JP2002171523A - Image decoder, image decoding method, and program storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image decoder that applies decode processing to video streams corresponding to objects and can easily extend storages areas for decoding information corresponding to extended objects even when number of decoding objects is increased. SOLUTION: The image decoder is provided with a decoder 10 having a decode information storage register 101 that stores decode information corresponding to an object VOP(Video Object Plane) being a decoding processing object and decodes a video stream corresponding to the object VOP based on decode information Dd stored in the register and with a 1st memory Ma that has storage areas Ma(0)-Ma(m) to store decode information items Dp0-Dpm corresponding to the objects. The decode information Dd is transferred between the decode information storage register 101 in the decoder 101 and an prescribed storage area of the 1st memory Ma.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image decoding device, an image decoding method, and a program storage medium, and more particularly to an image decoding process capable of decoding image data corresponding to a plurality of image sequences by a single decoder. Things.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 11A is a diagram for explaining a conventional image decoding apparatus. The image decoding device 50 decodes encoded image data corresponding to a single image sequence. This image decoding device 50 is, for example, an MPE
A decoder 51 that receives a video stream corresponding to a standard such as G (moving picture experts group) -2 as the image data Sb, performs decoding processing on the image data for each frame, and outputs decoded image data Db; ,
A memory 52 for storing the decoded image data of the decoded frame referred to in the decoding process as reference image data Dr.

In the image decoding apparatus 50, decoding processing for input coded image data Sb is performed with reference to reference image data Dr stored in a memory 52, and decoded image data Db obtained by the decoding processing is obtained. Is output. The decoded image data Db for the target frame is the reference image data D
It is stored in the memory 52 as r.

However, in the conventional image decoding device 50 having such a configuration, the image data that can be decoded simultaneously is limited to one corresponding to one image sequence, and one corresponding to a plurality of image sequences, for example, as shown in FIG. As shown in (1), image data in which a plurality of objects (image sequences) exist on one screen (here, four of Ob0 to Ob3) cannot be decoded in parallel.

Therefore, as a configuration of an image decoding apparatus capable of performing such parallel decoding of image data corresponding to a plurality of image sequences, a configuration shown in FIG. 11B is conceivable. FIG.
The image decoding device 110 illustrated in FIG. 1B includes, for example, the coded image data Sb0 to Sb3 in FIG. 14A corresponding to the four image sequences Ob0 to Ob3 in FIG.
As shown in (b), the coded image data Sb0 to Sb3 are multiplexed and the video stream Vs is received, and the coded image data Sb of each image sequence is decoded in parallel. In the video stream Vs shown in FIG. 14 (b), the coded image data are multiplexed in a regular array. The multiplexing method depends on the frame rate of the coded image data and the like. Coded image data may be randomly arranged.

That is, the image decoding device 110 performs a decoding process on the coded image data Sb0 to Sb3 corresponding to each of the four image sequences, and decodes the decoded image data corresponding to each of the image sequences. Decoders 112a to 112d that output Db0 to Db3 and memories 113a to 113d that store, for each of the image sequences, reference image data Dr0 to Dr3 that are referred to in decoding processing corresponding to each of the image sequences. Have.

Further, the image decoding device 110 supplies the input video stream Vs to any one of the four decoders 112a to 112d based on image sequence identification information Id for identifying an image sequence. Input side switch 111 and the four decoders 112a to 112d
And an output-side switch 114 for selecting any one of the decoded image data Db0 to Db3 output from and outputting the selected decoded image data Db as reproduced image data EDb.

Here, the input side switch 111 has an input terminal 111a to which the video stream Vs is input,
An output terminal 111b0 for outputting the corresponding coded image data Sb0 to Sb3 to each of the decoders 112a to 112d
To 111b3, and the input terminal 111a is connected to the output terminal 1
11b0 to 111b3, which are connected to output terminals corresponding to the image sequence indicated by the image sequence identification information Id.
Decoded image data Db0 output from 2a to 112d
Input terminals 114a0 to 114a3 to which Db3 is input
And an output terminal 1 for outputting reproduced image data EDb
14b, and connects the output terminal 114b to the input terminal corresponding to the image sequence indicated by the image sequence identification information Id among the input terminals 114a0 to 114a3.

Next, the operation of the conventional image decoding apparatus 110 having the above-described configuration will be described. Image decoding device 1
10, a video stream Vs including image data Sb0 to Sb3 of four image sequences, and image sequence identification information I for identifying image data in the video streams.
When d is input, in the input side switch 111, the input terminal 111a to which the video stream Vs is input is connected to a required output terminal based on the image sequence identification information Id. For example, when the coded image data Sb0 corresponding to the first image sequence is input as the video stream Vs, the image sequence identification information Id indicates that the video stream Vs has the coded image data Sb corresponding to the first image sequence.
Indicates that it is 0. Thereby, in the input side switch 111, the input terminal 111a is connected to the first output terminal 111b0 based on the image sequence identification information Id, and the coded image data Sb0 is supplied to the corresponding decoder 112a.

In the decoder 112a, the decoding process on the coded image data Sb0 is performed by referring to the reference image data Dr0 stored in the memory 113a, and the decoded image data Db0 obtained by the decoding process is obtained. Is the first input terminal 1 of the output side switch 114
Output to 14a0.

In the output side switch 114, the output terminal 114b is connected to the first input terminal 114a0 based on the image sequence identification information Id, and the decoder 11
The decoded image data Db0 from 2a is the reproduced image data ED.
Output as b.

When the coded image data Sb1, Sb2, or Sb3 corresponding to the second, third, or fourth image sequence is input as the video stream Vs, as described above, In the input side switch 111, the input coded image data Sb is
The connection state between the input terminal and the output terminal is switched by the image sequence identification information Id so as to be input to the corresponding decoder 112, and the output switch 114 corresponds to the image sequence indicated by the image sequence identification information Id. Decoder 11
The connection state of the input terminal and the output terminal is switched so that the decoded image data Db from 2 is output as the reproduced image data EDb. As a result, decoding processing of the coded image data Sb corresponding to the image sequence indicated by the image sequence identification information Id is performed.

As described above, in the image decoding apparatus 110 configured to decode a plurality of encoded image data sets Sb in parallel, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1 (b), independent decoders 112a to 112d are prepared for image data to be processed in parallel, and an input video stream Vs corresponds to which image sequence. Decoder 1 to use accordingly
12 is required. This leads to problems such as complication of the configuration of the image decoding device, an increase in the size of the image decoding device, and an increase in cost associated therewith.

Further, like the image decoding device 110,
In a method of providing a decoder corresponding in number to the number of image sequences to be processed and performing parallel decoding processing on a plurality of image data, a method corresponding to the image sequence to be processed, which is provided in the apparatus in advance, is provided. There is also the disadvantage that the number of decoders must be determined.

Furthermore, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-093577 discloses an image decoding apparatus configured to perform time-division decoding processing on image data corresponding to a plurality of image sequences by a single decoder. Hereinafter, the image decoding device disclosed in this publication will be briefly described.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram for explaining the image decoding apparatus. The image decoding device 200 converts the image sequence into four image sequences based on a video stream Vs including image data corresponding to a plurality (here, four) of image sequences and image sequence identification information Id for identifying each image sequence. The decoder 200a includes a decoder 200a that performs a time-division decoding process on corresponding image data, and a memory 200b that stores reference image data Dr that is referred to in the decoding process.

The decoder 200a is provided with dedicated registers 211 to 214 for storing decode information including information (parameter information) Dp indicating a plurality of parameters 0 to N used for decoding corresponding to each image sequence. Parameter selection units 221 to 224 are provided corresponding to the registers and select the storage positions of the respective parameters in the dedicated registers based on the parameter storage position information Ip indicating the type of the parameter, and based on the image sequence identification information Id. And a register selection unit 230 that selects one of the parameter selection units 221 to 224 and selects one of the dedicated registers 211 to 214, and stores the video stream Vs in the dedicated registers. Is stored in the memory 200b based on the decoded information composed of the obtained parameter information Dp. And reference image data Dr decoding processing on the reference to the being, and a decoding processing unit 240 for outputting the decoded image data Db obtained by the decoding process.

Here, the decoding processing section 240 extracts parameter information Dp (decoding information) corresponding to each frame in each image sequence based on the header information in the video stream Vs, and
30 and the parameter storage location information Ip indicating the type of parameter
1 to 224.

The exclusive registers 211 to 214
, Each parameter information D indicating parameters 0 to N
p is stored in parameter storage positions R0 to Rn corresponding to the respective parameters. Further, the register selection unit 230 provides the decoding processing unit 240 with a first terminal 235 for accessing each dedicated register for storing decode information for each image sequence, and each of the dedicated registers 211 to 214 And a plurality of second terminals 231 to 234 corresponding to the dedicated registers 221 to 224 for accessing the parameter information Dp with respect to the first terminal 235 according to the image sequence identification information Id. Is connected to any of the plurality of second terminals 231 to 234.

Further, the parameter selection section 221 is connected to the first terminal 231 connected to the second terminal 231 of the register selection section 230.
, And second terminals a0 to an for accessing the parameter information Dp between the parameter storage positions R0 to Rn of the dedicated register 211. The parameter selection unit 222 Of the second terminal 23
2 and second terminals a0 to an for accessing the parameter information Dp between the parameter storage locations R0 to Rn of the dedicated register 212. Similarly, the parameter selection unit 223 accesses the parameter information Dp between the first terminal b connected to the second terminal 233 of the register selection unit 230 and each of the parameter storage positions R0 to Rn of the dedicated register 213. Parameter selecting section 224 includes a second terminal 234 of the register selecting section 230.
, And second terminals a0 to an for accessing the parameter information Dp between the parameter storage locations R0 to Rn of the dedicated register 214.

Next, the operation of the image decoding apparatus 200 having the above configuration will be described. Image decoding device 200
When the video stream Vs and the image sequence identification information Id are input to the decoding unit 240, the decoding processing unit 240 analyzes the video stream Vs, and from the video stream Vs, obtains parameter information Dp, which is decode information corresponding to a predetermined image sequence. Is extracted and output to the register selection unit 230. Then, the video stream V
Parameter storage position information Ip indicating the type of each piece of parameter information Dp extracted as decode information from s is output to each of the parameter selection units 221 to 224.

In the register selecting section 230, the parameter information Dp from the decoding processing section 240 is output to a required parameter selecting section, for example, the parameter selecting section 221 based on the image sequence identification information Id. Then, in the parameter selection unit 221, based on the parameter storage position information Ip from the decoding processing unit 240, each piece of parameter information Dp that is the decoding information from the register selection unit 230 is sequentially
It is stored in the corresponding parameter storage position in the dedicated register 211. Specifically, parameters 0, 1, ...
, N, the parameter information Dp corresponding to the corresponding parameter storage position R in the dedicated register 211, respectively.
0, R1,..., Rn.

The decoding processing unit 240 performs a decoding process on the video stream Vs corresponding to the target frame of the predetermined image sequence in the memory 200b based on the parameter information Dp which is the decoding information stored in the dedicated register 211. This is performed by referring to the stored reference image data Dr. When the decoding process is completed, the image data corresponding to the processed frame is stored in the memory 200b as reference image data Dr to be referred to in decoding the subsequent frame.

When a video stream Vs of another image sequence is input, the parameter information Dp, which is decode information, is stored in a dedicated register corresponding to the image sequence in the same manner as described above. A decoding process is performed on the video stream Vs corresponding to the image sequence based on the parameter information Dp stored in the register.

As described above, the image decoding apparatus 20 shown in FIG.
0, the decoder 200a is provided with a dedicated register (decode information storage register) for storing decode information corresponding to the number of image sequences to be decoded. Can be decoded. However,
In the configuration of the image decoding device 200 described above, the video stream Vs including a plurality of image sequences is output by one decoder 200a.
Can be processed in parallel, but due to its configuration, the decoder information storage register is provided in the decoder 200a.
It is necessary to provide in advance the number of image sequences to be processed.

[0026]

As described above,
In a conventional image decoding apparatus, in order to enable parallel decoding of image data of a plurality of image sequences, a decoder is prepared by the number of image sequences to be handled simultaneously, or a decoding information storage register is provided inside the decoder. It is necessary to prepare the number of image sequences to be handled simultaneously. In other words, in the conventional image decoding device, it is necessary to know in advance the number of image sequences to be handled simultaneously.

Therefore, when the number of image sequences to be handled simultaneously in the image data to be decoded is changed, it is necessary to review the configuration of the decoder and redesign the decoder accordingly. This causes an increase in the cost of the image decoding device. Further, if the decoders are prepared in the image decoding apparatus as many as the number of image sequences to be handled at the same time, problems such as a complicated configuration of the apparatus and an increase in the size of the apparatus will be caused.

Further, among MPEG, which is an international standard relating to image data compression technology, MPEG-4 which simultaneously handles coded image data of a plurality of image sequences supports a plurality of objects (image sequences) as shown in FIG. It is possible to decode and combine the encoded image data to generate reproduction data corresponding to the composite image shown in FIG. 13 and display the composite image. Therefore, this MPEG
In the coding method corresponding to -4, image data corresponding to a plurality of objects (image sequences) constituting one scene is multiplexed by packets, transmitted as one bit stream, and handles such a bit stream. In
Parallel decoding processing for image data corresponding to a plurality of image sequences is required.

Therefore, in the future, as an image decoding apparatus for simultaneously performing decoding processing on image data of a plurality of image sequences in parallel, it is possible to easily cope with a change in the number of image sequences to be handled at the same time. The demand for more sophisticated equipment is expected to increase.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and a decoding process for image data of a plurality of image sequences can be performed by a single decoder. To provide an image decoding apparatus and an image decoding method capable of coping with an increase in the number of elements by a simple configuration change, and a program storage medium storing a program for realizing the image decoding method by software. And

[0031]

An image decoding apparatus according to the present invention (claim 1) is an image decoding apparatus for decoding image data composed of a plurality of image sequences, and decodes the image data of each image sequence. A memory having a memory area corresponding to each of the image sequences, and image identification information indicating a target image sequence to be decoded. A memory area selecting unit for selecting a memory area corresponding to the target image sequence; and a register for storing decode information of the target image sequence. The target image is stored on the basis of the decode information stored in the register. The target image system is interposed between a decoder for performing decoding processing of the series of image data, a memory area selected by the memory area selecting means, and a register of the decoder. It is obtained by a decoding information transfer means for transferring the decoded information.

An image decoding apparatus according to the present invention (claim 2) is an image decoding apparatus for decoding image data composed of a plurality of image sequences, wherein decoding information used for decoding the image data of each of the image sequences is provided. , A memory having an individual memory area corresponding to each image sequence described above, a temporary memory area for temporarily storing decoding information of a specific image sequence, and a target image to be decoded. Memory area selecting means for selecting an individual memory area corresponding to the target image sequence in the memory based on image identification information indicating the sequence, and decoding information of the target image sequence selected by the memory region selecting means Between the specified individual memory area and the temporary memory area,
A decoding information transfer unit that transfers the image data; and a decoder that decodes the image data of the target image sequence based on the decoding information stored in the temporary memory area.

An image decoding apparatus according to the present invention (claim 3) is an image decoding apparatus for decoding image data composed of a plurality of image sequences, wherein a plurality of image data used for decoding the image data of each of the image sequences is provided. A memory having a memory area corresponding to each image sequence for storing decoding information including parameters, and a memory corresponding to the target image sequence based on image identification information indicating a target image sequence to be decoded. A parameter storage position determining unit for determining a storage position of a parameter necessary for decoding the target image sequence in the area, and a parameter stored in the parameter storage position determined by the parameter storage position determination unit. , And a decoder for decoding the target image sequence.

According to the image decoding method of the present invention (claim 4), a decoding process of image data consisting of a plurality of image sequences
An image decoding method performed based on the decode information of each image sequence, comprising: a memory for storing the decode information of each image sequence; and a temporary storage unit for temporarily storing the decode information of a specific image sequence. A decoding information transfer processing step of transferring the decoding information corresponding to the comparison target image sequence to be decoded, of the decoding information corresponding to each of the image sequences, and the decoding information stored in the temporary storage unit. Decoding processing of decoding image data corresponding to the target image sequence with reference to the decoding information.

An image decoding method according to the present invention (claim 5) is an image decoding method for decoding image data composed of a plurality of image sequences, and decodes the image data of each of the image sequences stored in a memory. A decoding information selecting step of selecting decoding information of a target image sequence to be decoded from decoding information including a plurality of pieces of parameter information of each image sequence to be used when performing the decoding process; And a parameter storage position determining step of determining a storage position in the memory of the parameter information necessary for the decoding process among the plurality of parameter information to be decoded. Decoding image data corresponding to the target image sequence based on the parameter information stored in the storage location; It is intended to include the issue process step.

[0036] A program storage medium according to the present invention (claim 6) stores a program for storing, by a computer, a program for performing data processing on image data composed of a plurality of image sequences based on decode information of each image sequence. Medium, as the program, the computer includes a memory for storing the decode information of each image sequence, and a temporary storage unit for temporarily storing decode information of a specific image sequence, The decoding information transfer processing for transferring the decoding information of the comparison target image series to be decoded, of the decoding information of each image series, and the decoding information stored in the temporary storage unit. A decoding process for decoding image data corresponding to the image sequence; and a data processing program for performing the decoding process. Those who pay.

[0037] A program storage medium according to the present invention (claim 7) is a program storage medium storing a program for performing data processing on image data composed of a plurality of image sequences by a computer. The computer is stored in memory,
Decode information selection processing for selecting the decode information of the target image sequence to be decoded among the decode information including a plurality of parameter information corresponding to each image sequence used when decoding the image data of each image sequence A parameter storage position determining process for determining a storage position in the memory of parameter information necessary for decoding among a plurality of pieces of parameter information constituting the selected decode information; and a parameter storage position determining process. And a data processing program for performing a decoding process of decoding image data corresponding to the target image sequence based on the parameter information stored in the storage position of the memory determined by the above. .

[0038]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. (Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining an image decoding apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The image decoding apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment is configured such that a video stream Vs obtained by multiplexing image data corresponding to a plurality of image sequences and image data input as the video stream Vs correspond to any image sequence Is received, the image sequence identification information Id
Based on d, decoding processing is performed on the image data corresponding to each image sequence. The image data is data obtained by encoding a digital image signal corresponding to an image sequence.

The image decoding apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment is configured to perform decoding processing of image data corresponding to (m + 1) image sequences included in the video stream Vs in parallel. Here, the image sequence identification information Id indicating the image sequence to be decoded is stored in the image decoding device 1.
Is input to the image decoding apparatus 1 in synchronization with the video stream Vs from a CPU (not shown) for controlling the video stream Vs.

That is, the image decoding apparatus 1 extracts the parameter information Dp, which is the decoding information of each image sequence, from the input video stream Vs, and also obtains the image sequence identification information Id of the input video stream Vs.
The decoding process refers to the decoded reference image data Dr based on the decoding information Dd of the image sequence to be processed (target image sequence) designated by A decoder 10 that performs processing for each predetermined data unit and outputs decoded image data Db corresponding to the target image sequence, and a memory area Ma corresponding to each of a plurality of image sequences handled by the image decoding device 1.
.., Ma (m), and stores, in each of the memory areas, required decode information Dd extracted from each image sequence of the video stream Vs. Ma and a second memory 14 for storing reference image data Dr referred to in the decoding process.

Further, the image decoding apparatus 1 decodes the decoding information Dd corresponding to each of the image sequences to be processed for the video stream Vs based on the timing signal It and the image sequence identification information Id from the decoder 10. Decoding information transfer means 13 for transferring between the first memory Ma and the decoder 10;
And the first memory Ma, and decode information transfer means 13 based on the image sequence identification information Id.
From the plurality of memory areas Ma (0) to Ma in the first memory Ma.
And a memory area selection unit 12 connected to one of the Ma (m).

Here, the (m + 1) image sequences included in the video stream Vs are respectively referred to as image sequences Ob0 to Ob0.
Assuming Obm, the image series Ob0 to Obm include the memory areas Ma (0) to Ma (m) in the first memory Ma.
., Ddm corresponding to (m + 1) image sequences are stored in each of the memory areas Ma (0) to Ma (m). As described above, each of the decode information Dd is (N +
1) pieces of information Dp of parameters 0 to N, and the (N + 1) pieces of parameter information Dp correspond to the above (N + 1) in each of the memory areas Ma (0) to Ma (m).
Parameter storage location R0 corresponding to each of the
To Rn. These parameter storage locations R0
The initial value stored in Rn is a predetermined value, for example, a value determined by an encoding method (MPEG-2, MPEG-4, etc.), or set as an operation of the entire image decoding apparatus, that is, the initial value of the image decoding apparatus. A value or the like for setting a state is provided. Further, continuous addresses in the address space of the first memory Ma are set in the parameter storage positions R0 to Rn.

In each of the memory areas Ma (0) to Ma (m) in the first memory Ma, parameter storage positions R0 to Rn having the same relative position from the head position of each memory area are stored. , The same type of parameter is stored. Further, each decoding information Dd is configured (N + 1).
As the parameter information Dp, for example, a data unit of a macro block or more indicating a vertical and horizontal size of a screen corresponding to image data, an encoding method corresponding to the image data, a quantization parameter in an image data encoding process, and the like. Of the reference image data Dr stored in the second memory 14 and the header information corresponding to the
And the information indicating the storage position in.

Further, the memory area selecting section 12 has a first terminal 12a for accessing the decode information Dd with the decode information transfer means 13, and a first terminal 12a for each image sequence in the first memory Ma. Corresponding decode information storage area (memory area) Ma (0), Ma (1),..., M
a (n) are connected to the second terminals 12b0, 12b1,
, 12bm, and the image sequence identification information Id
, The first terminal 12a is connected to the plurality of second terminals 12a.
Connect to any of b0 to 12bm.

Further, the decode information transfer means 13
Transfers the decode information Dd stored in a required memory area in the first memory Ma to the decoder 10 based on the image sequence identification information Id, and outputs a timing signal from the decoder 10 Decoder 1 based on It
At 0, the decoding information Dd extracted and stored from each image sequence of the video stream Vs is transferred to the memory area in the first memory Ma corresponding to the image sequence.

The decoder 10 analyzes the header information of the input video stream Vs to determine the parameter information Dp corresponding to the image sequence to be decoded.
And the extracted parameter information Dp
A decoding processing unit 103 for generating parameter storage position information Ip for identifying the decoding process, and a decoding information storage register 101 for storing decoding information Dd corresponding to the target image sequence, which is necessary for the decoding processing in the decoding processing unit 103. Have. In the decode information storage register 101, (N + 1) parameters 0 to N constituting the decode information Dd
Are stored in the parameter storage positions R0 to Rn corresponding to the information Dp. Then, the decoding processing unit 103 performs a decoding process on the input video stream Vs based on the decoding information Dd extracted from the video stream Vs and the decoding information Dd from the first memory Ma, and decodes the decoded image data. Generate Db.

Further, the decoder 10 includes a decoding processing unit 1
03, and a parameter selection unit 102 provided between the decoding information storage register 101 and the parameter selection unit 102 for accessing the parameter information Dp with the decoding processing unit 103. 2 terminal 102b, and a plurality of first terminals 102a0 to 102an corresponding to the respective parameter storage positions R0 to Rn of the decode information storage register 101. On the basis of,
The second terminal 102b is connected to a plurality of first terminals 102a0-1
02an.

Next, the operation of the image decoding apparatus 1 having the above-described configuration according to the first embodiment will be described. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a flow of the operation of the image decoding device 1. First, a video stream V obtained by multiplexing image data corresponding to a plurality of image sequences is provided to the image decoding device 1.
When s is input for each predetermined data unit, the image decoding device 1 performs a decoding process on the video stream Vs.
This is performed for each of the predetermined data units based on the image stream identification information Id input in synchronization with the video stream Vs. Here, the data unit to which the video stream Vs is input corresponds to, for example, a frame, and the data unit is hereinafter also referred to as a frame.

That is, in the memory area selecting section 12, the terminal 12a on the decode information transfer means 13 side is provided based on the image sequence identification information Id indicating which image sequence the input video stream Vs corresponds to. Is the first
Terminals 12b0 to 12b0 of a plurality of memory areas in the memory Ma
12bm. Then, based on the image sequence identification information Id, the decode information transfer unit 13 sets the memory area selection unit 1 in the first memory Ma.
The decoding information Dd in a predetermined memory area connected by the decoding information storage register 1 of the decoder 10
Transfer to 01. For example, when the input video stream Vs corresponds to the image sequence Ob (0), the decode information Dd0 stored in the memory area Ma (0) in the first memory Ma is stored in the decode information storage register of the decoder 10. It is transferred to 101. Then, the video stream Vs input to the image decoding device 1 at this time is the image sequence Ob.
If it corresponds to the first frame of (0), the decode information storage register 101 contains the memory area Ma.
The initial value of the decode information Dd0 stored in advance in (0) is transferred.

On the other hand, when image data corresponding to a predetermined image sequence is input to the decoder 10 as the video stream Vs (step S1), the decoding processing unit 10 of the decoder 10
3, information (parameter information) Dp0 to Dp corresponding to a plurality of parameters 0 to N is obtained as decode information by analyzing a header corresponding to an image sequence to be decoded.
n is sequentially extracted, and parameter storage position information Ip indicating the type of each parameter is output. here,
The number of parameter information extracted from the video stream Vs is determined by the content of processing performed at that time, the encoding condition of the input video stream Vs, and the like.
The number of parameter information Dp that needs to be held in the decode information storage register 101 (for example, information that needs to be referred to even after the extraction location, information that needs to be referred to in subsequent decoding processing, and the like) is The maximum is N + 1. In other words, the parameter information extracted from the video stream Vs includes parameter information and the like that are only required during the decoding process, and it is not necessary to hold such parameter information. The fact that the stored parameter information Dp is N + 1 at the maximum means that among the parameter information Dp that needs to be stored, MPEG-4
In the case of, there is parameter information that is not included in the I frame (intra-coded frame) but is included in the P frame (forward predicted coded frame).

At this time, the parameter selection unit 10
In No. 2, the terminal 102b on the decoding processing unit 103 side is sequentially connected to predetermined terminals of the terminals 102a0 to 102an on the decoding information storage register 101 side based on the parameter storage position information Ip, and extracted from the video stream Vs. The parameter information Dp is sequentially stored in the corresponding parameter storage areas R0 to Rn of the decode information storage register 101 (step S2).

Specifically, for example, when a video stream Vs corresponding to the first data unit (frame) of one image sequence is input, analysis of header information corresponding to the entire image sequence and data The header information corresponding to the unit is analyzed, and as the decode information, the parameter information Dp corresponding to the entire image sequence and the parameter information Dp corresponding to the data unit are extracted. Further, for example, when the video stream Vs corresponding to the second or later data unit (frame) of one image sequence is input, only the header information corresponding to the data unit is analyzed, and the decoding information is , Only the parameter information Dp corresponding to the data unit is extracted.

Then, the input video stream Vs
Is the one that has been subjected to the inter-picture prediction encoding process, for example, MP
When the video stream Vs corresponds to a P frame or a B frame corresponding to EG-2, the decoding processing unit 103 applies the reference image data Dr stored in the second memory 14 to the video stream Vs. Is performed based on the decode information Dd including (N + 1) pieces of parameter information Dp stored in the decode information storage register 101. On the other hand, if the input video stream Vs has been subjected to intra-screen encoding (corresponding to an I frame), the decoding processing unit 103 performs A decoding process that does not refer to the reference image data Dr stored in the second memory 14 is performed.

After the above-described decoding processing, the same data as the decoded image data Db obtained by the decoding processing is
The reference image data Dr is stored in the second memory 14. Further, in this decoding process, of the parameter information Dp obtained by analyzing the header corresponding to the image sequence or the header corresponding to the data unit, the decoding process corresponding to the data unit to which the video stream Vs is input is performed. Parameters that need to be stored temporarily in
It is stored in the second memory 14.

Thereafter, the decoding process for the input frame of the image sequence (target image sequence) to be processed by the decoding processing unit 103 is completed.
When the header information corresponding to the next frame is detected in 3, the timing signal It is output from the decoding processing unit 103 to the decoding information transfer unit 13. Then, the decode information transfer means 13 decodes the decode information D stored in the decode information storage register 101 of the decoder 10.
d is transferred to the memory area in the first memory Ma corresponding to the target image sequence (Step S3). As a result, with respect to the target image sequence corresponding to the decoded frame, the decode information Dd in the memory area corresponding to the target image sequence is updated. For example, each piece of parameter information Dp constituting the decode information Dd0 corresponding to the memory area Ma (0) is updated from its initial value to a value obtained by the above-described decoding processing.

Further, when a video stream Vs corresponding to the next frame is input, decode information Dd of a required memory area of the first memory Ma is decoded based on the image sequence identification information Id corresponding to this frame. Is transferred to the decode information storage register 101 of the device 10 (step S4).

For example, the video stream Vs corresponding to the second input frame is an image sequence Ob (1)
, The initial value previously stored in the memory area Ma (1) in the first memory Ma is transferred to the decode information storage register 101 of the decoder 10 as the decode information Dd1. On the other hand, when the video stream Vs corresponding to the second input frame corresponds to the image sequence Ob (0) as in the previous frame, the memory area Ma (0) in the first memory Ma The updated value stored in the decoding information Dd
The decoding information storage register 101 of the decoder 10 is set to 0
Is forwarded to

After that, the same processing as when the video stream Vs corresponding to the first frame is input is performed. Accordingly, in the above-described decoding process, each parameter information Dp stored as the decoding information Dd in the decoding information storage register 101 becomes the latest information every time the decoding process is performed on the video stream Vs corresponding to each input frame. Be updated.

As described above, the image decoding apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment has the decode information storage register 101 for storing the decode information Dd including the parameter information Dp corresponding to the data unit (frame) to be decoded. The decoder 10 decodes the video stream Vs corresponding to the target frame based on the decode information Dd stored in the decode information storage register 101, and decode information corresponding to a plurality of image sequences of the video stream Vs. Memory area Ma for storing Dd0 to Ddm
(0) to Ma (m), and a decoding information storage register 101 in the decoder 10 and the first memory Ma in accordance with which image sequence the target frame corresponds to. Since the decoding information Dd is transferred to and from a predetermined memory area in the memory Ma, the decoding of the video streams Vs corresponding to a plurality of image sequences can be performed in parallel by the single decoder 10. it can. Further, the decode information storage register 101
That can be accessed at high speed, such as cache and SRA
With M, the performance of the present image decoding apparatus can be improved. Moreover, even when the number of image sequences to be decoded included in the video stream Vs increases, the decoding information D corresponding to the increased image sequences
As an area for storing d, a memory area for storing decode information corresponding to the increased image sequence can be easily added within the range of the capacity of the first memory Ma.

In the image decoding apparatus according to the first embodiment, a plurality of pieces of parameter information Dp constituting decoding information Dd of an image sequence to be decoded extracted from the video stream Vs are set in storage positions for the respective parameters. The decoded information storage register 101 and the first
Is transferred to and from a memory area corresponding to the above-described image sequence to be decoded in the memory Ma. The parameter storage position in each decode information storage area (memory area) in the memory Ma does not change, and as a result, the amount of calculation processing regarding the parameter storage position when the image sequence is switched can be suppressed.

In the first embodiment, when the capacity of the first memory Ma is not changed, the number of image sequences that can be decoded is determined by the decoding information Dd in the first memory Ma. Although the number of storage areas (memory areas) is limited to the number that can be secured, in order to increase the memory area (decode information storage area) beyond the capacity of the first memory Ma, the capacity of the first memory Ma What is necessary is just to increase itself.

In the first embodiment, the first memory Ma for storing the decoding information and the information other than the decoding information, for example, the information that needs to be temporarily stored and the reference image data Dr are stored. Although the second memory 14 is provided as a separate memory, the first and second memories are configured by a single memory, and on this memory,
An area for storing the decode information and an area for storing information other than the decode information may be secured.

In the first embodiment, the memory areas (decode information storage areas) Ma (0) to Ma (0) corresponding to all the image sequences to be decoded are stored in the first memory Ma.
(M) is secured, and the decoder 10 includes a decode information storage register (dedicated register) 101 for storing all parameter information Dp constituting the decoded information Dd corresponding to the target frame. 1 memory M
The decoding information Dd is transferred between the first memory Ma and the decoder 10a.
Is not limited to this.

(Modification of First Embodiment) Next, the decoder 10 and the first decoder 10 in the image decoding apparatus 1 of the first embodiment are described.
A modification of the configuration of the memory Ma or the like will be described as a modification of the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a block diagram for explaining an image decoding device according to a modification of the first embodiment of the present invention.

An image decoding device 1a according to a modification of the first embodiment is different from the first memory Ma in the image decoding device 1 of the first embodiment in that decoding information corresponding to all processable image sequences is used. In addition to the memory area (individual memory area) Mb (0) to Mb (m) for storing Dd,
Decode information Dd of the target image sequence to be decoded
Is provided with a first memory Mb having a data storage area (temporary memory area) Mb (t) for storing all parameter information Dp constituting A register 104 for storing a part of all the parameter information Dp stored in the temporary memory area Mb (t);
04 based on the parameter information Dp stored in
And a decoding unit 103 that decodes the video stream Vs corresponding to the target image sequence.

Further, the image decoding apparatus 1a according to the modification of the first embodiment selects one of the storage positions R0 to Rn of each parameter in the temporary memory area Mb (t) based on the parameter storage position information Ip. A parameter selection unit 15 for enabling access to the parameter information Dp between the selected parameter storage position and the register 104.
have.

The parameter selecting section 15 includes a first terminal 15a for accessing the parameter information Dp with the register 104 and the temporary memory area M
b (t) has a plurality of second terminals 15b0 to 15bn corresponding to the respective parameter storage positions R0 to Rn,
Parameter storage position information I from the decoding processing unit 103
p, the first terminal 15a is connected to a plurality of second terminals 1
Connect to one of 5b0 to 15bn. Other configurations of the image decoding device 1a according to the modification of the first embodiment are the same as those of the image decoding device 1 according to the first embodiment.

Next, the operation of the image decoding device 1a according to the modification of the first embodiment having the above-described configuration will be described. When a video stream Vs of a predetermined frame is input to the image decoding device 1a, the memory area selecting unit 12
Then, based on the image sequence identification information Id, a process of selecting an individual memory area in the first memory Mb corresponding to the image sequence to which this frame belongs is performed. A process of transferring the decode information Dd of the individual memory area to the temporary memory area Mb (t) is performed.

At this time, in the decoder 10a, the parameter information Dp obtained by analyzing the header in the decoding processing unit 103 is temporarily stored in the register 104, and thereafter, the stored parameter information Dp is stored in the parameter storage position information. On the basis of Ip, the first
Are transferred to predetermined parameter storage positions R0 to Rn in the temporary memory area Mb (t) in the memory Mb. Then, the decoding process for the predetermined frame is performed by using the parameter information Dp stored in the register 104.
It is performed based on. In this decoding process, the parameter information Dp stored in the register 104 is used.
The parameter information Dp required for other than the above is transferred from the temporary memory area Mb (t) to the register 104.

When the decoding process is completed, the parameter information Dp stored in the temporary memory area Mb (t) of the first memory Mb is converted into the first memory Mb by the timing signal It from the decoding unit 10a. Is transferred to the decode information storage area (individual memory area) corresponding to the image sequence to which the target frame belongs.

Thereafter, when the video stream Vs of the next frame is input, the decode information Dd stored in the individual memory area corresponding to the predetermined image sequence in the first memory Mb is added to the image sequence identification information Id. Based on this, the data is transferred to the temporary memory area Mb (t) of the first memory Mb, and the same decoding processing as described above is performed.

Other operations in the image decoding device 1a according to the modification of the first embodiment are the same as those in the image decoding device 1 according to the first embodiment. Note that the image decoding apparatus according to the first embodiment and the modification thereof includes decoders 10 and 10a, a decoding information transfer unit 13, a memory area selection unit 12, a parameter selection unit 15,
The functions such as 102 can also be realized in a computer system using software programmed to be performed by a CPU (central processing unit).

Even when the image decoding apparatus according to the first embodiment and its modification are realized by such software, the same result as that of the first embodiment and its modification is obtained. Here, the software program is, for example, a floppy (registered trademark) disk, an optical disk, an IC,
It can be stored in a storage medium such as a card or a ROM cassette.

(Embodiment 2) FIG. 4 is a block diagram for explaining an image decoding apparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. The image decoding device 2 according to the second embodiment is configured such that a video stream Vs obtained by multiplexing image data corresponding to a plurality of image sequences and image data input as the video stream Vs correspond to any image sequence Is received, and decoding processing is performed on image data corresponding to each image sequence based on the image sequence identification information Id. The image data is data obtained by encoding a digital image signal corresponding to an image sequence.

Then, the image decoding apparatus 2 according to the second embodiment includes (m +
1) It is configured to perform decoding processing on image data corresponding to one image series in parallel. Here, the image sequence identification information Id indicating the image sequence to be decoded is input from the CPU (not shown) that controls the image decoding device 2 to the image decoding device 2 in synchronization with the video stream Vs. It is.

That is, the image decoding device 2 extracts the parameter information Dp of each image sequence from the input video stream Vs, and is specified by the image sequence identification information Id of the input video stream Vs.
Performing decoding processing on the image data Vs of the target image sequence for each predetermined data unit by referring to the decoded reference image data Dr as necessary based on the decoding information of the image sequence to be processed; A decoder 20 that outputs decoded image data Db corresponding to the target image sequence, and memory areas (data storage areas) Mc (0), Mc corresponding to each of a plurality of image sequences handled by the image decoding apparatus 2.
A first memory Mc having (1),..., Mc (m) and storing required decode information Dd in each memory area;
A second memory 14 for storing reference image data Dr referred to in the decoding process.

Here, the (m + 1) image sequences included in the video stream Vs are respectively referred to as image sequences Ob0 to Ob0.
If Obm is set, the image series Ob0 to Obm include the memory areas Mc (0) to Mc (m) in the first memory Mc.
, And the memory areas Mc (0) to Mc (m) store decode information Dd0, Dd1,..., Ddm corresponding to (m + 1) image sequences, respectively. Each of the decode information Dd is composed of (N + 1) pieces of information Dp of parameters 0 to N.
Information Dp of +1) parameters is stored in parameter storage positions R0 to Rn corresponding to (N + 1) parameters in each of the memory areas Mc (0) to Mc (m). The initial value stored in each of the parameter storage positions R0 to Rn is a predetermined value, for example, an encoding method (MPEG).
-2, MPEG-4, etc.) and values set as operations of the entire image decoding apparatus, that is, values for setting an initial state of the image decoding apparatus. further,
In the parameter storage locations R0 to Rn, consecutive addresses in the address space of the first memory Mc are set.

In each of the memory areas Mc (0) to Mc (m) in the first memory Mc, the parameter storage positions R0 to Rn having the same relative position from the head position of each memory area are stored. , The same type of parameter is stored. Further, each decoding information Dd is configured (N + 1).
As the parameter information Dp, for example, a data unit of a macro block or more indicating a vertical and horizontal size of a screen corresponding to image data, an encoding method corresponding to the image data, a quantization parameter in an image data encoding process, and the like. Of the reference image data Dr stored in the second memory 14 and the header information corresponding to the
And the information indicating the storage position in.

The decoder 20 extracts various parameter information Dp as decode information corresponding to a target image sequence to be decoded by analyzing header information of the input video stream Vs. A decoding processing unit 123 that generates parameter relative storage position information Irp for identifying a parameter, and a register 124 that stores parameter information Dp corresponding to a target image sequence required for decoding processing in the decoding processing unit 123 Have been. A storage unit for storing some parameters is set in the register 124.
The parameter information Dp required for the decoding process is stored. Further, the decoding processing unit 123 performs a decoding process on the input video stream Vs based on the parameter information Dp extracted from the video stream Vs and the parameter information Dp from the first memory Mc.
Generate the decoded image data Db.

Further, the image decoding apparatus 2 sets the image sequence identification information Id corresponding to each of the image sequences and the parameter relative storage position information Id from the decoding processing unit 123 of the decoder 20.
parameter storage position determining means 22 for determining an absolute storage position of the parameter information in the first memory Mc based on rp and outputting parameter absolute storage position information Iap indicating the absolute storage position; And the first
Of the memory areas Mc (0) to Mc (m) that store decode information of each image sequence based on the parameter absolute storage position information Iap. Rn is specified, and a parameter storage position selection unit 23 that enables access to the parameter information Dp between the specified parameter storage position and the register 124 of the decoder 20 is provided. Here, the parameter storage position selection unit 23 includes a first terminal A for accessing the parameter information Dp with the register 124, and all decode information storage areas (memory areas) in the first memory Mc. Mc (0), Mc
(1),..., Mc (m) parameter storage position R
Second terminals B00-B0n, B10 corresponding to 0-Rn
, Bm0 to B1n,..., Bm0 to Bmn, and the first terminal A
To a plurality of second terminals B00 to B0n, B10 to B1n,
..., connect to any of Bm0 to Bmn.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for supplementarily explaining the structure of the first memory Mc. The first memory Mc
Then, the memory areas Mc (0) to Mc (m) for storing the decoding information for each image sequence have a fixed data storage size S, and the memory areas Mc (0), Mc (1),.
.., the storage position of parameter 0 in Mc (m) is
Start positions SA (0), SA (1),... Of each memory area
・, SA (m).

Therefore, the following equation (1) is established. SA (i + 1) = SA (i) + S [i: 0 to m (m is a positive integer)] (1)

Next, the operation of the image decoding apparatus 2 according to the second embodiment having the above-described configuration will be described. When a video stream Vs obtained by multiplexing image data corresponding to a plurality of image sequences is input to the image decoding device 2 for each predetermined data unit (here, frame), the image decoding device 2 The decoding process of Vs is performed for each data unit based on the video stream Vs and the image sequence identification information Id input in synchronization with the video stream Vs.

That is, the decoding processing unit 123 of the decoder 20
In, the header corresponding to the target frame to be processed is analyzed based on the input video stream Vs, and various parameter information Dp is sequentially generated as decode information. At this time, the decoding processing unit 123 generates the parameter information Dp, and also stores the parameter relative storage position information Irp indicating the type of the generated parameter.
Is also generated. This parameter relative storage position information Irp
Is the storage position R of the generated parameter information Dp in the memory area storing one piece of decode information.
P is relatively shown with respect to the parameter storage position SA at the head.

The generated parameter information Dp is stored in the register 124, and the parameter relative storage position information Irp is output to the parameter storage position determining means 22. The parameter storage position determining means 22 determines the absolute storage position AP of the parameter based on the image sequence identification information Id and the parameter relative storage position information Irp, and the parameter absolute storage position information Iap indicating the absolute storage position.
Is output to the parameter storage position selection unit 23.

Then, the first terminal A of the parameter storage position selector 23 is connected to a predetermined terminal among the plurality of second terminals B00 to Bmn. Thereby, the register 1
The parameter information Dp stored in the first memory Mc is transferred to a predetermined parameter storage position in the first memory Mc. All the parameter information Dp extracted by the decoding process corresponding to one frame is a decode information storage area (memory area) corresponding to the image sequence to which the frame belongs.
Parameter storage position R in Mc (0) to Mc (m)
0 to Rn.

In this way, after all the parameter information Dp corresponding to the target frame of a predetermined image sequence is stored in the memory area (decode information storage area) corresponding to the image sequence, the decoding processing unit 123 The decoding process corresponding to the target frame is performed using the parameter information Dp stored in the memory area.

That is, during the decoding processing of the target frame, the decoding processing unit 123 outputs the parameter relative storage position information Irp indicating the parameters required for the decoding processing to the parameter storage position determining means 22, and the parameter storage The position determining means 22 determines the parameter absolute storage position AP based on the image sequence identification information Id and the parameter relative storage position information Irp.
The parameter storage position AP indicated by the parameter absolute storage position information Iap from is selected. Thereby, the parameter information Dp necessary for the decoding process of the target frame is transferred from the first memory Mc to the register 124. Then, the decoding processing unit 123 performs a decoding process on the target frame based on the parameter information Dp of the register 124 in the second mode.
This is performed by appropriately referring to the reference image data Dr stored in the memory 14, and the decoded image data Db corresponding to the frame is output. When the target frame is an I frame, the decoding process is performed on this frame without referring to the reference image data Dr stored in the second memory 14.

Subsequently, for example, when a video stream Vs of a frame constituting the image sequence Ob (1) is input, decode information (a plurality of pieces of parameter information Dp) obtained by analyzing the header of the video stream Vs is
The image sequence is stored in the memory area Mc (1) in the first memory Mc corresponding to the image sequence. Then, the decoding process for the target frame of the image sequence is performed by the register 124 from the memory area Mc (1) in the first memory Mc.
Is performed based on the parameter information Dp read out as necessary.

In a decoding process for a subsequent frame belonging to the same image sequence as the frame subjected to the decoding process, the value of the parameter when the previous frame is decoded is compared with the value of the parameter to be written. Only the parameter information Dp whose value has changed corresponds to the corresponding first information.
May be written to the memory area of the memory Mc.

Hereinafter, the parameter storage position determining means 2 will be described.
In 2, the operation for determining the absolute storage position AP of the parameter will be briefly described. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the operation of the parameter storage position determining means 22. First, when image sequence identification information Id indicating a target image sequence to be decoded is input to the parameter storage position determining unit 22 (step S11), the parameter storage position determining unit 22 indicates a target image sequence to be decoded. Image sequence identification information Id
, A target image sequence is selected (step S1).
2) As a result, the start position SA (i) (i = 0 to M) of the decode information storage area (memory area) in the first memory Mc corresponding to the target image sequence is determined (step S).
13).

Next, at the time of decoding processing by the decoding processing unit 123 of the decoder 20, parameter information D
When p is acquired, the parameter relative storage position Irp indicating the relative storage position RP of the parameter information Dp is output to the parameter storage position determining means 22. (Step S14).

Then, the parameter storage position determining means 22
Then, the head position S of the memory area corresponding to the target image sequence
Image sequence identification information Id indicating A (i) (i = 0 to M)
Based on the parameter relative storage position information Irp indicating the relative storage position RP of the parameter information Dp, the parameter absolute storage position information Iap indicating the absolute storage position AP of the parameter information Dp extracted by the decoding processing unit 123 is obtained. Derived.

More specifically, the parameter storage position determination means 22 starts the head position SA (i) (i) of the decode information storage area (memory area) in the first memory Mc of the target image sequence.
= 0 to M) and the relative storage position RP of the parameter information Dp indicated by the parameter relative storage position information Irp from the decoding processing unit 123 to obtain the absolute storage position AP of the parameter information Dp in the first memory Mc. Is required.

Then, the parameter information Dp stored in the register 124 of the decoder 20 is stored by the parameter storage position selector 23 in the specified parameter storage position of the first memory Mc.

Each time the parameter information Dp is obtained as the decoding information corresponding to the frame by analyzing the header corresponding to the frame, the decoding processing unit 123 stores the parameter information Dp from the register 124 in the first memory Mc as described above. Is performed. When the parameter information Dp is referred to as decoding information in the decoding process by the decoding processing unit 123, the storage position of the required parameter information Dp in the first memory Mc is determined as described above. A process of transferring the parameter information Dp from the first memory Mc to the register 124 is performed. And
In the decoding process for each frame, the parameter information Dp corresponding to each image sequence is always updated to the parameter information Dp corresponding to the latest frame.

In the parameter storage position determination process 22, each time the decoding process for each frame is completed in the decoder 20, the decoding is performed based on the image sequence identification information Id indicating the image sequence corresponding to the frame to be decoded. A data storage area corresponding to the target image sequence is selected.

As described above, the image decoding apparatus 2 according to the second embodiment has the register 124 for storing the parameter information Dp obtained by analyzing the header corresponding to the frame or the parameter information Dp necessary for the decoding process. The parameter information Dp stored in the register 124
And a memory area Mc for storing decoding information including a plurality of pieces of parameter information Dp corresponding to a plurality of image sequences.
A first memory Mc having (0) to Mc (m), a parameter storage position in the first memory Mc is specified according to a target frame, and a register 124 in the decoder 20 and a first memory are designated. Since the parameter information Dp is transferred between Mc and the parameter storage position of the designated parameter, even if the target image sequence is switched during the decoding process on the input video stream Vs, The storage and readout of the parameter information Dp of the target image sequence in the first memory Mc can be performed using the dedicated register 124, whereby the decoding process corresponding to a plurality of image sequences can be performed by the single decoder 20. Can be done in parallel. Further, the parameter information Dp required for decoding the target image sequence is stored in the register 124 from the first memory Mc.
And the decoding process is carried out one by one, the number of parameter information Dp stored in the register 124 in the decoder 20 is reduced, and the capacity of the register 124 can be saved.

Further, even when the number of image sequences to be decoded increases, the number of decoded image sequences increases as the memory area for storing decoding information corresponding to the increased image sequence within the capacity of the first memory Mc. By allocating a memory area for storing decode information corresponding to an image sequence, it can be easily added.

In the second embodiment, the parameter storage position determining means 22 determines the absolute storage position A of the parameter.
When deriving P, the image sequence to be decoded is always determined based on the image sequence identification information Id.
The method for deriving the parameter absolute storage position information Iap is not limited to this.

For example, the parameter storage position determining means 22
In, when the video stream Vs of the first frame corresponding to each image sequence is input, an image sequence to be decoded is selected based on the image sequence identification information Id corresponding to the first frame, and the selected image sequence is selected. The head position information indicating the head position SA of the memory area which is the area for storing the decoded information corresponding to the decoded image sequence is held, and corresponds to each parameter information Dp treated as the decode information in the decoding processing of the subsequent frame. The parameter absolute storage position information Iap to be performed may be derived based on the held top position information. In this case, the parameter storage position determining means 22 determines the head position SA of the memory area only when the image sequence identification information Id to be decoded is newly given, and determines the head position SA of the held memory area. Is updated. With such a configuration, the amount of calculation processing in the parameter storage position determining unit 22 can be reduced.

(Embodiment 3) FIG. 7 is a block diagram for explaining an image decoding apparatus according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention. The image decoding device 3 according to the third embodiment analyzes the bit stream Bs input as the image data in addition to the configuration of the image decoding device 1 according to the first embodiment, and And image data interpreting means 31 for separating the image sequence identification information (object identifier) Id and the other image information (video stream) Vs in the first embodiment. The video stream Vs is output to the transfer means 13 and is output to the decoder 10. Therefore, the third embodiment
Is different from the image decoding apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment, the selection of the target image sequence to be decoded is performed according to the input bit stream Bs.

FIG. 9 shows the data structure of the bit stream Bs input to the image decoding device 3 according to the third embodiment. The bit stream Bs is divided for each predetermined processing unit, and the unit data corresponding to each processing unit is composed of the object identifier Id and other image information (video stream) Vs. For example, when the bit stream Bs corresponds to an MPEG-4 encoding system capable of encoding and operating an image signal corresponding to one scene for each object (image sequence) constituting one scene. Corresponds to one screen (hereinafter referred to as VOP (video object plane)) constituting an object.

More specifically, the bit stream Bs corresponding to MPEG-4 is, as shown in FIG.
(0), VOP (1), and unit data VD1 and VD2 corresponding to VOP (2).
0, VD1, and VD2 are image data (VOP data) V0, V1, and V2 obtained by encoding digital image signals corresponding to the respective VOPs, and object identifiers H0, H1, and H2 added to the respective image data. It is composed of The image data (VOP data) V0, V1, and V2 are V
Information necessary for decoding processing of OP (0), VOP (1), VOP (2) is stored in VOP headers Vh0, Vh1,
Vh2. Here, the object identifiers H0 to H2 added to the respective VOP data indicate the objects (image sequences) to which the respective VOP data belong. The video stream Vs according to the first embodiment is composed of image data including a VOP header corresponding to each object other than the object identifiers H0 to H2. Is the above VOP
Headers Vh0 to Vh2. And the third embodiment
The other configuration of the image decoding device 3 according to the first embodiment is exactly the same as that of the image decoding device 1 according to the first embodiment.

Hereinafter, the image decoding apparatus 3 according to the third embodiment will be briefly described. That is, the image decoding device 3 according to the third embodiment receives the video stream Vs from the image data interpreting means 31 and extracts the parameter information Dp, which is decode information, based on the header information (VOP header) of each VOP. , Obm, and a plurality of objects (image series) Ob0, Ob1,. Information storage area (memory area) Ma corresponding to
(0), Ma (1),..., Ma (m), and required decode information Dd0, Dd1,.
, Ddm, and a second memory 14 for storing processed VOP data referred to in the decoding process as reference image data Dr.

Further, the image decoding apparatus 3 includes a decode information transfer means 13 for transferring the decode information Dp corresponding to each object between the first memory Ma and the decoder 10 based on the object identifier Id. , The decode information transfer means 1
3 and one of the plurality of memory areas Ma (0) to Ma (m) in the first memory Ma based on the object identifier Id. And a memory area selection unit 12 that enables access to the decoded information between the memory area and the decoded information transfer unit 13.

Here, the memory area selecting section 12 has the same configuration as that of the first embodiment. Also,
The decoding information transfer means 13 is different from the decoding information storage register 101 of the decoder 10 in that the transfer of the decoding information Dd from the decoding information storage register 101 to the first memory Ma is performed not on the basis of the timing signal It but on the basis of the object identifier Id. Different from one.

Further, the decoder 10 extracts the decoding information Dd corresponding to the VOP data to be decoded, similarly to the decoder in the image decoding apparatus 1 of the first embodiment.
And a decoding processing unit 103 for generating an object identifier Ip corresponding to the VOP, and decoding information storage for storing the decoding information Dd generated by the decoding processing unit 103 or the decoding information Dd required for decoding processing. Register 1
01, and a parameter selection unit 102 provided between the decoding processing unit 103 and the decoding information storage register 101. Further, decoding processing section 103 differs from decoding processing section 101 of the first embodiment only in that timing signal It of the first embodiment is not generated.

Next, the operation of the image decoding apparatus 3 having the above-described configuration according to the third embodiment will be described. The operation of the image decoding device 3 according to the third embodiment is exactly the same as the operation of the image decoding device 1 according to the first embodiment except for the operation of the image data interpreting means 31. The operation related to the image data interpreting means 31 will be described.

When unit data corresponding to each VOP is sequentially input to the image decoding device 3 according to the third embodiment as a bit stream Bs, the unit data corresponding to the input VOP is input to the image data Is interpreted, and this unit data is separated into an object identifier Id for identifying an object to be processed and other image information (video stream) Vs. The video stream Vs is output to the decoder 10 to the selection unit 12 and the decoding information transfer unit 13.

Next, in the memory area selecting section 12, a target object to be decoded is selected based on the object identifier Id from the image data interpreting means 31, and the decoding information transfer means 13 corresponds to the target object. Decode information Dd
Is transferred from the first memory Ma to the decode information storage register 101 in the decoder 10.

In the decoder 10, the decoding processing unit 1
At 03, the decoding process for the VOP data is performed with reference to the decoding information Dd stored in the decoding information storage register 101.

Then, in the decoder 10, the input VO
The decoding process for the P data is completed, and the image data interpreting means 31 outputs the object identifier I corresponding to the next VOP data.
When d is detected, the decoded information transfer means 13
The decode information Dd stored in the decode information storage register 101 is transferred to the memory area in the first memory Ma selected by the memory area selecting unit 12 at that time.

After this transfer is completed, the memory area selection unit 12 selects a memory area in the first memory Ma corresponding to the object to be decoded, based on the object identifier Id for the next VOP. In the same manner as described above, decoding processing is performed on VOP data.

As described above, the decoding processing for each VOP is repeatedly performed based on the unit data corresponding to each VOP sequentially input as the bit stream Bs.
Reproduction of the decoded image data Db corresponding to each VOP is performed. As described above, in the image decoding device 3 according to the third embodiment, in addition to the configuration of the image decoding device 1 according to the first embodiment, the bit stream Bs input as unit data corresponding to each VOP is analyzed. The unit data is separated into an object identifier Id for identifying an object to be processed and other image information (video stream) Vs, and the object identifier Id is output to the decode information transfer unit 13 and the memory area selection unit 12. Since the image data interpretation means 31 for outputting the video stream Vs to the decoder 10 is provided, in addition to the effect of the first embodiment,
Selection of a target object to be decoded can be performed according to the bit stream Bs input as unit data corresponding to each VOP.

Also, as in the first embodiment, the decoder 1
0 has a decode information storage register 101 for storing decode information Dd to be referred to at the time of decoding processing. The decode information Dd corresponding to each object is stored in the decode information storage register 101 and all the decode targets. Memory M for storing decode information Dd corresponding to the object
Since the transfer is performed between the VOPs a and d, the decoding process for decoding each VOP data based on the decoding information Dd corresponding to the object to be processed can be performed by the single decoder 10. The decoding information storage register 101
That can be accessed at high speed, such as cache and SRA
With M, the performance of the present image decoding apparatus can be improved. Furthermore, even when the number of decoding target objects Ob included in the bit stream Bs increases, as an area for storing the decoding information Dd corresponding to the increased objects, within the range of the capacity of the first memory Ma, By allocating a memory area for storing the decoding information corresponding to the increased image sequence to the memory space, the memory space can be easily expanded.

Further, a plurality of pieces of parameter information Dp constituting the decode information Dd are stored in a decode information storage register 101 in which storage positions for respective parameters are set, and a first information.
Is transferred to and from the memory area in which the storage position of each parameter is set in the memory Ma, the first processing is performed even if the object to be decoded is switched during the decoding processing in the decoding processing unit 103. The parameter storage position in each decode information storage area (memory area) in the memory Ma is invariable, and as a result, the amount of calculation processing regarding the parameter storage position when an object is switched can be suppressed.

In the third embodiment, the decoder 10 has the decode information storage register 101 for storing the decode information Dd corresponding to the object to be decoded, as in the first embodiment. , The first memory has a temporary memory area for temporarily storing decode information Dd corresponding to the object to be decoded, and the decoder 10 is configured to store a part of all the parameter information Dp corresponding to the target object. It is also possible to have a register for storing only the decoding information, and to transfer the decoding information in parameter units between the register and the temporary memory area.

(Embodiment 4) FIG. 8 is a block diagram for explaining an image decoding apparatus according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention. The image decoding device 4 according to the fourth embodiment analyzes the bit stream Bs input as image data and converts the bit stream Bs into the above-described example in addition to the configuration of the image decoding device 2 according to the second embodiment. Image data interpretation means 41 for separating the image sequence identification information (object identifier) Id and the other image information (video stream) Vs in the second embodiment, and the object identifier Id is output to the parameter storage position determination means 22 The video stream Vs is output to the decoder 20. Therefore, the image decoding apparatus 4 according to the fourth embodiment
Unlike the image decoding apparatus 2 according to the second embodiment, the target object to be decoded is selected according to the input bit stream Bs.

In the fourth embodiment, the bit stream Bs input to the image decoding device 4 has exactly the same data structure as the bit stream Bs input to the image decoding device 3 of the third embodiment. are doing. And
Other configurations of the image decoding device 4 according to the fourth embodiment are exactly the same as those of the image decoding device 2 according to the second embodiment.

Hereinafter, the image decoding apparatus 4 according to the fourth embodiment will be described. That is, the image decoding device 4 receives the video stream Vs from the image data interpretation unit 41,
A decoder 20 for extracting parameter information Dp, which is decoding information, based on header information (VOP header) of each VOP, and performing decoding processing on the VOP data with reference to the processed VOP data as necessary; Memory areas (decode information storage areas) Mc (0), Mc (1),... Corresponding to each of a plurality of objects handled at the same time.
.., Mc (m), and stores the required decode information Dd0, Dd1,..., Ddm in each memory area.
And a second memory 14 for storing processed VOP data referred to in the decoding process as reference image data Dr.

The decoder 20 analyzes the header information (VOP header) of the input video stream Vs and extracts various parameter information Dp as decode information corresponding to the target VOP to be decoded.
A decoding processing unit 123 for generating parameter relative storage position information Irp for identifying the parameter information Dp;
and a register 124 for storing p.

Further, the image decoding device 4 includes the image sequence identification information (object identifier) Id corresponding to each object and the decoder 2.
0 based on the parameter relative storage position information Irp from the decoding processing unit 123.
Parameter storage position determining means 2 for determining P and outputting parameter absolute storage position information Iap indicating the absolute storage position
2, a parameter storage position in the memory area of the first memory Mc is provided based on the parameter absolute storage position information Iap provided between the decoder 20 and the first memory Mc. Between the parameter storage position and the register 124 of the decoder 20, the parameter information D
parameter storage location selector 2 that allows access to p
And 3.

Next, the operation of the image decoding apparatus according to the fourth embodiment having the above-described configuration will be described. The operation of the image decoding device 4 according to the fourth embodiment is exactly the same as the operation of the image decoding device 2 according to the second embodiment except for the operation of the image data interpreting means 41. The operation related to the image data interpreting means 41 will be described.

When unit data corresponding to each VOP is sequentially input to the image decoding device 4 as the bit stream Bs, the image data interpreting means 41 interprets the unit data Bs corresponding to the input VOP. The unit data is separated into an object identifier Id for identifying an object to be processed and other image information (video stream) Vs, and the object identifier Id is transmitted to the parameter storage Is output to the decoder 20.

Then, in the decoder 20, the decoding processing unit 12
3 performs a decoding process on the target VOP. In this decoding process, first, the parameter information Dp necessary for the VOP data decoding process is obtained by analyzing the header (VOP header) of the target VOP, and the relative storage position RP of the parameter information Dp indicating the type of each parameter is obtained. It is generated as parameter relative storage position information Irp. The parameter information Dp obtained as the decoding information at the time of this decoding processing is stored in the register 124 in the decoder 20. Further, the parameter relative storage position information Irp is output to the parameter storage position determining means 22.

In the parameter storage position determining means 22, the parameter relative storage position information Irp
And the object identifier Id from the image data interpreting means 41
, The parameter storage position in the first memory Mc is determined, and the parameter information Dp acquired by the decoding processing unit 123 is transferred to the determined parameter storage position. That is, the obtained parameter information Dp corresponding to the target VOP is stored in the target VOP in the first memory Mc.
Is stored in the memory area corresponding to the object to which

The storage position of the parameter information Dp obtained by the decoding processing unit 123 in the first memory Mc is determined by the parameter position determining means 22 of the second embodiment.
Is determined in the same manner.

On the other hand, when the decoding processing section 123 refers to the parameter information Dp as the decoding information in the decoding processing of the video stream Vs, the processing for determining the parameter storage position is performed in the same manner as described above, and the determined storage The position parameter information Dp is transferred from the first memory Mc to the register 124. Then, a decoding process is performed on the video stream Vs based on the parameter information Dp stored in the register 124. When the parameter information Dp is transferred between the first memory Mc and the register 124, the parameter storage position selection unit 23 uses the parameter storage position selection unit 2 according to the second embodiment.
By exactly the same operation as in step 3, one of the plurality of parameter storage positions in the first memory Mc is selected.

Thereafter, when a bit stream (unit data) Bs corresponding to the next VOP is inputted, the object identifier Id corresponding to this VOP is detected by the image data interpreting means 41, and this object identifier Id is Based on the parameter information Dp stored in the register 124, the parameter information Dp is transferred between the register 124 and the first memory Mc based on the video stream (VOP data) corresponding to the VOP. Decoding processing is performed.

As described above, the decoding process for each VOP is repeatedly performed based on the unit data corresponding to each VOP sequentially input as the bit stream Bs.
The decoded image data Db corresponding to each VOP is generated.

As described above, in the image decoding device 4 according to the fourth embodiment, in addition to the configuration of the image decoding device 2 according to the second embodiment, a bit stream Bs input as unit data corresponding to each VOP is analyzed. Then, the unit data is converted into an object identifier Id for identifying an object to be processed,
The object information Id is separated into other image information (video stream) Vs, the object identifier Id is output to the parameter storage position determining means 22, and the video stream Vs is decoded by the decoder 20.
Is provided with the image data interpreting means 41 for outputting the target object to be decoded in addition to the effect of the second embodiment. It can be performed according to Bs.

Further, in the fourth embodiment, as in the second embodiment, the decoder 20 has a register 124 for storing parameter information Dp referred to as decode information in the decoding process. Since the parameter information Dp corresponding to the object is transferred between the register 124 and the first memory Mc storing the decode information Dd corresponding to all the objects to be decoded, the parameter information Dp for the video stream Vs Even when the object is switched during the decoding process, the parameter information of the target object can be stored and read out using the dedicated register (register) 124, so that a single decoder can store the parameter information for a plurality of objects. Corresponding decoding processes can be performed in parallel.

Further, even when the number of objects to be decoded increases, the storage unit of the decode information corresponding to the increased object stores the decode information in the memory space within the capacity of the first memory Mc. Can be easily added by allocating a memory area for storing

In the fourth embodiment, when the parameter storage position determining means 22 derives the parameter absolute storage position information Iap, the object to be decoded is always determined based on the object identifier Id. However, the method of deriving the parameter absolute storage position information Iap is not limited to this.

For example, the parameter storage position determining means 22
When a video stream of a first VOP corresponding to each object is input, an object to be decoded is selected based on an object identifier Id corresponding to the first VOP, and a decoding corresponding to the selected object is performed. The head position information indicating the head position SA of the memory area storing the information is held, and the parameter absolute storage position information Iap corresponding to each piece of parameter information Dp treated as the decode information in the decoding process of the subsequent VOP is described above. The derivation may be performed based on the held head position information. In this case, the parameter storage position determination means 22 determines the head position SA of the memory area only when a new object identifier Id to be decoded is given, and indicates the head position SA of the held memory area. Update information. With such a configuration, the amount of calculation processing in the parameter storage position determining unit 22 can be reduced.

Further, in the second, third and fourth embodiments, similarly to the first embodiment, the decode information D
d, and a second memory 14 for storing information other than the decode information Dd, for example, information that needs to be temporarily stored, reference image data Dr, and the like.
Are provided as separate memories, the first and second memories are configured by a single memory, and an area for storing the decode information Dd and information other than the decode information Dd are stored on this memory. A storage area may be reserved.

Further, in Embodiments 3 and 4,
Bit stream Bs input to the image decoding device
Is assumed that an object identifier Id is assigned to each VOP which is a processing unit in MPEG-4. The object identifier Id is a basic processing unit of image data corresponding to each image sequence other than the VOP. For example, MPEG-1, 2
May be added for each picture or frame in, or may be added for other processing units including a plurality of the above basic units.

Furthermore, if an image decoding program for performing the image decoding process of each of the above embodiments by a computer is recorded on a data storage medium such as a floppy disk, the program stored on this storage medium can be used. The image decoding process in each of the above embodiments
This can be easily performed in an independent computer system.

FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining a case where the image decoding processing of each of the above-described embodiments or its modifications is performed by a computer system using a floppy disk storing the image decoding program.

FIG. 10 (a) shows the appearance, cross-sectional structure, and main body of the floppy disk viewed from the front of the floppy disk, and FIG. 10 (b) shows an example of the physical format of the main body of the floppy disk.

The floppy disk FD is composed of the floppy disk body D and a floppy disk case FC.
A plurality of tracks Tr are formed concentrically from the outer circumference toward the inner circumference on the surface of the floppy disk main body D, and each track Tr has 16 sectors Se in the angular direction. Is divided into Therefore,
In the floppy disk FD storing the program, the floppy disk main body D has data as the program recorded in an area (sector) Se allocated thereon.

FIG. 10C shows a system configuration for recording the image decoding program on the floppy disk FD and performing image decoding processing by software using the image decoding program stored in the floppy disk FD. ing.

When the image decoding program is recorded on the floppy disk FD, the computer system Cs
Writes the data as the image decoding program into the floppy disk FD via the floppy disk drive FDD. When the image decoding device is constructed in the computer system Cs by using the program recorded on the floppy disk FD, the program is read from the floppy disk FD by the floppy disk drive FDD and loaded into the computer system Cs.

Although FIG. 10 shows a floppy disk as a storage medium for a program, an optical disk may be used as a recording medium for a program. It can be performed. Further, the program storage medium is not limited to the optical disk or the floppy disk, but may be any type of IC card, ROM cassette, etc., as long as the program can be recorded. Even when these data recording media are used, The image decoding processing of each embodiment can be performed by software in the same manner as in the case of using the floppy disk or the like.

[0146]

According to the present invention (claim 1), in an image decoding apparatus for decoding image data composed of a plurality of image sequences, each image for storing decoding information used when decoding image data is stored. With a memory having a memory area corresponding to the series, having a register for storing decoding information corresponding to the target image series to be decoded, based on the decoding information stored in the register, A decoder for decoding the image data of the target image series is provided, and the decoding information corresponding to the target image series is transferred from the memory to the register. Can always be referred to, and a decoding process corresponding to a plurality of image sequences can be performed by a single decoder.

Further, even if the image sequence to be decoded is switched, the decoder always refers to the decode information in the decode information storage area in the register. The amount of calculation can be reduced. Further, since a memory area for storing decoding information of each image sequence is secured in the memory, even if the number of image sequences to be decoded increases, each image sequence can be changed without changing the configuration of the decoder. This can be easily dealt with by allocating a memory area for storing the decoding information on the memory.

According to the present invention (claim 2), in an image decoding apparatus for decoding image data composed of a plurality of image sequences, each image sequence for storing decoding information used when decoding image data is stored. A memory having a corresponding individual memory area and a temporary memory area for temporarily storing decoding information of a specific image sequence is provided, and decoding processing is performed based on the decoding information stored in the temporary memory area. A decoder that performs a decoding process of image data of a target image sequence to be processed,
Since the decoding information of the target image sequence is transferred from the individual memory area of the memory to the temporary memory area, a decoding process corresponding to a plurality of image sequences is performed by a single decoder as in the first aspect of the present invention. Can be done by
Further, it is possible to reduce the amount of calculation related to the calculation for specifying the storage area of the decoding information necessary for the decoding process. Further, since a memory area for storing the decode information of each image sequence is secured in the memory, even when the number of image sequences to be decoded increases, a memory area for storing the decode information of each image sequence is provided. Can be easily dealt with by allocating on a memory.

According to the present invention (claim 3), in an image decoding apparatus for decoding image data composed of a plurality of image sequences, decode information composed of a plurality of parameters used when decoding the image data is stored. For decoding a target image sequence in a memory region corresponding to a target image sequence based on a memory having a memory region corresponding to each image sequence and image identification information indicating the target image sequence to be decoded. A parameter storage position determining means for determining a storage position of a parameter required for processing,
Since the decoding process corresponding to the target image sequence is performed based on the parameters stored in the parameter storage positions determined by the parameter storage position determining means, the required parameters are used in the decoding process. But,
The data is read from the memory area corresponding to the target image sequence in the memory. Therefore, decoding processing corresponding to a plurality of image sequences can be performed by a single decoder. Further, since the parameters required for the decoding process are obtained by directly referring to the storage position of the parameter required for the decoding process in the memory, the decoding information storage area of the target image sequence, The number of memory areas of the decoding information to be secured on the memory is the number of image sequences to be decoded, and it is possible to minimize the memory usage.

According to the present invention (Claim 4), in the image decoding method for decoding image data composed of a plurality of image sequences, the decoding target of the decoding information of each image sequence stored in the memory is The decoding information corresponding to the target image sequence is transferred to a temporary storage unit, and the image data corresponding to the target image sequence is decoded with reference to the decoding information stored in the temporary storage unit. As in the first aspect of the invention, the decoding processing of a plurality of image sequences can be performed by a single decoder, and the amount of calculation related to the calculation for specifying the storage area of the decoding information necessary for the decoding processing Can be reduced. Further, even when the number of target image sequences to be decoded increases, it can be easily handled by allocating a memory area for storing decoding information of each image sequence on a memory.

According to the present invention (claim 5), in an image decoding method for decoding image data composed of a plurality of image sequences, an object of the decoding process in the decode information composed of a plurality of parameter information of each image sequence. Select the decode information corresponding to the target image sequence, and among the plurality of parameter information constituting the selected decode information,
A storage position for parameter information necessary for decoding processing is determined, and image data corresponding to the target image sequence is decoded based on the parameter information stored in the determined predetermined storage position. In the decoding process, the necessary parameters are read from the memory area corresponding to the target image sequence in the memory, as in the case of the present invention. Therefore, decoding processing corresponding to a plurality of image sequences can be performed by a single decoder. In addition, parameters required for the decoding process are
Since it is obtained by directly referring to the storage position of the parameter required at the time of decoding processing in the decoding information storage area of the target image sequence, the number of memory areas of the decoding information to be secured on the memory is to be decoded. This is the number of image sequences, and it is possible to minimize the memory usage.

According to the present invention (claim 6), in a program storage medium storing a program for performing data processing on image data composed of a plurality of image sequences by a computer, the computer as the program stores the program in a memory. The process of transferring the decode information of the target image sequence to be decoded among the stored decode information of each image sequence to the temporary storage unit, and referring to the decode information stored in the temporary storage unit. Since the data processing program for performing the process of decoding the image data corresponding to the target image sequence is stored, the image decoding method of claim 4 can be realized by software.

According to the present invention (claim 7), in the program storage medium storing the program for performing the data processing on the image data composed of a plurality of image sequences by the computer, as the program, the computer executes the processing for each image data. A process of selecting decode information corresponding to a target image sequence to be decoded from among decode information consisting of a plurality of parameter information corresponding to a sequence; and a plurality of parameter information constituting the selected decode information Determining the storage position for the parameter information necessary for the decoding process, and decoding the image data corresponding to the target image sequence based on the parameter information stored in the determined predetermined storage position Since a data processing program for performing
The image decoding method according to claim 5 can be realized by software.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram for describing an image decoding device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for describing a flow of processing of decode information in the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram for explaining an image decoding device according to a modification of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an image decoding device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a configuration of a memory area in a first memory included in the image decoding apparatus according to the second embodiment, and shows a head address and a size of each memory area;

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a flow of processing of decode information in the second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram for describing an image decoding device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an image decoding device according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a data structure of a bit stream that is an input signal to the image decoding apparatuses according to the third and fourth embodiments.

FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining a program storage medium (FIGS. (A) and (b)) storing a program for performing the decoding process of the embodiment by a computer system and the computer system (FIG. (C)); FIG.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram for explaining a conventional image decoding apparatus that performs decoding processing of image data corresponding to a plurality of image sequences using a plurality of decoders.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram for explaining a conventional image decoding device that performs decoding processing of image data corresponding to a plurality of image sequences using a single decoder.

FIG. 13 is a display example of a composite image in which image data in which a plurality of image sequences exist on one screen is displayed on the screen.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing code image data of a plurality of image sequences (FIG. (A)) and a diagram showing a video stream obtained by multiplexing the code image data (FIG. (B)).

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 1a, 2-4 Image decoding device 10, 10a, 20 Decoder 12 Memory area selection unit 13 Decoding information transfer unit 14 Second memory 15, 102 Parameter selection unit 22 Parameter storage position determination unit 23 Parameter storage position selection unit 31, 41 Image data interpreting means 101 Decoding information storage register 103, 123 Decoding processing unit 104, 124 Register Ma, Mb, Mc First memory Ma (0), Ma (1), ..., Ma (m), Mc
, Mc (m) Memory area Mb (0), Mb (1), ..., Mb (m) Individual memory area Mb (t) Temporary memory area SA (0 ), SA (1), SA (M) Memory area start position Sb Coded image data S Decode information size RP Parameter relative storage position AP Parameter absolute storage position H0 to H2 Object identifier Vh0 to Vh2 VOP header V0 to V2 Image Data (VOP data) VD0 to VD2 Unit data Iap parameter absolute storage position information Irp parameter relative storage position information Id Image sequence identification information (object identifier) Ip parameter storage position information It Timing signal Db Decoded image data Dd, Dd0, Dd1,. .., Ddm, decode information Dp0, Dp1,..., Dpn parameter information B Bitstream Vs video stream Cs computer system Di floppy disk body FC floppy disk case FD Floppy disk FDD diskette drive Se sectors Tr track

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Shintaro Nakatani 1006 Kazuma Kadoma, Osaka Pref. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 5C059 KK08 MA00 PP05 PP06 PP07 RB09 RB10 UA05 UA35

Claims (7)

[Claims] An image decoding apparatus for decoding image data composed of a plurality of image sequences, the image decoding device corresponding to each of the image sequences for storing decoding information used when decoding the image data of each of the image sequences. A memory area having a memory area to be decoded, and memory area selecting means for selecting a memory area corresponding to the target image sequence in the memory based on image identification information indicating a target image sequence to be decoded. A decoder having a register for storing decode information of the target image sequence, and performing a decoding process on the image data of the target image sequence based on the decode information stored in the register; Decoding information transfer means for transferring the decoding information of the target image sequence between the memory area selected by the above and the register of the decoder. And, an image decoding apparatus characterized by. 2. An image decoding apparatus for decoding image data composed of a plurality of image sequences, the image decoding device corresponding to each of the image sequences for storing decoding information used when decoding the image data of each of the image sequences. A memory having an individual memory area to be decoded, a temporary memory area for temporarily storing decode information of a specific image sequence, and the memory based on image identification information indicating a target image sequence to be decoded. A memory area selecting means for selecting an individual memory area corresponding to the target image sequence, and decoding information of the target image sequence, the individual memory area selected by the memory area selecting means, and the temporary memory area. And a decoding information transfer unit for transferring the decoding information, and the decoding information transfer means for transferring the decoding information based on the decoding information stored in the temporary memory area. A decoder that performs decoding processing of the image data of the image sequence, with the image decoding apparatus characterized by. 3. An image decoding apparatus for decoding image data composed of a plurality of image sequences, comprising: decoding information composed of a plurality of parameters used when decoding the image data of each of the image sequences.
A memory having a memory area corresponding to each image sequence, and a decoding process of the target image sequence in a memory region corresponding to the target image sequence based on image identification information indicating the target image sequence to be decoded. Parameter storage position determining means for determining a storage position of a parameter required for decoding, and decoding for performing decoding processing of the target image sequence based on the parameters stored in the parameter storage position determined by the parameter storage position determining means. An image decoding device, comprising: 4. An image decoding method for performing decoding processing of image data composed of a plurality of image sequences based on decode information of each image sequence, comprising: a memory for storing the decode information of each image sequence; The decoding information corresponding to the comparison target image sequence to be subjected to the decoding process among the decoding information corresponding to the respective image sequences, between the temporary storage unit that temporarily stores the decoding information of the specific image sequence. And a decoding processing step of decoding image data corresponding to the target image sequence with reference to the decoding information stored in the temporary storage unit. Image decoding method. 5. An image decoding method for decoding image data composed of a plurality of image sequences, comprising a plurality of parameter information of each image sequence stored in a memory and used when decoding the image data of each image sequence. A decoding information selecting step of selecting decoding information of a target image sequence to be decoded, of decoding information consisting of: a decoding information selecting step of selecting decoding information of a plurality of parameter information constituting the selected decoding information; A parameter storage position determination processing step for determining a storage position of the necessary parameter information in the memory; and parameter information stored in the storage position of the memory determined by the parameter storage position determination processing step. Decoding processing of decoding image data corresponding to the target image sequence. Image decoding method for. 6. A program storage medium storing a program for performing, by a computer, data processing based on decode information of each image sequence with respect to image data composed of a plurality of image sequences, wherein The decoding processing of the decode information of each image sequence is performed between a memory for storing the decode information of each image sequence and a temporary storage unit for temporarily storing the decode information of a specific image sequence. Decoding information transfer processing for transferring the decode information of the comparison target image series to be processed, and decoding processing for decoding the image data corresponding to the target image series with reference to the decode information stored in the temporary storage unit And a program storage medium for storing a data processing program for performing . 7. A program storage medium storing a program for performing, by a computer, data processing on image data composed of a plurality of image series, wherein the computer stores the program as the program. Decoding information selection processing for selecting, from among decoding information composed of a plurality of parameter information corresponding to each image sequence used when decoding image data of a sequence, decoding information of a target image sequence to be decoded, A parameter storage position determining process for determining a storage position in the memory of the parameter information necessary for the decoding process among a plurality of parameter information configuring the selected decode information, and the parameter information is determined by the parameter storage position determining process. Also, based on the parameter information stored in the storage location of the above memory, Te, for performing a decoding process for decoding the image data corresponding to the target image sequence and stores the data processing program, a program storage medium characterized by.