Panasonic Corporation

Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.

Masayasu Iguchi

Takahiro Nishi

Tadamasa Toma

Hiroaki Toida

Kiyofumi Abe

Satoshi Kondo

Shinya Kadono Kadono

Hiroshi Amano

Masayoshi Tojima

Toshiyasu Sugio

Tomoyuki Okada

Hiroshi Yahata

Wataru Ikeda

Yoshinori Matsui

Hisao Sasai

Takeshi Tanaka

Youji Shibahara

Tatsuro Juri

Takashi Hashimoto

Masaki Maeda

Akihiko Inoue

Kenjiro Tsuda

Hiroto Tomita

Yoshiteru Hayashi

Hidekatsu Ozeki

When compression encoding processing of an image is performed in units of macroblocks using a pipeline structure, an application of a skip mode or the like according to MPEG4AVC to compression encode an encoding target block requires motion vectors and the like of adjacent blocks of the encoding target block. However, depending on a structure of the pipeline stages, the motion vectors may not be determined. In such cases, the skip mode cannot be applied to compression encode the encoding target block. This problem can be solved by (i) calculating all motion information candidates, of the encoding target block, corresponding to all motion information selectable by a previous block of the encoding target block, and (ii) selecting, as the motion information of the encoding target block in the skip mode, the motion information corresponding to the motion information determined for the previous block.

Image coding device, image coding method, and image coding integrated circuit

To provide an image decoding apparatus that suppresses overhead of parallel processing to improve parallelization efficiency and reduce circuit costs, while solving neighboring macroblock dependencies. The image decoding apparatus () includes first and second decoding circuits () having a transfer unit that transfers right neighborhood information or left neighborhood information, and first and second transfer completion detection units () that respectively detect whether or not the left neighborhood information or the right neighborhood information has been transferred to the first and second decoding circuits (). Each of the first and second decoding circuits () decodes a decoding target macroblock positioned at an edge of a region, when the transfer of the left neighborhood information or the right neighborhood information is detected. A boundary line between regions is orthogonal to a decoding direction corresponding to an order in which macroblocks adjacent to each other are sequentially decoded.

Image decoding apparatus for decoding a target block by referencing information of an already decoded block in a neighborhood of the target block

An image decoding apparatus which decodes, in parallel, a coded stream having processing order dependency includes: a slice data predecoding unit which predecodes, on a macroblock group basis, macroblock groups included in the coded stream to generate macroblock decoding information necessary for decoding other macroblock groups; and a first macroblock decoding unit and a second macroblock decoding unit each of which decodes a corresponding one of macroblock groups included in the coded stream in parallel. Each of the macroblock decoding units, when decoding the corresponding one of macroblock groups, uses the macroblock decoding information that has been generated for the other macroblock group.

Image decoding apparatus and image coding apparatus wth parallel decoding

There is disclosed a decoding method for decoding an incoming bitstream entropy-encoded according to an encoding method based on either of arithmetic encoding algorithm and non-arithmetic encoding algorithm, the incoming bitstream including syntax elements. The decoding method includes a first converting step of converting the incoming bitstream into an intermediate bitstream according to the encoding method, the first converting being capable of being omitted, a buffering step of selecting, according to the encoding method, either the intermediate bitstream or the incoming bitstream to store the selected bitstream onto a memory, and a second converting step of reading the selected bitstream from the memory to convert the read bitstream into syntax elements, the read bitstream being either the intermediate bitstream or the incoming bitstream.

Decoding method for decoding an incoming bitstream and method for performing the same

Provided is a motion compensating apparatus that includes: a motion compensation position determining unit that determines, based on a motion vector, a position of pixels for which compensated pixels should be generated; a necessary pixel determining unit that determines pixels necessary for performing 6-tap filtering; a data transfer controlling unit that controls the order or the like of taking out data to be transferred; an intermediate pixel storage memory for storing pixel data with half-pixel accuracy; a high-order tap filtering unit that generates pixel data with half-pixel accuracy by successively performing filtering operations in a predetermined direction; and a linear interpolation calculating unit that performs linear interpolation based on the position of pixels to be motion compensated, and generates and outputs pixel data with motion compensation accuracy of less than half-pixel accuracy.

Motion compensating apparatus

A moving image encoding method of encoding a moving image while switching between variable-length encoding schemes. In this method, a continuous unit to be continuously reproduced is determined (S), a stream is generated by encoding the moving image without switching between variable-length encoding schemes in the continuous unit (S), and management information is generated that includes a first flag information indicating that a variable-length encoding scheme is fixed in the continuous unit (S, and S).

Generation apparatus generating a stream including a flag, mode information and an encoded picture, and a generation method performing the same

An encoding device encoding binary signals using arithmetic-encoding. The encoding device includes a binarization unit binarizing multivalued syntax elements in order to generate the binary signals. The generated binary signals are stored on an intermediate buffer. Further, the encoding device includes an arithmetic-encoding unit performing the arithmetic-encoding on the binary signals stored on the intermediate buffer. Additionally, the generated binary signals are binary representations of values of the multivalued syntax elements.

Encoding apparatus for encoding binary signals generated from binarized multivalued syntax elements and method for performing the same

Provided is a motion compensating apparatus that efficiently generates a motion-compensated pixel by reducing the amount of data to be transmitted from a multi frame memory storing reference pixel data, while minimizing an increase in the scale of a circuit. A motion compensating apparatus () includes: a motion compensation position determining unit () that determines, based on a motion vector, a position of pixels for which compensated pixels should be generated; a necessary pixel determining unit () that determines pixels necessary for performing 6-tap filtering; a data transfer controlling unit () that controls the order or the like of taking out data to be transferred; an intermediate pixel storage memory () for storing pixel data with half-pixel accuracy; a high-order tap filtering unit () that generates pixel data with half-pixel accuracy by successively performing filtering operations in a predetermined direction; and a linear interpolation calculating unit () that performs linear interpolation based on the position of pixels to be motion compensated, and generates and outputs pixel data with motion compensation accuracy of less than half-pixel accuracy.

There is provided an image reproduction apparatus for seamlessly reproducing a connected stream which is obtained by connecting plural streams that are respectively coded by different codec methods. An image reproduction apparatus () for reproducing a connected stream which is obtained by connecting plural streams of different codec methods such as an MPEG-2 method and an MPEG-4 AVC method is provided with a stream buffer () in which the connected stream Bst is stored, and plural decoders Dd&#x2dc;Ddn corresponding to the various kinds of codec methods, and a decoder for decoding each stream in the connected stream Bst that is outputted from the stream buffer () is selected from among the plural decoders according to the codec method of each stream.

Image reproduction method and image reproduction apparatus

Provided is a motion estimation device in which an amount of pixel data transferred from an external frame memory to an internal reference local memory is reduced. By the motion estimation device, it is possible to reduce a memory capacity and a size or processing of a circuit controlling the pixel transfer. In a reference memory control unit and an internal reference memory, a height of a area to be updated is set to L pixels, where L is power of 2, a logical address segments, whose size is suitable for address calculation, are allocated to picture space, and FIFO management is performs. In another application, an assistance memory is added, and another element other than the assistance memory performs the FIFO management for rectangular areas in an image of a conventional width. As a result, the address calculation is simplified, which makes it possible to reduce an embedded circuit for the reference memory control unit and the internal reference memory.

Motion estimation device, motion estimation method, motion estimation integrated circuit, and picture coding device

An image decoding device and an encoding device include an arithmetic unit for performing arithmetic processing, an arithmetic data storage unit for storing an arithmetic result by the arithmetic unit, an input selection unit for selecting whether to read pixel data that is to be inputted to the arithmetic unit from compressed image data or from pixel data stored in the arithmetic data storage unit, and inputting the read pixel data to the arithmetic unit, and an arithmetic control unit for controlling, based on a transform mode used and the number of arithmetic operations in the arithmetic unit, a destination from which the pixel data that is to be inputted to the arithmetic unit by the input selection unit is read as well as a combination of pieces of pixel data targeted for the arithmetic processing by the arithmetic unit and multiplier coefficients for the arithmetic processing.

Image encoding device, image decoding device, and integrated circuit used therein

Moving image encoding method and apparatus

A decoding-processing apparatus that decodes bitstreams using an intermediate format. The apparatus includes a context-calculating unit () calculating the probability of symbols contained in incoming bitstreams, a parameter-generating unit () generating parameters for use in the context-calculating unit (), and an arithmetic decoding-calculating unit () decoding the incoming bitstreams in accordance with the probability, thereby providing decoded data. The apparatus also includes a stream-converting unit () converting the decoded data into intermediate bitstreams, a storage unit () storing the intermediate bitstreams, a synchronization-detecting unit () detecting calculation start timing from the intermediate bitstreams fed out of the storage unit (), thereby providing detected calculation start timing, and a multivalued calculating unit () permitting the intermediate bitstreams fed out of the storage unit () to be multivalued in synchronism with the detected calculation start timing from the synchronization-detecting unit ().

Decoding-processing apparatus for decoding bitstreams encoded in accordance with an arithmetic-encoding system in image compression and method for performing the same

An image decoding method includes a first storage step of sequentially decoding pictures in a stream, storing a picture to be used as a reference into a picture memory, and managing the picture. Further, the image decoding method includes a determination step of determining whether or not random access reproduction has been designated, a state change step of changing a management state for managing a picture in the picture memory, when the random access reproduction has been designated, and a second storage step of sequentially decoding each of the coded pictures from a random access reproduction destination, storing, into the picture memory, a picture to be used as a reference, and managing the picture. This image decoding method enables the decoding of pictures with reference to an appropriate picture even when random access reproduction is performed.

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Hyogo, Japan

Masayasu Iguchi