JP2009027693A - Moving image compression coding equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make the deterioration in the image quality of the boundaries inconspicuous when a screen is region-divided and encoded, and to set a proper coding parameter meeting the property of image. <P>SOLUTION: The moving image coding equipment divides a screen into a plurality of regions and applies compression coding of data in the divided regions by a plurality of coding circuits. The coding circuits code data in different regions in parallel, execute data coding in the region located on the upper side of vertically adjacent two regions located near the center of the screen prior to data coding in the region located on the lower side, or execute data coding in the region located on the left side of horizontally adjacent two regions located near the center of the screen prior to data coding in the region located on the right side. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a moving image data compression encoding apparatus, and in particular, is a technique suitable for dividing a screen and encoding the divided screens in parallel by a plurality of encoding units.

  For example, a digital video camera is well known as a camera-integrated moving image recording apparatus that captures a subject and compresses and records moving image data obtained thereby. In recent digital video cameras, instead of conventional magnetic tapes, disk media and semiconductor memories that can be accessed randomly and are highly convenient have come to be used. However, in general, a disk medium or the like has a small storage capacity, so it is necessary to perform compression encoding with high efficiency.

  Recently, digital video cameras that handle HD (High-Definition) video, which has a larger amount of information than standard video, have been developed with the expectation of high image quality. Therefore, highly efficient compression coding is required also from the viewpoint that the amount of information of the video itself is increasing. At present, the MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) system is often used as a standard technique for performing compression encoding. In the MPEG system, high-efficiency encoding is realized by motion compensation prediction using a plurality of screens constituting a moving image. For this purpose, it is necessary to process a large amount of image data at high speed.

  Due to the high-speed processing described above, when the encoding circuit is operated with a very high-speed clock, there is a problem that the load increases and the power consumption increases. In order to solve this problem, for example, in the image encoding device described in Patent Document 1, each screen of a moving image signal is divided into a plurality of regions, and the image signal divided into each region is encoded with a plurality of codes. The above-described problem is solved by encoding in parallel in the conversion unit.

On the other hand, if each screen of a moving image signal is divided into a plurality of regions as described above and each region is encoded in parallel by a plurality of encoding units, a difference in image quality occurs at the boundary between adjacent regions. It is possible. In the image coding device described in Patent Document 1, the image signal is divided in a second direction different from the above-described region division, and the code of each coding unit is divided for each small region divided in the second division direction. Controls the activation parameters. Then, by encoding each small region with the same encoding parameter, image quality deterioration at the boundary portion of the small region is made inconspicuous.
JP-A-7-95572

  However, the image encoding device described in Patent Document 1 controls the encoding parameter for each small area obtained by dividing the screen in two different directions. For this reason, a predetermined set value is determined as the encoding parameter for each region, and there is a problem that it is difficult to use a suitable encoding parameter that matches the properties of the image.

  In view of the above-mentioned problems, the present invention makes it possible to make the image quality degradation at the boundary portion inconspicuous when the screen is divided into regions and encode with a simple configuration and suitable encoding parameters according to the properties of the image. The purpose is to be able to set.

  In order to achieve the above object, a moving image compression coding apparatus according to the present invention comprises region dividing means for dividing a screen constituting moving image data into n regions (n is an integer greater than 2) in the vertical direction. A plurality of encoding means for encoding the moving image data for each of the areas divided by the area dividing means, wherein the number of areas is smaller than the number of areas divided by the area dividing means, and the plurality of encoding means respectively. The encoded data combining means for combining the encoded data and the plurality of encoding means are controlled so as to encode the data of different areas in parallel, and the n areas divided by the area dividing means are controlled. Of the two areas adjacent to the top and bottom located near the center of the screen, the data in the upper area is encoded by the data in the lower area. Characterized in that a coding control means for controlling to perform first.

  Another moving image compression encoding apparatus of the present invention includes a region dividing unit that divides a screen constituting moving image data into n regions (n is an integer greater than 2) in the horizontal direction, and the region dividing unit. A plurality of encoding means for encoding the moving image data for each area divided by the means, wherein the number of areas is smaller than the number of areas divided by the area dividing means, and the encoding is respectively encoded by the plurality of encoding means An encoded data synthesizing unit that synthesizes data, and the plurality of encoding units control to encode data in different areas in parallel, and the screen among the n areas divided by the area dividing unit Encoding the data in the left-side area of the two areas adjacent to the left and right located near the center of the area before encoding the data in the right-side area Characterized in that a coding control means Gosuru.

  In addition, another moving image compression encoding apparatus of the present invention includes a region dividing unit that divides a screen constituting moving image data into n regions (n is an integer greater than 2), and a plurality of encoding units. And the plurality of encoding units respectively encode the moving image data using the region as a unit of encoding processing, and the plurality of encoding units encode data in different regions in parallel. And an encoding control means for controlling the encoding means so that one encoding section encodes data in two predetermined areas adjacent to each other among the n areas. The encoding control means uses the encoding result of the previously encoded area among the predetermined two areas adjacent to each other when encoding the area to be encoded later. To do.

  According to the present invention, it is not necessary to make the operation speed of the encoding circuit very high, and the image quality degradation at the boundary when the screen is divided and encoded with a simple configuration is made inconspicuous. In addition, it is possible to set a suitable encoding parameter in accordance with the nature of the image.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a moving picture encoding apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The moving image encoding apparatus of the present embodiment is a moving image compression encoding apparatus that compresses and encodes moving image data using motion compensation prediction. In addition, the moving image encoding apparatus of the present embodiment can be applied to an imaging apparatus such as a digital video camera.

  In FIG. 1, a moving image encoding apparatus 100 includes an image signal input unit 101 that inputs moving image data (image signal) output from an imaging unit (not shown) or the like. In addition, a region dividing circuit 102 that divides an image signal of one field or one frame in a moving image into n regions, and a first encoding circuit that performs motion compensation prediction encoding using motion compensation of the image signal. 103a and a second encoding circuit 103b.

  Furthermore, an encoded data combining circuit 105 that combines encoded data output from the first encoding circuit 103a and the second encoding circuit 103b is provided. In addition, an encoding control circuit 106 that controls encoding parameters based on the encoding results output from the first encoding circuit 103a and the second encoding circuit 103b is provided. Furthermore, an encoded data output unit 107 that outputs the combined encoded data to a recording medium (not shown) or a communication path is provided.

  The first encoding circuit 103a and the second encoding circuit 103b operate in parallel under the control of the encoding control circuit 106, respectively. The operation of each component is controlled by the system controller 104. Note that the actual moving image encoding apparatus requires other components, but the description is omitted because it is not related to the gist of the present invention.

  Next, the operation of the moving picture coding apparatus 100 will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation procedure of the moving image encoding apparatus according to the present embodiment.

  When the image signal input to the image signal input unit 101 in the field unit or the frame unit is input to the area dividing circuit 102, the processing shown in this flowchart is started.

  First, in step S501, the area dividing circuit 102 converts each screen 200 included in the input image signal as shown in FIG. 2 into four areas (first area (Area 1) 201-first using a memory. 4 areas (Area 4) 204). A slice is a unit of encoding processing performed by the first encoding circuit 103a and the second encoding circuit 103b. FIG. 2 is an example in which the screen is divided into four in the vertical direction (horizontal) with a predetermined pixel line. In the present embodiment, the number m of the encoding circuits is 2, and the division number n in the region division circuit 102 may satisfy n> 2 (n is an integer larger than 2). Here, n is 4.

  Next, in step S502, the encoding control circuit 106 selects an encoding circuit that encodes each data of the divided first area 201 to fourth area 204 among the plurality of encoding circuits 103a and 103b. Decide. Furthermore, the encoding control circuit 106 determines the temporal order of encoding of the plurality of encoding circuits 103a and 103b.

  Next, in step S503, the first encoding circuit 103a and the second encoding circuit 103b perform encoding processing of data in the allocated areas. At this time, the encoding control circuit 106 performs control so that the encoding processes in the first encoding circuit 103a and the second encoding circuit 103b are performed in parallel. Next, in step S504, the encoded data combining circuit 105 combines the elements of the encoded data encoded by the first encoding circuit 103a and the second encoding circuit 103b using a memory. Then, the encoded data is output from the encoded data output unit 107, and the process ends.

  In the present embodiment, the encoding control circuit 106 completes encoding processing of slices for one frame within one frame period of the input image signal. That is, the encoding control circuit 106 encodes four regions in parallel two by two, and the first encoding circuit 103a and the encoding circuit 103a and the encoding circuit 106 perform encoding of the two regions in one frame period. The second encoding circuit 103b is controlled. The time-division encoding processing performed by the first encoding circuit 103a and the second encoding circuit 103b is performed by dividing one frame period into a first half period and a second half period in terms of time as shown in FIG. Is called. That is, for each of the image data in the first area 201 to the fourth area 204, some of the plurality of areas are encoded in parallel first, and the remaining plurality of areas are timed longer than encoding of the some of the plurality of areas. It will be encoded later in order.

  The encoding control circuit 106 encodes the second area (Area2) 202 with the first encoding circuit 103a during the first half of one frame period, and in parallel with the first area (with the second encoding circuit 103b, the first area ( (Area1) 201 is controlled to be encoded. In the second half of one frame period, the first encoding circuit 103a encodes the third area (Area 3) 203 adjacent to the second area 202, and in parallel, the second encoding circuit 103b performs the fourth operation. The area (Area 4) 204 is controlled to be encoded. Here, if attention is paid to the vicinity of the center of the screen, the upper area (Area 2) is encoded first, and the lower area (Area 3) is encoded later.

  Also, the encoding control circuit 106 sets an initial value of a quantization step width, which is an encoding parameter, for each encoding circuit during encoding control. Note that encoding within each area is performed in order from the top in units of predetermined pixel blocks (macroblocks, etc.). Therefore, in this embodiment, when determining the initial value of the quantization step width of the third area 203, the quantization step width of the final block of the second area 202 is determined from the encoding result of the second area 202. I try to refer to it. Specifically, the encoding control circuit 106 stores the quantization step width of the last block in the second area 202. Then, the encoding control circuit 106 sets the stored quantization step width of the last block in the second area 202 to the initial value of the quantization step width of the block encoded first in the third area 203. . By performing such encoding control, the continuity of the quantization step width between the second area 202 near the center of the screen and the third area 203 adjacent to the second area 202 can be maintained. Become. Therefore, it is possible to maintain the continuity of image quality near the center of the screen where the difference in image quality is easily recognized visually.

  On the other hand, the first area 201 and the fourth area 204 other than the vicinity of the center of the screen are areas apart from each other. Therefore, it is possible to perform the encoding control closed in each area and set the optimum quantization step width according to the property of the image based on the content of the block to be encoded.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the encoding order and the encoding parameters are determined so as to maintain the continuity of image quality between areas near the center of the screen. Therefore, the division number (region number) n is set to a number larger than the number m of the encoding circuits. If the number n of divisions is set to be large, there may be a large difference in image quality at the boundary portion in an area other than the central portion of the screen. Therefore, the division number n should be less than twice the number m of coding circuits. That is, three or more areas are not encoded in one encoding circuit.

  Next, operations of the first encoding circuit 103a and the second encoding circuit 103b will be described. The first encoding circuit 103a and the second encoding circuit 103b regard the divided area (slice) as one unit in the encoding process, and perform encoding for each area (slice).

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of the first encoding circuit 103a according to the embodiment of the present invention. Note that the configuration of the second encoding circuit 103b is the same as that of the first encoding circuit 103a, and thus the description thereof is omitted.

  In FIG. 4, the first encoding circuit 103a includes an input unit 401 for inputting an image signal, a frame memory 402, a motion vector search circuit 403, an inter-frame motion compensation circuit 404, an intra prediction circuit 405, a switch 406. Further, a subtractor 407, an integer transformation circuit 408, a quantization circuit 409, an inverse quantization circuit 410, an inverse integer transformation circuit 411, an adder 412 and an in-loop filter 413 are provided. Furthermore, an entropy encoding circuit 415, a code amount control circuit 416, and an output unit 417 that outputs encoded data are provided. The operation of each component such as the code amount control circuit 416 is controlled by the system controller 104.

  In the case of a frame unit, the image signal input to the input unit 401 is sequentially stored in the frame memory 402 in the order of the first frame, the second frame, the third frame,. Then, from the frame memory 402, for example, image signals are extracted in the order of encoding, such as the third frame, the first frame, the second frame,.

  Here, as an encoding method, there are “intra coding” in which only image data in a frame (in the case of a slice, the same slice) is encoded, and “inter coding” in which encoding is performed including inter-frame prediction. A picture (frame) to be inter-coded includes a P picture for prediction of one reference frame for a motion compensation unit (MC block) and up to two reference frames for an MC block. There is a B picture that performs prediction. On the other hand, a picture to be subjected to intra coding is called an I picture. The reason why the order of frames to be encoded is different from the order of input frames is to enable temporal prediction (backward prediction) with future frames.

  When intra coding is performed, a coding target image of a block serving as a coding unit is read from the frame memory 402 and input to the intra prediction circuit 405. The intra prediction circuit 405 performs block matching between an encoding target block (encoding target image) and a plurality of predicted images including local decoded images located in the vicinity of the encoding target block in the same frame described later. Then, the intra prediction image having the highest correlation is selected and output to the switch 406.

  In the present embodiment, as described above, two regions (second area 202 and third area 203) that are adjacent vertically with respect to the center position of the screen are encoded by the same encoding circuit. Further, the encoding circuit encodes the third area 203 (lower central region) after encoding the second area 202 (central upper region). On the other hand, when encoding the third area 203, the frame memory 402 holds at least the data of the lowest block among the locally decoded images of the second area 202. Thereby, when performing intra prediction of the block located in the uppermost stage of the third area 203, the local decoded image of the block located in the lowermost stage of the second area 202 that has been encoded is used for the prediction. To do. Further, information on the intra prediction direction of the block located at the bottom of the second area 202 that has been encoded is referred to when performing intra prediction of the block located at the top of the third area 203. May be. Such block information used for intra prediction, prediction direction information, and the like can also be set as one of the encoding parameters at the time of encoding.

  When intra coding is performed, the switch 406 is switched to the intra predicted image side, and the intra predicted image is output to the subtractor 407. Then, the subtractor 407 extracts pixel value difference information between the encoding target image output from the frame memory 402 and the intra prediction image input from the switch 406, and outputs the difference information to the integer conversion circuit 408.

  The integer conversion circuit 408 performs integer conversion (frequency conversion) on the difference information of the pixel values and sends the conversion coefficient to the quantization circuit 409. Next, the quantization circuit 409 performs a quantization process on the input transform coefficient. The entropy encoding circuit 415 performs entropy encoding on the transform coefficient quantized by the quantization circuit 409, and then outputs the result to the encoded data synthesis circuit 105 via the output unit 417.

  Note that the quantization step width used in the quantization circuit 409 is calculated by the code amount control circuit 416 from feedback of the code amount generated by the entropy encoding circuit 415 or the like. The initial value of the quantization step width is set by the encoding control circuit 106.

  Further, the inverse quantization circuit 410 inversely quantizes the transform coefficient quantized by the quantization circuit 409 and performs an inverse integer transform process in the inverse integer transform circuit 411. Then, the adder 412 adds the intra prediction image output from the switch 406 and the difference information of the pixel value subjected to the inverse integer transform process in the inverse integer transform circuit 411 to generate a local decoded image. This locally decoded image is input to the intra prediction circuit 405 described above and used to generate an intra prediction image. Further, the locally decoded image is subjected to encoding distortion reduction processing by the in-loop filter 413 and then stored in the frame memory 402 as a reference image used in inter-encoding described later.

  On the other hand, when inter coding is performed, a coding target image of a block serving as a coding unit is read from the frame memory 402 and input to the motion vector search circuit 403. The motion vector search circuit 403 reads the reference image described above from the frame memory 402 and detects a motion vector from the encoding target image and the reference image. The inter-frame motion compensation circuit 404 performs motion compensation according to the motion vector detected by the motion vector search circuit 403, and generates an inter prediction image.

  When inter coding is performed, the switch 406 is switched to the inter prediction image side, and the inter prediction image is output to the subtractor 407. Then, the subtracter 407 extracts a difference image from the encoding target image and the inter prediction image, and outputs the extracted difference image to the integer conversion circuit 408. Since other processes are the same as those in the case of the above-described intra coding, description thereof is omitted.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the encoding by the first encoding circuit 103a and the second encoding circuit 103b is performed in parallel, and the encoding of the second area 202 located at the center of the screen is performed. Is performed prior to the encoding of the third area 203. Further, in the vicinity of the center of the screen, the encoding order and encoding parameters are determined so as to maintain continuity of image quality between areas. As a result, even if the operation speed of the encoding circuit is not very high, the encoding result information can be shared to maintain the continuity of the image quality near the center of the screen where the difference in image quality is easily visually recognized. . Therefore, it is possible to set the optimum encoding parameter according to the property of the image while making the deterioration of the image quality inconspicuous.

(Second Embodiment)
FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a video encoding apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. As in the first embodiment, the moving image encoding apparatus according to the present embodiment compresses and encodes moving image data using motion compensated prediction. Further, the moving image encoding apparatus of the present embodiment can also be applied to an imaging apparatus such as a digital video camera.

  In FIG. 6, a moving image encoding apparatus 600 includes an area dividing circuit 602 instead of the area dividing circuit 102 included in the moving image encoding apparatus 100 in FIG. 1, and further includes a frame memory 601. 6 that have the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1 are the same as those in FIG. 1, and thus the description thereof is omitted.

  Based on the flowchart of FIG. 5 described above, the operation of the moving picture coding apparatus 600 will be described.

  The image signal input to the image signal input unit 101 in field units or frame units is temporarily stored in the frame memory 601. In step S501, as shown in FIG. 7, the area dividing circuit 602 converts the frame image (screen 700) stored in the frame memory 601 into four areas (fifth area (Area 5) 701 to eighth area (Area 8). ) Divide into slice units at 704). FIG. 7 shows an example in which the screen 700 is divided into four in the horizontal direction (vertical) at a predetermined position. In the present embodiment, the number m of the encoding circuits is 2, and the division number n in the area division circuit 602 may satisfy n> 2 (n is an integer greater than 2), where n is 4.

  Next, in step S502, the encoding control circuit 106 selects an encoding circuit that encodes each data of the divided fifth area 701 to eighth area 704 among the plurality of encoding circuits 103a and 103b. Decide. Furthermore, the encoding control circuit 106 determines the temporal order of encoding of the plurality of encoding circuits 103a and 103b.

  Next, in step S503, the first encoding circuit 103a and the second encoding circuit 103b perform encoding processing of data in the allocated areas. At this time, the encoding control circuit 106 performs control so that the encoding processes in the first encoding circuit 103a and the second encoding circuit 103b are performed in parallel. Next, in step S504, the encoded data combining circuit 105 combines the elements of the encoded data encoded by the first encoding circuit 103a and the second encoding circuit 103b using a memory. Then, the encoded data is output from the encoded data output unit 107, and the process ends.

  In the present embodiment, the encoding control circuit 106 completes encoding processing of slices for one frame within one frame period of the input image signal. That is, the encoding control circuit 106 encodes four regions in parallel two by two, and the first encoding circuit 103a and the encoding circuit 103a and the encoding circuit 106 perform encoding of the two regions in one frame period. The second encoding circuit 103b is controlled. The time-division encoding process performed by the first encoding circuit 103a and the second encoding circuit 103b is performed by dividing one frame period into a first half period and a second half period in terms of time as shown in FIG. Is called. That is, for each of the image data in the fifth area 701 to the eighth area 704, some of the plurality of areas are encoded in parallel first, and the remaining plurality of areas are timed more than the encoding of the some of the plurality of areas. It will be encoded later in order.

  In the first half of one frame period, the encoding control circuit 106 encodes the sixth area (Area 6) 702 with the first encoding circuit 103a, and in parallel with the second encoding circuit 103b, the fifth area ( (Area 5) 701 is controlled to be encoded. In the second half of one frame period, the first encoding circuit 103a encodes the seventh area (Area7) 703 adjacent to the sixth area 702, and the second encoding circuit 103b performs the eighth operation in parallel. The area (Area 8) 704 is controlled to be encoded. If attention is paid to the vicinity of the center of the screen, the left area (Area 6) is encoded first, and the right area (Area 7) is encoded later.

  Also, the encoding control circuit 106 sets an initial value of a quantization step width that is an encoding parameter for each encoding circuit during encoding control. Note that encoding within each area is performed in units of predetermined pixel blocks (such as macroblocks). In addition, the pixel blocks are encoded in the order of the top row in the area from left to right and then the second row from left to right. Therefore, in this embodiment, when determining the initial value of the quantization step width of the leftmost block in the seventh area 703, the encoding of the rightmost block in the same row in the encoded sixth area 702 is performed. Browse the results. Specifically, the encoding control circuit 106 stores the quantization step width of the rightmost block sequence of the sixth area 702. Then, the encoding control circuit 106 sets the quantization step width of the rightmost block in the sixth area 702 to the initial value of the quantization step width of the leftmost block in the seventh area 703. By performing such encoding control, the continuity of the quantization step width between the sixth area 702 near the center of the screen and the seventh area 703 adjacent to the sixth area 702 can be maintained. Become. Therefore, it is possible to maintain the continuity of the image quality near the center of the screen where the difference in image quality is easily recognized visually.

  On the other hand, the fifth area 701 and the eighth area 704 other than the vicinity of the center of the screen are areas separated from each other. Therefore, it is possible to perform the encoding control closed in each area and set the optimum quantization step width according to the property of the image based on the content of the block to be encoded.

  Note that the configurations of the first encoding circuit 103a and the second encoding circuit 103b, details of the encoding process, and the like are the same as those described above with reference to FIG.

  In the present embodiment, as described above, two regions (the sixth area 702 and the seventh area 703) adjacent to the left and right with the center position of the screen as a boundary are encoded by the same encoding circuit. Further, the encoding circuit encodes the sixth area 702 (center left area) and then encodes the seventh area 703 (center right area). On the other hand, when encoding the seventh area 703, the frame memory 402 holds at least the data of the rightmost block in the locally decoded image of the sixth area 702. Thereby, when performing intra prediction of the block located at the left end of the seventh area 703, the local decoded image of the block located at the right end of the sixth area 702 that has been encoded is used for prediction. Further, information on the intra prediction direction of the block located at the right end of the sixth area 702 that has been encoded may be referred to during intra prediction of the block located at the left end of the seventh area 703. good. Such block information used for intra prediction, prediction direction information, and the like can also be set as one of the encoding parameters at the time of encoding.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, encoding by the first encoding circuit 103a and the second encoding circuit 103b is performed in parallel, and encoding of the sixth area 702 located at the center of the screen is performed. Is performed prior to encoding of the seventh area 703. Further, in the vicinity of the center of the screen, the encoding order and encoding parameters are determined so as to maintain continuity of image quality between areas. As a result, even if the operation speed of the encoding circuit is not very high, the encoding result information can be shared to maintain the continuity of the image quality near the center of the screen where the difference in image quality is easily visually recognized. . Therefore, it is possible to set the optimum encoding parameters in accordance with the characteristics of the image while making the deterioration of the image quality inconspicuous.

(Other embodiments according to the present invention)
Each means constituting the moving picture coding apparatus and each step of the moving picture coding method in the embodiment of the present invention described above can be realized by operating a program stored in a RAM or ROM of a computer. This program and a computer-readable recording medium recording the program are included in the present invention.

  Further, the present invention can be implemented as, for example, a system, apparatus, method, program, or recording medium. Specifically, the present invention may be applied to a system including a plurality of devices. The present invention may be applied to an apparatus composed of a single device.

  Note that the present invention includes a case where a software program for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments (in the embodiment, a program corresponding to the flowchart shown in FIG. 5) is directly or remotely supplied to a system or apparatus. This includes the case where the system or the computer of the apparatus is also achieved by reading and executing the supplied program code.

  Accordingly, since the functions of the present invention are implemented by computer, the program code installed in the computer also implements the present invention. In other words, the present invention includes a computer program itself for realizing the functional processing of the present invention.

  In that case, as long as it has the function of a program, it may be in the form of object code, a program executed by an interpreter, script data supplied to the OS, and the like.

  Examples of the recording medium for supplying the program include a flexible disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, and a magneto-optical disk. Further, there are MO, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, ROM, DVD (DVD-ROM, DVD-R) and the like.

  As another program supply method, there is a method of connecting to a homepage on the Internet using a browser of a client computer. The computer program itself of the present invention or a compressed file including an automatic installation function can be downloaded from the homepage by downloading it to a recording medium such as a hard disk.

  It can also be realized by dividing the program code constituting the program of the present invention into a plurality of files and downloading each file from a different homepage. That is, a WWW server that allows a plurality of users to download a program file for realizing the functional processing of the present invention on a computer is also included in the present invention.

  As another method, the program of the present invention is encrypted, stored in a recording medium such as a CD-ROM, distributed to users, and encrypted from a homepage via the Internet to users who have cleared predetermined conditions. Download the key information to be solved. It is also possible to execute the encrypted program by using the key information and install the program on a computer.

  Further, the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the computer executing the read program. Furthermore, based on the instructions of the program, an OS or the like running on the computer performs part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the above-described embodiments can be realized by the processing.

  As another method, the program read from the recording medium is first written in a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer. Then, based on the instructions of the program, the CPU or the like provided in the function expansion board or function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the above-described embodiments are also realized by the processing.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the moving image encoder which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a division | segmentation of the screen which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the encoding order which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the detailed structure of the 1st encoding circuit which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the operation | movement procedure of the moving image encoder which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the moving image encoder which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a division | segmentation of the screen which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the encoding order which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 Image signal input part 102 Area | region division circuit 103a 1st encoding circuit 103b 2nd encoding circuit 104 System controller 105 Encoded data synthesis circuit 106 Encoding control circuit 107 Encoded data output part

Claims (13)

Area dividing means for dividing the screen constituting the moving image data into n areas (n is an integer greater than 2) in the vertical direction;
A plurality of encoding means for encoding the moving image data for each area divided by the area dividing means, less than the number of areas divided by the area dividing means;
Encoded data synthesizing means for synthesizing the encoded data respectively encoded by the plurality of encoding means;
The plurality of encoding means are controlled to encode data in different areas in parallel, and of the n areas divided by the area dividing means, adjacent to the top and bottom located near the center of the screen And encoding control means for controlling the encoding of the data in the upper region of the two regions to be performed prior to the encoding of the data in the lower region. A moving image compression encoding apparatus. Each of the plurality of encoding units includes a frequency conversion unit that performs frequency conversion on a block to be encoded in the moving image data, and a transform coefficient converted by the frequency conversion unit is quantized with a predetermined quantization step width. Quantization means for performing,
The encoding control means uses a quantization step used by the quantization means for a region located on the lower side of the two regions in accordance with a result of coding on a region located on the upper side of the two regions. The moving image compression coding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an initial value of the width is set. The region dividing unit divides the screen into slices that are units of encoding processing,
3. The plurality of encoding units respectively compress and encode image data of n regions divided by slice units by the region dividing unit using motion compensation prediction. The moving picture compression encoding apparatus described. The region dividing unit divides the screen into slices that are units of encoding processing,
The plurality of encoding units respectively compress and encode image data of n regions divided by the region dividing unit in units of slices using intra prediction. The video compression encoding apparatus.   The encoding control means encodes the uppermost stage of the lower area of the two areas according to the information of the lowermost encoding target block of the upper area of the two areas. 5. The moving image compression encoding apparatus according to claim 4, wherein an encoding parameter related to the intra prediction of the target block is set.   2. The moving image compression according to claim 1, wherein the encoding control unit controls the n regions divided by the region dividing unit to perform encoding processing in a time division within one frame period. Encoding device. Area dividing means for dividing the screen constituting the moving image data into n areas (n is an integer greater than 2) in the horizontal direction;
A plurality of encoding means for encoding the moving image data for each area divided by the area dividing means, less than the number of areas divided by the area dividing means;
Encoded data synthesizing means for synthesizing the encoded data respectively encoded by the plurality of encoding means;
The plurality of encoding means are controlled to encode data in different areas in parallel, and among the n areas divided by the area dividing means, adjacent to the left and right located near the center of the screen And encoding control means for controlling the encoding of the data in the area located on the left side of the two areas to be performed before the encoding of the data in the area located on the right side. A moving image compression coding apparatus. Each of the plurality of encoding units includes a frequency conversion unit that performs frequency conversion on a block to be encoded in the moving image data, and a transform coefficient converted by the frequency conversion unit is quantized with a predetermined quantization step width. Quantization means for performing,
The encoding control means, depending on the encoding result of the encoding target block at the right end of the region located on the left side of the two regions, the encoding target at the left end of the region positioned on the right side of the two regions 8. The moving picture compression coding apparatus according to claim 7, wherein an initial value of a quantization step width used by the quantization means is set for a block. The region dividing unit divides the screen into slices that are units of encoding processing,
9. The plurality of encoding units respectively compress and encode image data of n regions divided by slice units by the region dividing unit using motion compensation prediction. The moving picture compression encoding apparatus described. The region dividing unit divides the screen into slices that are units of encoding processing,
9. The plurality of encoding units respectively compress and encode image data of n regions divided by slice units by the region dividing unit using intra prediction. The video compression encoding apparatus.   The encoding control means is configured to determine the encoding target block at the left end of the area located on the right side of the two areas according to the information on the encoding target block at the right end of the area located on the left side of the two areas. The video compression encoding apparatus according to claim 10, wherein an encoding parameter related to the intra prediction is set.   8. The moving image compression according to claim 7, wherein the encoding control unit controls the n regions divided by the region dividing unit to perform encoding processing in a time division within one frame period. Encoding device. Area dividing means for dividing a screen constituting moving image data into n areas (n is an integer greater than 2);
A plurality of encoding units, wherein each of the plurality of encoding units encodes the moving image data using the region as a unit of encoding processing;
The plurality of encoding units are controlled to encode data in different regions in parallel, and one encoding unit encodes data in two predetermined regions adjacent to each other among the n regions. Encoding control means for controlling the encoding means to do so,
The encoding control means uses the encoding result of the previously encoded area among the predetermined two areas adjacent to each other when encoding the area to be encoded later. A moving image compression encoding apparatus.

Images