JPH10304358A - Hierarchy encoding/decoding device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make the most of the advantages of hierarchy coding, and to preserve the information of square pixel, by dividing the video signal of the square pixel into a second signal, based on a transmission specification or the like and a first signal constituted of square pixel components, and encoding and transmitting them. SOLUTION: An SQ480p signal of a horizontal sample number 853 inputted from a terminal 1 is down-converted by a down-converter 2 only in a horizontal direction, and turned into a 480p signal of a horizontal sample number 704 as a second signal. This output is encoded by an encoding means 3, and transmitted as a coded signal 6. The encoding means 3 outputs the signal of the down- converter 2 to an up-converter 4, and it is converted from the 480p signal configuration into the SQ480p signal configuration. The output of the up-converter 4 is inputted to an encoding means 5, and the output of the up-converter 4 is subtracted from the video signal of the terminal 1, and a difference signal is obtained as a first signal and encoded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a hierarchical encoding device and a decoding device for encoding and decoding a video signal of a square pixel.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, satellite, multi-channel broadcasting has been started in Japan, Europe and the United States as digital TV broadcasting. In the field of video equipment and computers,
Those that handle digital video signals are increasing.

[0003] Against this background, video signal formats with higher image quality have been standardized. For example, (Table 1)
1 shows a video signal format handled by the Advanced Television Standards Committee (ATSC) in the United States as a digital television standard.

[0004]

[Table 1]

As described above, the progressive video signal has been standardized as being effective for improving the image quality. Further, since the progressive video signal is based on progressive scanning by the monitor of the computer, it has been noted that it has good affinity with the progressive video signal.

On the other hand, as the conventional hierarchical coding, MPE
Scalability in the G standard is known,
Among them, the spatial scalability profile is generally known as a method for achieving compatibility between images having different resolutions.

[0007] From the above prior art, for example, a 60p video signal (hereinafter referred to as "7.times.7") having 720.times.1280 effective pixels.
20p) and a 60p video signal having an effective prime number of 480 × 704 (hereinafter, referred to as 480p) can be realized, and a hierarchical encoding apparatus can be realized.

[0008]

In view of the above-mentioned technology, progressive video signals are expected to become popular in the future because of their good compatibility with computers, but in such a situation, they become problematic. Is a matter of pixel aspect. That is, when a computer performs image signal processing, the aspect ratio of the pixel aspect ratio is 1: 1.
Is easier to handle. That is, 72
In the hierarchical coding method of 0p and 480p, 720p is a horizontal pixel: vertical pixel = 1280: 720 = 16: 9 = screen aspect ratio, whereas 480p is a horizontal pixel: vertical pixel = 704: 480 ≠ 16: 9 That is, 72
0p is a square pixel with a pixel aspect ratio of 1: 1 whereas 480p is non-square.

Therefore, even if the compatibility of the video signal format is realized by the conventional hierarchical encoding device, a difference in the pixel aspect occurs, so that the compatibility of the computer (particularly, the compatibility of the processing program) is realized. Was not always suitable.

An object of the present invention is to provide a hierarchical encoding apparatus and a decoding apparatus which can store square pixel information suitable for computer processing, while taking advantage of performing hierarchical encoding as in the prior art. Aim.

[0011]

In order to solve this problem, the present invention provides a method for converting a square pixel video signal into a second signal conforming to a transmission standard or the like and a square pixel component for the second signal. The signal is separated into one signal, and each signal is encoded and transmitted.

As a result, a hierarchical encoding device and a decoding device that can use square pixel information suitable for arithmetic processing in a computer when necessary.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first aspect of the present invention is an apparatus for encoding a video signal having a pixel aspect ratio of 1: 1. The video signal comprises at least a horizontal high-frequency component from the video signal. The second signal consisting of the signal 1 and other components
And a hierarchical encoding apparatus that encodes and transmits each of the signals, thereby converting a square pixel video signal into a second signal conforming to a transmission standard or the like,
The second signal has an effect of being separated into a square pixel component and transmitted.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a video signal having a pixel aspect ratio of 1: 1 is converted into a first signal comprising at least a horizontal high-frequency component and a second signal comprising other components. An apparatus for separating and decoding each of the encoded and transmitted signals, wherein each of the transmitted signals is decoded to obtain the first signal and the second signal; A hierarchical decoding device that combines the signal and the second signal to obtain the video signal, thereby not only decoding the second signal but also the decoded first signal as necessary. And the second signal is synthesized to obtain a square pixel video signal.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. (Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a hierarchical encoding device and a decoding device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a terminal to which a square pixel video signal is input, 2 is a down converter for converting the input video signal into a video signal conforming to a transmission standard,
Reference numeral 3 denotes encoding means for encoding a video signal output from the downconverter 2, 4 denotes an upconverter for upconverting the output of the downconverter 2 or a video signal decoded by a local decoder inside the encoding means, and 5 denotes an input video. Encoding means for encoding a video signal from the signal and the output of the up-converter 4; decoding means 8 for decoding the signal encoded by the encoding means 3; and 9 a video signal decoded by the decoding means 8 Is a decoding means for decoding a video signal from the signal encoded by the encoding means 5 and the output of the up-converter 9.

Further, in the present embodiment, a down-converter 2, an encoding unit 3, an up-converter 4 and an encoding unit 5 constitute a hierarchical encoding device, and a decoding unit 8, an up-converter 9 and a decoding unit 10 Constitutes a hierarchical decoding device.

Now, it is assumed that a square pixel video signal having 480 effective lines is input from the terminal 1. This video signal is a square pixel video signal in which the number of effective lines is 480, which is the same as 480p, but the number of horizontal samples is 853. That is, 853: 480 = 16: 9
(Hereinafter, referred to as SQ480p).

SQ480p with horizontal sample number "853"
The signal is down-converted only in the horizontal direction by the down-converter 2 to become a 480p signal having the number of horizontal samples “704” as the second signal. This output is encoded by the encoding means 3 and transmitted as an encoded signal 6. The encoding means 3 may be a desired method such as MPEG.

The encoding means 3 outputs the signal of the down converter 2 as it is or the signal once decoded to the up converter 4. Upconverter 4 is 480
The signal form of p is converted to the signal form of SQ480p.

FIG. 2 shows a configuration in the MPEG system as one configuration example of the encoding means 3. In FIG. 2, an output of the down converter 2 is input from a terminal 41 and a subtractor 4
In step 2, the output of the frame memory / motion compensation circuit 48 is subtracted. The output of the subtraction circuit 42 is subjected to a discrete cosine transformation by an orthogonal transformation circuit 43 and is quantized by a quantization circuit 44. The output of the quantization circuit 44 is encoded by the variable length encoding circuit 49 and output from a terminal 50 as an encoded signal. Further, the quantization circuit 44 is inversely quantized by an inverse quantization circuit 45, inversely transformed by an inverse orthogonal transformation circuit 46, and input to an addition circuit 47. The output of the adding circuit 47 is subjected to frame delay and motion compensation in a frame memory / motion compensating circuit 48, and is input to the subtracting circuit 42 and the adding circuit 47.

Since the output of the adder 47 is a decoded signal, it is input to the selector 51 and either the signal from the terminal 41 or the signal of the adder 47 is selected.
Output to the up converter 4.

The output of the up-converter 4 is supplied to the encoding means 5
Is input to The encoding means 5 subtracts the output of the up-converter 4 from the video signal at the terminal 1, obtains a difference signal as a first signal, and encodes the signal. At this time, the encoding means 5
May be encoded as it is or the signal may be downsampled once and then encoded. Then, the coded signal is transmitted as a coded signal 7. Here, the encoded signal 7 is an additional signal for obtaining a square pixel for the encoded signal 6.

That is, in the present embodiment, since the down converter 2 is for horizontal sampling, the difference signal is separated as a signal comprising at least a horizontal high-frequency component.

For example, the coded signal 6 is transmitted as a digital TV broadcast with the base layer, and the coded signal 7 is transmitted separately as another layer corresponding to the base layer as a data broadcast.

In the decoding device, first, the coded signal 6 is decoded by the decoding means 8 and converted into a 480p signal at the terminal 11.
And output to the up-converter 9. The upconverter 9 converts the form of the 480p signal into S
The signal is converted into a Q480p signal and output to the decoding means 10. The decoding means 10 adds the output of the upconverter 9 after decoding the encoded signal 7 and outputs the decoded SQ480p signal from the terminal 12.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, a square pixel video signal can be converted to a standard TV signal and transmitted on the base layer, and a square pixel component can be transmitted on another layer. And a square pixel image signal can be easily used by a computer or the like.

In this embodiment, the input video signal is SQ480p and the output of the downconverter 2 is 480p.
Although p is used, any signal may be used as long as the input video signal is a square pixel video signal and the output of the down converter 2 conforms to the broadcasting standard. Therefore, the down-converted signal may have fewer vertical scanning lines than the input video signal, or may have the same number of horizontal pixels as the input video signal.

(Embodiment 2) FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a hierarchical encoding device and a decoding device according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 21 denotes a terminal to which a 720p video signal is input, 22 denotes a down converter for converting a 720p video signal into a SQ480p video signal as a second signal, and 23 denotes a SQ480p video signal. 4, a down converter for converting a 480p video signal into a 480 video signal, 25 an encoding means for encoding a 480p video signal, 26 an output of the down converter 24 or a 480p video signal decoded into a SQ480p video signal form Up converter for converting, 27 is a down converter 22
Output SQ480p signal 23 and upconverter 26
The encoding means 28 encodes a square pixel component (third signal) for the 480p signal from the output of the signal 280p, and converts the signal obtained by decoding the encoded signal of the down converter 22 or the encoding means 27 into a 720p signal form. Upconverter 29 is a 720p signal and upconverter 28
And an encoding means 29 for encoding a spatial resolution component (first signal) for the SQ480p signal from the output of the SQ480p signal.

Reference numeral 33 denotes decoding means for decoding the coded 480p video signal 30, and reference numeral 34 denotes a decoded 4D video signal.
An up-converter for converting an 80p signal into an SQ480p signal form, decoding means for decoding an SQ480p video signal from the coded signal 31 and the up-converter 34, and 36 for converting the decoded SQ480p signal into 720
An up-converter for converting into a p-video signal form, a decoding means 37 for decoding a 720p video signal from the coded signal 32 and the up-converter 36, a terminal 38 for outputting a 480p video signal, and a 39 for receiving an SQ480p video signal The output terminal 40 is a terminal from which a 720p video signal is output.

The 720p video signal input from the terminal 21 is converted by a downdan converter 22 into horizontal and vertical pixels, and converted into a square pixel video signal (SQ480p video signal) 23 having 480 effective lines. Convert. Then, the SQ480p video signal 23 is encoded. The encoding / decoding route to the terminals 38 and 39 is as follows.
Since this is the same as in the first embodiment, the description is omitted.

The signal input to the up-converter 28 is the SQ480p video signal 23 or a video signal obtained by decoding the encoding means 27, and converts this into a 720p signal form and outputs it. The encoding means 29 subtracts the output of the up-converter 28 from the video signal at the terminal 21 to obtain a difference signal and then encodes the difference signal. At this time, the encoding means 29
The difference signal may be encoded as it is, or may be encoded after down sampling once. Then, the coded signal is transmitted as a coded signal 32. Here, the encoded signal 32 is an additional signal for interpolating the spatial resolution of the encoded signal 31.

Then, for example, the coded signal 30 is transmitted as a digital TV broadcast with the base layer, and the coded signals 31 and 32 are transmitted separately as another layer corresponding to the base layer as a data broadcast. .

On the decoding device side, the decoded SQ48
The 0p signal is converted from the form of the SQ480p signal into the form of the 720p signal by the up-converter 36 and output to the decoding means 37. In the decoding means 37, the encoded signal 32
Is decoded, the output of the up-converter 36 is added, and the decoded 720p signal is output from the terminal 40.

In FIG. 3, the coded signals 30, 31,.
Although each of the transmission means 32 is configured to be transmitted, as shown in FIG.
3. Transmit via the receiving means 54, and
Two signals may be used. As a multiplexing method at this time, for example, the coded signal 31 and the coded signal 32 may be time-division multiplexed and then frequency-multiplexed with the coded signal 30. Further, the transmission path may take a broadcasting form or a transmission form such as a network.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, 720
p video signal, 480p video signal (base layer)
And a pixel square component (middle layer) for the 480p video signal and a spatial resolution component (upper layer) for the SQ480p video signal, and can be transmitted.
It can be received as a video signal, and can also be used by converting a 480p video signal to a square pixel. Therefore, it is possible to obtain a hierarchical encoding device and a decoding device having a high degree of freedom in processing a video signal on the receiving side.

In each of the above embodiments, 48
Although specific video signals such as 0p, SQ480p, and 720p have been described as examples, it is needless to say that the present invention is effective for input video signals having a pixel aspect ratio of 1: 1. Also, the video signal serving as the base layer may be a non-square pixel video signal.

For example, in the second embodiment, a square pixel video signal having an arbitrary number of effective pixels is supplied to the terminal 2
Input from 1 and conversion by the down-converter 22 may be performed so as to be the number of effective lines of the video signal serving as the base layer. Therefore, the downconverter 22 may be freely designed, for example, by adding dummy data so as to simplify the downconverting method.

Further, in each of the above embodiments, the progressive video signal which is excellent in the affinity with the computer and has a great effect in the present invention has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this.

It goes without saying that the apparatus according to each of the above embodiments can be partially or entirely realized by software, and the software may be in a form recorded on a medium.

[0042]

As described above, according to the present invention, a video signal having a pixel aspect ratio of 1: 1 is separated into a signal having at least a horizontal high-frequency component and a base layer signal having other components. In addition to the advantages of hierarchical encoding, which maintains the compatibility of the video signal format between the square pixel video signal and the base layer, processing by a computer is performed according to the need for square pixels. It is possible to decode a square-pixel video signal suitable for, for example,

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a hierarchical encoding device and a decoding device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an encoding unit in the same-layer encoding device.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a hierarchical encoding device and a decoding device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of transmission according to the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Downconverter 3,5 Encoding means 4,9 Upconverter 8,10 Decoding means

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Toyohiko Matsuda 1006 Kadoma Kadoma, Osaka Prefecture Inside Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Claims (17)

[Claims] 1. An apparatus for encoding a video signal having a pixel aspect ratio of 1: 1 and comprising, from the video signal, a first signal comprising at least a horizontal high-frequency component and other components. A hierarchical encoding device that separates the signal into a second signal, encodes each signal, and transmits the encoded signal. 2. The hierarchical encoding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second signal has an aspect ratio of a pixel aspect that satisfies ≦ horizontal. 3. The second signal is based on a video signal before separation.
3. The hierarchical encoding device according to claim 1, wherein the number of vertical scanning lines is small. 4. The hierarchical coding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second signal has the same number of vertical scanning lines as the video signal before separation. 5. A video signal having a pixel aspect ratio of 1: 1 is down-converted into a second signal, and the second signal is up-converted and subtracted from the video signal to form a first signal. The hierarchical coding apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the video signal is separated. 6. A video signal having a pixel aspect ratio of 1: 1 is down-converted into a second signal, and a signal obtained by encoding and decoding the second signal is up-converted from the video signal. The hierarchical coding apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the video signal is separated by using a result of the subtraction as a first signal. 7. The hierarchical encoding device according to claim 1, wherein the video signal is a progressive video signal. 8. A video signal having a pixel aspect ratio of 1: 1 is separated into a first signal composed of at least a horizontal high-frequency component and a second signal composed of other components. A decoding device for decoding the transmitted signal, wherein each of the transmitted signals is decoded and the first signal is decoded.
And the second signal, and combining the first signal and the second signal to obtain the video signal. 9. The hierarchical decoding apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the aspect ratio of the pixel aspect of the second signal is vertical ≦ horizontal. 10. The decoded second signal is up-converted and added to the decoded first signal to obtain a decoded video signal having a pixel aspect ratio of 1: 1. 10. The hierarchical decoding apparatus according to claim 8, wherein: 11. The aspect ratio of the pixel aspect is 1: 1.
A second signal having a 1: 1 aspect ratio of a pixel aspect composed of horizontal and vertical high frequency components and a pixel aspect composed of other components from the video signal. The first signal and the third signal are separated from the second signal into a third signal including at least a horizontal high-frequency component and a fourth signal including other components. And a hierarchical encoding device for encoding and transmitting the fourth signal. 12. The hierarchical coding apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the third signal and the fourth signal have the same number of vertical scanning lines. 13. The hierarchical coding apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the third signal and the fourth signal have the same number of horizontal pixels. 14. A video signal is down-converted to a second signal.
14. The signal according to claim 11, wherein the video signal is separated as a first signal, and a signal obtained by up-converting the second signal and subtracting from the video signal is used as a first signal. 10. The hierarchical encoding device according to claim 1. 15. A signal obtained by down-converting a second signal into a fourth signal, up-converting the fourth signal and subtracting the result from the second signal as a third signal,
The method of claim 11, wherein the second signal is separated.
15. The hierarchical encoding device according to any one of items 14 to 14. 16. A signal obtained by down-converting a second signal into a fourth signal, up-converting a signal obtained by encoding and decoding the fourth signal, and subtracting a signal obtained by subtracting from the second signal into a third signal. The signal according to any one of claims 11 to 14, wherein the second signal is separated as the signal of (1).
Item 10. The hierarchical encoding device according to Item 1. 17. The hierarchical encoding apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the video signal is a progressive video signal.