Picture signal encoding and decoding apparatus

Claim 2

A picture signal encoding apparatus comprising: block divider means for dividing a picture signal into pixel blocks each having a rectangular region of M×N picture elements (where M and N are positive integers); orthogonal transformer means for executing orthogonal transformation of the pixel blocks to thereby obtain transformed coefficients; quantizer means for quantizing the transformed coefficients with a predetermined quantization characteristic to thereby obtain quantized coefficients; band divider means for dividing the quantized coefficients into a plurality of mutually prime subsets; a plurality of variable-length encoder means for variable-length encoding each of the subsets of the quantized coefficients to obtain encoded data of each subset, wherein said plurality of variable length encoder means have a common encoding table; and a plurality of memory or transfer means for storing or transferring the encoded data of each subset individually.

Claim 3

A picture signal encoding apparatus comprising: block divider means for dividing a picture signal into pixel blocks each having a rectangular region of M×N picture elements (where M and N are positive integers); orthogonal transformer means for executing orthogonal transformation of the pixel blocks to thereby obtain transformed coefficients; a plurality of band divider means for dividing the transformed coefficients into a plurality of mutually prime subsets; a plurality of quantizer means for quantizing the transformed coefficients for each of said subsets to obtain quantized coefficients for each subset; a plurality of variable-length encoder means for variable-length encoding the quantized coefficients of each of said subsets to obtain encoded data of each subset, wherein said plurality of variable length encoder means have a common encoding table; and a plurality of memory or transfer means for storing or transferring the encoded data of each subset individually.

Claim 4

A picture signal encoding apparatus comprising: block divider means for dividing a picture signal into pixel blocks each having a rectangular region of M×N picture elements (where M and N are positive integers); orthogonal transformer means for executing orthogonal transformation of the pixel blocks to thereby obtain transformed coefficients; a plurality of band divider means for dividing the transformed coefficients into a plurality of mutually prime subsets; a plurality of quantizer means for quantizing the transformed coefficients for each of said subsets to obtain quantized coefficients for each subset; a plurality of variable-length encoder means for variable-length encoding the quantized coefficients of each of said subsets to obtain encoded data of each subset, wherein said plurality of variable length encoder means have a common encoding table; and a plurality of memory or transfer means for storing or transferring the encoded data of each subset individually.

Claim 5

A picture signal encoding apparatus comprising: block divider means for dividing a picture signal into pixel blocks each having a rectangular region of M×N picture elements (where M and N are positive integers); orthogonal transformer means for executing orthogonal transformation of the pixel blocks to thereby obtain transformed coefficients; quantizer means for quantizing the transformed coefficients with predetermined quantization characteristic to thereby obtain quantized coefficients; band divider means for dividing the quantized coefficients into a plurality of mutually prime subsets, wherein, when the quantized coefficients are divided into a plurality of mutually prime subsets, boundaries of such division are determined by the positions of one-dimensional series obtained by zigzag-scanning a matrix of the transformed coefficients or the quantized coefficients from a lower-frequency region to a higher-frequency region; a plurality of variable-length encoder means for variable-length encoding each of the subsets of the quantized coefficients to obtain encoded data of each subset; and a plurality of memory or transfer means for storing or transferring the encoded data of each subset individually.

Claim 6

A picture signal encoding apparatus comprising: block divider means for dividing a picture signal into pixel blocks each having a rectangular region of M×N picture elements (where M and N are positive integers); orthogonal transformer means for executing orthogonal transformation of the pixel blocks to thereby obtain transformed coefficients; quantizer means for quantizing the transformed coefficients with predetermined quantization characteristic to thereby obtain quantized coefficients; band divider means for dividing the quantized coefficients into a plurality of mutually prime subsets, wherein, when the quantized coefficients are divided into a plurality of mutually prime subsets, boundaries of such division are determined by the positions of one-dimensional series obtained by zigzag-scanning a matrix of the transformed coefficients or the quantized coefficients from a lower-frequency region to a higher-frequency region; a plurality of variable-length encoder means for variable-length encoding each of the subsets of the quantized coefficients to obtain encoded data of each subset; and a plurality of memory or transfer means for storing or transferring the encoded data of each subset individually.

Claim 7

A picture signal decoding apparatus for decoding picture signals encoded in pixel blocks divided into a plurality of subsets, the apparatus comprising: memory or transfer means for storing or transferring the encoded data of each subset individually; a plurality of variable length decoder means for variable-length decoding the encoded data of each subset individually to thereby obtain quantized coefficients of each subset; and band synthesizer means for synthesizing the quantized coefficients of each subset to thereby obtain quantized coefficients of one pixel block.

Claim 8

A picture signal decoding apparatus for decoding picture signals encoded in pixel blocks divided into a plurality of subsets, the apparatus comprising: memory or transfer means for storing or transferring the encoded data of each subset individually; a plurality of variable length decoder means for variable-length decoding the encoded data of each subset individually to thereby obtain quantized coefficients of each subset; and band synthesizer means for synthesizing the quantized coefficients of each subset to thereby obtain quantized coefficients of one pixel block.

Claim 9

A picture signal decoding apparatus for decoding picture signals encoded in pixel blocks divided into a plurality of subsets, the apparatus comprising: memory or transfer means for storing or transferring the encoded data of each subset individually; a plurality of variable length decoder means for variable-length decoding the encoded data of each subset individually to thereby obtain quantized coefficients of each subset; band synthesizer means for synthesizing the quantized coefficients of each subset to thereby obtain quantized coefficients of one pixel block; a plurality of dequantizer means for dequantizing the quantized coefficients of each subset to obtain transformed coefficients of each subset; inverse orthogonal transformation means for executing inverse orthogonal transformation on the transformed coefficients producing a decoded pixel block; and block synthesizer means for synthesizing decoded pixel blocks to reconstruct a picture signal.

Claim 10

A picture signal decoding apparatus for decoding picture signals encoded in pixel blocks divided into a plurality of subsets, the apparatus comprising: memory or transfer means for storing or transferring the encoded data of each subset individually; a plurality of variable length decoder means for variable-length decoding the encoded data of each subset individually to thereby obtain quantized coefficients of each subset; band synthesizer means for synthesizing the quantized coefficients of each subset to thereby obtain quantized coefficients of one pixel block; a plurality of dequantizer means for dequantizing the quantized coefficients of each subset to obtain transformed coefficients of each subset; inverse orthogonal transformation means for executing inverse orthogonal transformation on the transformed coefficients producing a decoded pixel block; and block synthesizer means for synthesizing decoded pixel blocks to reconstruct a picture signal.

Claim 11

A picture signal encoding apparatus comprising: block divider means for dividing a picture signal into pixel blocks each having a rectangular region of M×N picture elements (where M and N are positive integers); orthogonal transformer means for executing orthogonal transformation of the pixel blocks to thereby obtain transformed coefficients; a plurality of band divider means for dividing the transformed coefficients into a plurality of mutually prime subsets, wherein, when the transformed coefficients are divided into a plurality of mutually prime subsets, boundaries of such division are determined by the positions of one-dimensional series obtained by zigzag-scanning a matrix of the transformed coefficients from a lower-frequency region to a higher-frequency region; a plurality of quantizer means for quantizing the transformed coefficients for each of said subsets to obtain quantized coefficients for each subset; a plurality of variable-length encoder means for variable-length encoding the quantized coefficients of each of said subsets to obtain encoded data of each subset; and a plurality of memory or transfer means for storing or transferring the encoded data of each subset individually.

Claim 12

A picture signal encoding apparatus comprising: block divider means for dividing a picture signal into pixel blocks each having a rectangular region of M×N picture elements (where M and N are positive integers); orthogonal transformer means for executing orthogonal transformation of the pixel blocks to thereby obtain transformed coefficients; a plurality of band divider means for dividing the transformed coefficients into a plurality of mutually prime subsets, wherein, when the transformed coefficients are divided into a plurality of mutually prime subsets, boundaries of such division are determined by the positions of one-dimensional series obtained by zigzag-scanning a matrix of the transformed coefficients from a lower-frequency region to a higher-frequency region; a plurality of quantizer means for quantizing the transformed coefficients for each of said subsets to obtain quantized coefficients for each subset; a plurality of variable-length encoder means for variable-length encoding the quantized coefficients of each of said subsets to obtain encoded data of each subset; and a plurality of memory or transfer means for storing or transferring the encoded data of each subset individually.

Claim 13

A picture signal encoding apparatus comprising: block divider means for dividing a picture signal into pixel blocks, each having a rectangular region of M×N picture elements (where M and N are positive integers); orthogonal transformer means for executing orthogonal transformation of the pixel blocks to thereby obtain transformed coefficients; quantizer means for quantizing the transformed coefficients with a predetermined quantization characteristic to thereby obtain quantized coefficients; means for arranging the quantized coefficients into a predetermined order; band divider means for dividing the quantized coefficients into a plurality of mutually prime subsets of frequency bands according to the quantized coefficients positions in the predetermined order; a plurality of variable-length encoder means for variable-length encoding each of the subsets of the quantized coefficients to obtain encoded data of each subset, wherein said plurality of variable length encoder means have a common encoding table; a plurality of memory and transfer means for storing and transferring the encoded data of each subset individually; and means for decoding transferred subsets to obtain each quantized coefficient within a subset.

Claim 14

A picture signal encoding apparatus comprising: block divider means for dividing a picture signal into pixel blocks, each having a rectangular region of M×N picture elements (where M and N are positive integers); orthogonal transformer means for executing orthogonal transformation of the pixel blocks to thereby obtain transformed coefficients; quantizer means for quantizing the transformed coefficients with a predetermined quantization characteristic to thereby obtain quantized coefficients; means for arranging the quantized coefficients into a predetermined order; band divider means for dividing the quantized coefficients into a plurality of mutually prime subsets of frequency bands according to the quantized coefficients positions in the predetermined order; a plurality of variable-length encoder means for variable-length encoding each of the subsets of the quantized coefficients to obtain encoded data of each subset, wherein said plurality of variable length encoder means have a common encoding table; a plurality of memory and transfer means for storing and transferring the encoded data of each subset individually; and means for decoding transferred subsets to obtain each quantized coefficient within a subset.

Claim 15

A picture signal encoding apparatus comprising: block divider means for dividing a picture signal into pixel blocks each having a rectangular region of M×N picture elements (where M and N are positive integers); orthogonal transformer means for executing orthogonal transformation of the pixel blocks to thereby obtain transformed coefficients; quantizer for quantizing the transformed coefficients and outputting the quantized coefficients by referring to a quantization table; a scan divider for arranging the quantized coefficients to form a one-dimensional series and dividing the transformed coefficients into two bands; variable-length encoders for separately variable-length encoding the quantized coefficients for the two bands using an encoding table; first and second buffers for respectively storing the encoded coefficients for each of the two bands; and means for transferring the encoded coefficients from the buffers.

Claim 16

A picture signal encoding apparatus comprising: block divider means for dividing a picture signal into pixel blocks each having a rectangular region of M×N picture elements (where M and N are positive integers); orthogonal transformer means for executing orthogonal transformation of the pixel blocks to thereby obtain transformed coefficients; quantizer for quantizing the transformed coefficients and outputting the quantized coefficients by referring to a quantization table; a scan divider for arranging the quantized coefficients to form a one-dimensional series and dividing the transformed coefficients into two bands; variable-length encoders for separately variable-length encoding the quantized coefficients for the two bands using an encoding table; first and second buffers for respectively storing the encoded coefficients for each of the two bands; and means for transferring the encoded coefficients from the buffers.