m and n of pixels belonging to the pixel sets are calculated until the number of pixels in each of pixel sets P and Q becomes 1, and N values k respectively represented by following formulas are determined as partial dynamic image signals using obtained N values m and N-1 values n: k₀₁ = m₀₁ k₁₁ = m₁₁ - m₀₁ k₂₁ = m₂₁ - m₁₁ k₂₂ = m₂₂ - n₁₁ k₃₁ = m₃₁ - m₂₁ k₃₂ = m₃₂ - n₂₁ k₃₃ = m₃₃ - m₂₂ k₃₄ = m₃₄ - n₂₂

Claim 3

The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said transmission control means comprises: means for determining an encoding level of a dynamic image signal to be transmitted according to the number of empty channels of said plurality of transmission channels; and means for modulating the dynamic image signal at a frequency corresponding to the encoding level.

Claim 4

The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein when said plurality of transmission channels do not include empty channels, said transmission control means waits until a channel used at a predetermined encoding level is ready.

Claim 5

The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said transmission control means adopts an optical transmission system as a transmission system of a dynamic image signal.

Claim 6

An image transmission apparatus comprising: means for dividing an image to be transmitted into pixel units each including a predetermined number of pixels; encoding means for dividing pixels constituting the pixel unit into predetermined pixel sets, and encoding an image on the basis of average values of image signals of pixels constituting the pixel sets; and transmission means having channels, numbering more than the predetermined number, for transmitting the encoded image.

Claim 7

The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said encoding means defines a pixel unit consisting of N pixels (N is an integer) as a fundamental pixel unit, successively divides the pixel set to 1/2 until the number of pixels belonging to the pixel set becomes 1, and encodes a dynamic image using N encoding conversion values obtained from 2N-1 average values of image signals of each pixel set.

Claim 8

The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said encoding means performs sampling processing of the pixels constituting the pixel unit using different sampling clocks.

Claim 9

The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein each of said channels of said transmission means transmits a difference between the average values of image signals of a plurality of pixels.

Claim 10

The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said transmission means assigns some of said channels to transmission of still image information, and assigns remaining channels to transmission of dynamic image information.

Claim 11

The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said transmission means comprises means for decoding received information, and when the still image information and the dynamic image information are simultaneously transmitted, said transmission means gives predetermined pseudo data to the dynamic image information in the decoding process.

Claim 12

The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said transmission means adopts an optical transmission system as a transmission system of a dynamic image signal.

Claim 13

An image transmission apparatus for transmitting dynamic image signals from a plurality of dynamic image signal sources to a plurality of dynamic image output devices, comprising: means for selecting the number of dynamic images to be transmitted; image control means for controlling an image compression state of the dynamic images according to the selected number of dynamic images; and transmission control means for transmitting the dynamic images compressed by said image control means to said dynamic image output devices through transmission channels each having a predetermined channel capacity.

Claim 14

The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein said image control means reads out the dynamic image data at predetermined timings according to the number of display pixels of each dynamic image to be displayed on said dynamic image output devices, and decreases the number of display pixels of each dynamic image according to an increase in the number of dynamic images.

Claim 15

The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein said transmission control means adopts an optical transmission system as a transmission system of a dynamic image signal.

Claim 16

An image transmission apparatus for encoding input data, decoding the encoded data, and outputting the decoded data, comprising: first calculation means for calculating an average value of a data series constituted by a plurality of data; second calculation means for successively dividing the data series to 1/2 until the number of data constituting each data series becomes 1 so as to form a plurality of partial data sets, and calculating average values of data belonging to the partial data sets after the divisions; means for obtaining a plurality of encoding conversion formulas using the plurality of average values obtained by calculations of said first and second calculation means; and third calculation means for obtaining a data value constituting the data series according to the plurality of encoding conversion formulas.

Claim 17

The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein said first and second calculation means perform additions, subtractions, and bit shift calculations.

Claim 18

The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein said third calculation means is constituted by connecting a plurality of calculation units each basically including one bit shifter, one adder, and two subtracters in a binary tree pattern.

Claim 19

The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein data obtained by encoding based on the plurality of encoding conversion formulas is separated according to frequency levels and data arrangement positions of input data.

Claim 21

A method of transmitting video signals according to claim 21, wherein the transmission channel is provided by a plurality of sub-channels and the amount of data generated by the video source is controlled in response to the number of sub-channels used.