JP2006166144A - Image processing apparatus and method, program and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image processing apparatus capable of reducing the capacity of a memory storing image data and performing random access to a desired part of the image data stored in the memory further, its method, a program and a recording medium. <P>SOLUTION: An imaging device 13 converts the light information of an object to electric signals (image signals), and an A-D conversion part 14 converts the image signals to digital image data. An image compression part 15 divides the image data into a plurality of rectangular blocks in prescribed sizes, and encodes the image data for each rectangular block according to a JPEG2000 system or a JPEG system while executing control so that the size of a code stream obtained after encoding becomes the same in all the rectangular blocks. Then, the image compression part 15 stores the code stream for each rectangular block in the prescribed address of the memory 16 in one-to-one correspondence with a position on the image data of the rectangular block. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and method for performing predetermined processing on image data captured by an image sensor and converted into digital data, a program capable of causing a computer to execute such image processing, and the program The present invention relates to a recording medium on which a program is recorded.

  Conventionally, there are a digital still camera and a camcorder as typical image processing apparatuses that perform predetermined processing on image data captured by an image sensor and converted into digital data. FIG. 17 shows a schematic configuration of a conventional image processing apparatus.

  In the image processing apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 17, the imaging element 104 is, for example, a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) sensor or a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) sensor, and a subject that has passed through the lens 101, the optical low-pass filter 102, and the color correction unit 103. Is converted into an electrical signal, and the converted image signal is supplied to an analog / digital (A / D) converter 105. The A / D converter 105 converts the analog image signal supplied from the image sensor 104 into digital image data, and temporarily stores the image data in a memory 106 such as an SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory). . The signal processing unit 107 performs various digital signal processing such as level adjustment, white balance, color space conversion, resolution conversion, and gamma correction on the image data read from the memory 106 to generate a luminance signal and a color difference signal. . Then, the image compression unit 108 encodes the image data after the digital signal processing according to, for example, a JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) method, and outputs the obtained code stream.

  As described above, in the conventional image processing apparatus 100, the image data is temporarily stored in the memory 106 before the digital signal processing is performed. However, in recent digital cameras having a large number of pixels, a large-capacity memory is required to store image data, and thus there is a problem that costs and power consumption increase. When such a large-capacity memory is used, when a camera signal processing LSI (Large Scale Integration) including the image compression unit 108 is constructed, the large-capacity memory is externally provided due to cost problems. It is normal to put. Therefore, in this case, it is necessary to increase the transfer speed of the bus between the camera signal processing LSI and the memory in proportion to the number of pixels, and there is a problem that power consumption increases.

  Therefore, Patent Document 1 below discloses a technique for compressing image data before storing it in a memory.

JP-A-8-294086

  Incidentally, when compressing image data as in Patent Document 1, it is usual to compress the entire image so that a predetermined compression rate is obtained. Therefore, even if there is an image with a very high number of pixels, for example, 4000 × 3000 pixels (12 million pixels) and only an image of, for example, 720 × 480 pixels at the center is required, the image is randomly selected for that portion. Access was not possible and could not be read from memory.

  The present invention has been proposed in view of such a conventional situation, and reduces the capacity of a memory for storing image data, and further randomly accesses a desired portion of the image data stored in the memory. An object of the present invention is to provide an image processing apparatus and method, a program, and a recording medium.

  In order to achieve the above-described object, an image processing apparatus according to the present invention divides image data captured by an image sensor and converted into digital data into a plurality of rectangular blocks of a predetermined size, and images of the respective rectangular blocks. An encoding unit that encodes data with a fixed code amount to generate a code stream; and a storage unit that stores the code stream for each rectangular block. The encoding unit includes a code obtained for each rectangular block. The stream is stored in the memory address of the storage means in a one-to-one correspondence with the position of the rectangular block on the image data.

  In order to achieve the above-described object, an image processing method according to the present invention divides image data captured by an image sensor and converted into digital data into a plurality of rectangular blocks of a predetermined size, and each rectangular block An encoding process for encoding the image data with a fixed code amount to generate a code stream, and a storage process for storing the code stream in a storage unit for each rectangular block. In the storage process, for each rectangular block The obtained code stream is stored in the memory address of the storage means in a one-to-one correspondence with the position of the rectangular block on the image data.

  A program according to the present invention causes a computer to execute the above-described image processing, and a recording medium according to the present invention is a computer-readable medium on which such a program is recorded.

  According to the image processing apparatus and method, the program, and the recording medium according to the present invention, the image data captured by the image sensor and converted into digital data is encoded and stored in the storage means. Less cost is required and costs and power consumption can be reduced. Furthermore, since the data rate between the encoding unit and the storage unit is reduced by a multiple of the compression rate, the bus width when implemented in hardware can be reduced, and cost and power consumption can be reduced. .

  In addition, the code stream obtained after encoding is encoded with a fixed code amount so that the size is the same for all rectangular blocks, and the code stream for each rectangular block is encoded on the image data of the rectangular block. Since the data is stored in the memory address of the storage unit corresponding to the position one-to-one, random access can be easily performed and the code stream corresponding to the desired rectangular block can be read from the storage unit.

  Hereinafter, specific embodiments to which the present invention is applied will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

(First embodiment)
First, FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of an image processing apparatus according to the first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, an image processing apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment includes a lens 10, an optical low-pass filter 11, a color correction unit 12, an image sensor 13, an AD conversion unit 14, and an image compression unit. 15 and a memory 16.

  In this image processing apparatus 1, the image sensor 13 is a CCD sensor or a CMOS sensor, for example, converts light information of a subject that has passed through the lens 10, the optical low-pass filter 11, and the color correction unit 12 into an electrical signal, and then converts the image The signal is supplied to the AD conversion unit 14. The AD conversion unit 14 converts the analog image signal supplied from the image sensor 13 into digital image data (hereinafter also referred to as a RAW image), and supplies the image data to the image compression unit 15.

  The image compression unit 15 first divides the image data into a plurality of rectangular blocks having a predetermined size as shown in FIG. The size of the rectangular block preferably matches the size of the supply unit used when the AD conversion unit 14 supplies the image data to the image compression unit 15, and the size can be held in the local memory when encoding. A size within the range is preferable. Note that if the edge of the image is less than the size of the rectangular block, the pixels may be compensated. Subsequently, the image compression unit 15 encodes the image data for each rectangular block in accordance with the JPEG2000 method or the JPEG method while controlling the size of the code stream obtained after encoding to be the same for all the rectangular blocks. Then, the image compression unit 15 stores the code stream for each rectangular block in a predetermined address of the memory 16 such as an SDRAM corresponding one-to-one with the position of the rectangular block on the image data.

  For example, when the image data is divided as shown in FIG. 2, the image compression unit 15 stores the code stream for each rectangular block in a predetermined address of the memory 16 as shown in FIG. 3. That is, the image compression unit 15 stores, for example, a code stream generated by encoding a rectangular block (0, 0) at the address (0, 0) of the memory 16. Similarly, the image compression unit 15 stores the code stream generated by encoding the rectangular block (m, n) at the address (m, n) of the memory 16.

  Thus, in this embodiment, the size of the code stream obtained after encoding is controlled to be the same for all rectangular blocks, and the code stream for each rectangular block is the image data of that rectangular block. Since the data is stored in a predetermined address of the memory 16 corresponding to the above position, it can be determined from which address of the memory 16 the data stream of the rectangular block can be read. Random access in units is possible.

  The processing of the image compression apparatus 1 described above will be described using the flowchart of FIG. First, in step S1, an image of a subject is picked up by the image sensor 13, and in step S2, analog image information is AD-converted to generate a RAW image. In step S3, the RAW image is converted into a plurality of rectangles having a predetermined size. Divide into blocks. Next, in step S4, the image data for each rectangular block is encoded to a fixed size, and in step S5, the code stream for each rectangular block is stored in a predetermined address of the memory 16. In step S6, it is determined whether or not all rectangular blocks have been encoded. If there are unencoded rectangular blocks, the process returns to step S4, and if all rectangular blocks are encoded, the process is performed. finish.

  Here, an example of the internal configuration of the image compression unit 15 described above is shown in FIG. FIG. 5 shows a configuration when image data is encoded according to the JPEG2000 system. As shown in FIG. 5, the image compression unit 15 includes a rectangular block unit 30, a wavelet transform unit 31, a quantization unit 32, a bit plane conversion unit 33, an entropy encoding unit 34, and a rate control unit 35. It consists of and.

  In the image compression unit 15, the rectangular block forming unit 30 divides the image data supplied from the A / D conversion unit 14 into a plurality of rectangular blocks having a predetermined size as described above. The subsequent encoding process is performed for each rectangular block. The wavelet transform unit 31 performs wavelet transform on the image data for each rectangular block to generate wavelet transform coefficients, and the quantization unit 32 quantizes the wavelet transform coefficients to generate quantization coefficients. Then, the bit plane conversion unit 33 expands the quantization coefficient for each rectangular block into the bit plane.

  The concept of this bit plane will be described with reference to FIG. In the figure, (a) assumes a rectangular block consisting of a total of 16 quantized coefficients, 4 vertically and 4 horizontally. When this quantized coefficient is expanded on a bit plane of 5 bits (bit 4 to bit 0) as shown in (b) in the figure, MSB (Most significant bit) to LSB (Least significant bit: least significant bit) A set of bit planes leading to (bit) is formed. At this time, there are 16 “0” or “1” coefficients in each bit plane corresponding to one bit. For example, “3”, which is one of the quantization coefficients, becomes “00011” when expressed in a 5-bit binary number. Also, “6”, which is one of the quantization coefficients, becomes “00110” when expressed in a 5-bit binary number. In this way, all the quantized coefficients shown in (a) in the figure are expressed in binary notation as a 5-bit bit plane shown in (b) in the figure.

  Returning to FIG. 5, the entropy encoding unit 34 entropy encodes the coefficient for each bit plane and supplies the obtained code word to the rate control unit 35. The rate control unit 35 sequentially includes codewords corresponding to the MSB side bit plane having the greatest influence on image quality so as to match the target code amount, and outputs the code stream when the target code amount is reached. To do.

  In addition, although FIG. 5 demonstrated as what encodes image data according to a JPEG2000 system, you may encode according to a JPEG system as mentioned above. However, in this embodiment, since the size of the code stream after compression encoding must be the same for all rectangular blocks, very high-accuracy rate control is required. In this regard, the JPEG2000 system is preferable because very high-accuracy rate control is possible by entropy encoding in bit plane units.

  As described above, according to the image processing apparatus 1 in the present embodiment, the image data of the RAW image captured by the image sensor 13 and A / D converted is compressed by the image compression unit 15 and then recorded in the memory 16. The capacity of the memory 16 can be reduced, and the cost and power consumption can be reduced. Furthermore, the data rate between the image compression unit 15 and the memory 16 is reduced by a multiple of the compression rate. For example, when the image compression unit 15 compresses the image data to 1/10, the data rate is also 1/10. Therefore, the bus width when hardware is realized can be small, and the cost and power consumption can be suppressed.

  In addition, the size of the code stream obtained after encoding is controlled to be the same for all rectangular blocks, and the code stream for each rectangular block has a one-to-one correspondence with the position of the rectangular block on the screen. Since the data is stored at a predetermined address of the corresponding memory 16, random access can be easily performed and a code stream corresponding to a desired rectangular block can be read from the memory 16.

  Here, an example of the image sensor 13 will be described. As the image sensor 13, for example, a CMOS sensor disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-31785 previously proposed by the present applicant can be used. The CMOS sensor has excellent characteristics such as high-speed imaging as compared with the CCD sensor, but the first advantage is the logic part such as the A / D conversion unit 14, the image compression unit 15, the memory 16, and the like. Can be made of one CMOS semiconductor.

  A sectional view of this CMOS sensor is shown in FIG. In this CMOS sensor, a wiring layer 43 is formed on one surface side of a silicon layer 42 on which a photodiode 41 is formed, and a microlens 40 associated with each pixel from the opposite surface (back surface) side of the silicon layer 42. A pixel structure for capturing visible light into the photodiode 41 via Therefore, wiring considering the light receiving surface is unnecessary, and the degree of freedom of wiring is remarkably improved. Therefore, all the components such as the AD conversion unit 14, the image compression unit 15, and the memory 16 can be arranged in the wiring layer 43. become.

  A perspective view in which these components are arranged is shown in FIG. The one-chip type CMOS semiconductor configured in FIG. 8 has a three-dimensional structure in which the AD conversion unit 14, the image compression unit 15, and the memory 16 are arranged in the wiring layer 43 below the silicon layer 42. Compared with the case where these constituent parts are arranged in the dimensional space, the surface area is remarkably reduced, and cost and power consumption can be suppressed.

(Second Embodiment)
In the first embodiment described above, it has been described that the image data of the RAW image is composed of one component. However, in the present embodiment, the case where the image data is composed of a plurality of components. explain.

  For example, when the image data is composed of three components R, G, and B, the image compression unit 15 integrates and encodes the image data of the three components of each rectangular block as shown in FIG. The obtained code stream can be stored in a predetermined address of the memory 16.

Further, as shown in FIG. 10, the image compression unit 15 can separately encode the image data for each component of each rectangular block, and store the obtained code stream in another address of the memory 16. In this case, by encoding so that the size of the code stream for each component is the same, and the size of the code stream for each rectangular block is the same, that is,
(0,0) R = (0,0) G = (0,0) B = ... = (m, n) R = (m, n) G = (m, n) B
By encoding so as to satisfy the conditions, the size of the code stream of all the components of all the rectangular blocks becomes the same, so that random access to the memory 16 becomes possible in units of components of each rectangular block.

  However, when the size of the code stream for each component is the same as described above, there is a disadvantage that the use efficiency of the memory 16 is deteriorated when the size of the code stream is uneven among the components. For example, when only the blue component exists in the image data of the RAW image, only the code stream of the B component exists, and the code stream of the G and R components does not exist. Therefore, the code of the G and R components in the memory 16 The part that holds the stream is blank and wasteful. In general, there is a bias in the size of the code stream between components.

Therefore, the image compression unit 15 does not make the size of the code stream for each component the same, but as shown in FIG. 11, so that the sum of the sizes of the code streams for each component becomes the same, that is, Relational expression,
(0,0) R + (0,0) G + (0,0) B = ... = (m, n) R + (m, n) G + (m, n) B
It may be encoded so as to satisfy. In this case, although random access to the memory 16 in units of components is not possible, there is an advantage that the components are not affected by the deviation of the code stream size between components.

  Here, the RAW image for each component shown in FIG. 9 to FIG. 11 is obtained by dividing image data composed of a plurality of components for each component in the previous stage of the image compression unit 15. For example, in the case of 128 pixels × 8 lines of image data composed of four components of R, G, B, and E, as shown in FIG. 12, each of the components has four pieces of image data of 64 pixels × 4 lines. It is divided into.

(Third embodiment)
Next, an image processing apparatus 2 shown in FIG. 13 as a third embodiment has the same basic structure as that of the image processing apparatus 1 shown in FIG. It is characterized in that the stream is read and decoded. Therefore, the same components as those of the image processing apparatus 1 previously shown in FIG.

  In this image processing apparatus 2, the image decompression unit 17 reads out the code stream for each rectangular block from the memory 16, decodes it according to the JPEG2000 system or the JPEG system, and outputs decoded image data. When the compression in the image compression unit 15 is not lossless compression, the image data before encoding and the decoded image data after decoding do not match, but in this embodiment, lossy compression is performed even if lossless compression is performed. It does not matter.

  An example of the internal configuration of the image expansion unit 17 is shown in FIG. FIG. 14 shows a configuration when a code stream is decoded according to the JPEG2000 system. As shown in FIG. 14, the image expansion unit 17 includes an entropy decoding unit 50, a bit plane synthesis unit 51, an inverse quantization unit 52, an inverse wavelet transform unit 53, and a rectangular block synthesis unit 54. Yes.

  In the image expansion unit 17, the entropy decoding unit 50 performs entropy decoding on the code stream for each rectangular block read from the memory 16, and generates quantized coefficients developed on the bit plane. As described above, since the quantization coefficient is expressed in a binary number from MSB to LSB in a state where the quantization coefficient is expanded on the bit plane, the bit plane synthesis unit 51 combines the bit planes to express the quantization coefficient in decimal number expression. Convert to The inverse quantization unit 52 inversely quantizes the quantized coefficient to generate a wavelet transform coefficient, and the inverse wavelet transform unit 53 performs inverse wavelet transform on the wavelet transform coefficient to generate image data for each rectangular block. Then, the rectangular block combining unit 54 combines the image data of all the rectangular blocks constituting the screen and outputs the final decoded image data.

  In addition, when the image data of the RAW image is composed of a plurality of components as in the second embodiment described above, it is necessary to synthesize the image data for each component after the image expansion unit 17.

  According to the image processing apparatus 2 described above, the image data of the RAW image captured by the image sensor 13 and A / D converted is compressed by the image compression unit 15 and then written to the memory 16. The data rate with the unit 17 is reduced by a multiple of the compression rate, and the bus width when implemented in hardware can be reduced, so that cost and power consumption can be suppressed.

(Fourth embodiment)
Next, the image processing apparatus 3 shown in FIG. 15 as the fourth embodiment has the same basic structure as the image processing apparatus 2 shown in FIG. 13, but includes a signal processing unit 18 and an image compression unit 19. The method is characterized in that the decoded image data is subjected to predetermined signal processing and compressed. Therefore, the same components as those of the image processing apparatus 2 shown in FIG. 13 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted.

  In the image processing apparatus 3, the signal processing unit 18 performs various digital signal processing such as level adjustment, white balance, color space conversion, resolution conversion, and gamma correction on the decoded image data supplied from the image expansion unit 17. The image data after the signal processing is supplied to the image compression unit 19. The image compression unit 19 encodes the image data supplied from the signal processing unit 18 according to the JPEG2000 system or the JPEG system, and outputs the obtained code stream.

  Here, the configuration up to the image decompression unit 17 is realized by hardware (including LSI) as the processing block 60, and the processing block 60 is connected to the signal processing unit 18 and the image compression unit 19 which are existing configuration units. It doesn't matter. As described above, resources can be diverted by separating the processing block 60 that is a characteristic part of the present embodiment from the existing signal processing unit 18 and the image compression unit 19, and the development man-hours and costs can be reduced. .

(Fifth embodiment)
Next, the image processing apparatus 4 shown in FIG. 16 as the fourth embodiment has the same basic structure as the image processing apparatus 3 shown in FIG. ing. Therefore, the same components as those of the image processing apparatus 3 shown in FIG. 14 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted.

  In this image processing device 4, the image compression unit 15 divides the image data into rectangular blocks of a predetermined size, and controls so that the size of the code stream obtained after encoding is the same for all rectangular blocks. The image data for each block is encoded according to the JPEG2000 system or the JPEG system. The image compression unit 15 supplies the code stream for each rectangular block to the image expansion unit 17 in order.

  According to this image processing apparatus 4, since there is no memory, the cost of the entire system can be reduced. In addition, the data rate between the image compression unit 15 and the image expansion unit 17 is reduced by a multiple of the compression rate, and the bus width when implemented in hardware can be reduced, thereby reducing cost and power consumption. Can do.

  Although the best mode for carrying out the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. Of course.

  For example, the series of processes in the above-described embodiment can be executed by software. In this case, a program that constitutes the software may be incorporated in advance in dedicated hardware of the computer, or for a general-purpose personal computer that can execute various functions by installing various programs. The installation may be performed via a network or a recording medium.

1 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an image processing apparatus according to a first embodiment. It is a figure which shows the state which divided | segmented image data into the rectangular block of predetermined size. It is a figure which shows the position of the memory which stores the code stream of each rectangular block. It is a flowchart explaining the process of the image processing apparatus. It is a figure which shows an example of the internal structure of the image compression part in the image processing apparatus. It is a figure explaining the bit plane which expand | deployed the quantization coefficient. It is sectional drawing which shows an example of the image pick-up element in the image processing apparatus. It is a perspective view which shows the example which has arrange | positioned structural parts, such as an image compression part, in the wiring layer of the image pick-up element. It is a figure which shows the 1st example which stores the code stream of each rectangular block, when image data is comprised by three components. It is a figure which shows the 2nd example which stores the code stream of each rectangular block, when image data is comprised by three components. It is a figure which shows the 3rd example which stores the code stream of each rectangular block, when image data is comprised by three components. It is the figure which showed a mode that the image data comprised by four components was divided | segmented into the image data for every component. It is a figure which shows schematic structure of the image processing apparatus in 3rd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of an internal structure of the image expansion part in the image processing apparatus. It is a figure which shows schematic structure of the image processing apparatus in 4th Embodiment. It is a figure which shows schematic structure of the image processing apparatus in 5th Embodiment. It is a figure which shows schematic structure of the conventional image processing apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

  1-4 image processing apparatus, 10 lens, 11 optical low-pass filter, 12 color correction unit, 13 image sensor, 14 AD conversion unit, 15 image compression unit, 16 memory, 17 image expansion unit, 18 signal processing unit, 19 image compression , 30 rectangular block forming unit, 31 wavelet transform unit, 32 quantization unit, 33 bit plane conversion unit, 34 entropy encoding unit, 35 rate control unit, 50 entropy decoding unit, 51 bit plane synthesis unit, 52 inverse quantization Section, 53 inverse wavelet transform section, 54 rectangular block composition section

Claims (16)

Encoding means for dividing image data captured by an image sensor and converted into digital data into a plurality of rectangular blocks of a predetermined size, and encoding the image data of each rectangular block with a fixed code amount to generate a code stream; ,
Storage means for storing the code stream for each rectangular block;
The encoding means stores the code stream obtained for each rectangular block in a memory address of the storage means that is in one-to-one correspondence with the position of the rectangular block on the image data. Image processing device.   When the image data is composed of a plurality of components, the encoding unit divides the image data for each component, divides the image data for each component into a plurality of rectangular blocks, and the image data of each rectangular block. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image is encoded with a fixed code amount.   The image processing according to claim 2, wherein the encoding means encodes the image data of each rectangular block so that the code amount of the code stream obtained for each rectangular block is the same for all components. apparatus.   The encoding means encodes the image data of each rectangular block so that the sum of the code amount of the code stream obtained for the rectangular block at the same position of each component is the same in all the rectangular blocks. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2.   The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the encoding unit encodes image data of each rectangular block according to a JPEG2000 system or a JPEG system.   2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the size of the rectangular block coincides with the size of a supply unit when image data is supplied to the encoding means.   2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the size of the rectangular block is within a range that can be held in a local memory when encoding. An encoding step of dividing image data captured by an image sensor and converted into digital data into a plurality of rectangular blocks of a predetermined size, and encoding the image data of each rectangular block with a fixed code amount to generate a code stream; ,
A storage step of storing the code stream in a storage unit for each rectangular block;
In the storing step, the code stream obtained for each rectangular block is stored in a memory address of the storing means in a one-to-one correspondence with the position of the rectangular block on the image data. Processing method.   When the image data is composed of a plurality of components, in the encoding step, the image data is divided for each component, the image data for each component is divided into a plurality of rectangular blocks, and the image data of each rectangular block The image processing method according to claim 8, wherein the image is encoded with a fixed code amount.   10. The image processing according to claim 9, wherein in the encoding step, the image data of each rectangular block is encoded so that the code amount of the code stream obtained for each rectangular block is the same for all components. Method.   In the encoding step, the image data of each rectangular block is encoded so that the sum of the code amount of the code stream obtained for the rectangular block at the same position of each component is the same in all the rectangular blocks. The image processing method according to claim 9.   9. The image processing method according to claim 8, wherein in the encoding step, the image data of each rectangular block is encoded according to a JPEG2000 system or a JPEG system.   9. The image processing method according to claim 8, wherein the size of the rectangular block coincides with the size of a supply unit when image data is supplied for the encoding step.   9. The image processing method according to claim 8, wherein the size of the rectangular block is within a range that can be held in a local memory when encoding. In a program capable of causing a computer to execute a predetermined process,
An encoding step of dividing image data captured by an image sensor and converted into digital data into a plurality of rectangular blocks of a predetermined size, and encoding the image data of each rectangular block with a fixed code amount to generate a code stream; ,
A storage step of storing the code stream in a storage unit for each rectangular block;
In the storage step, the code stream obtained for each rectangular block is stored in a memory address of the storage means that is associated with the position of the rectangular block on the image data in a one-to-one relationship. . In a computer-readable recording medium on which a program capable of causing a computer to execute predetermined processing is recorded,
An encoding step of dividing image data captured by an image sensor and converted into digital data into a plurality of rectangular blocks of a predetermined size, and encoding the image data of each rectangular block with a fixed code amount to generate a code stream; ,
A storage step of storing the code stream in a storage unit for each rectangular block;
In the storage step, the code stream obtained for each rectangular block is stored in a memory address of the storage means that is associated with the position of the rectangular block on the image data in a one-to-one relationship. Recording medium on which is recorded.

Images