Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.

Yoshihiro Matsuo

Shigeyuki Okada

Hideki Yamauchi

Noriaki Kojima

Tsuyoshi Watanabe

Shinichiro Okada

Yasuo Ishii

Tetsu Tarumoto

The image processing apparatus comprises a wavelet transform unit, a frame buffer, a quantization unit, a bit plane coding unit, an arithmetic coding unit, and a stream generating unit, and converts an original image into coded image data hierarchically by using these units. A copyright level management table manages copyright levels to be permitted to users who use the coded image data. A copyright level recording unit records copyright level information on the corresponding profile into a header or other areas of the coded image data in consideration of such factors as users and regions to be provided.

Image processing apparatus and method for processing image having hierarchical structure

An image coding apparatus is provided which satisfies various levels of demands on image distribution, both from image providers and from users. The image coding apparatus includes a coding block which codes predetermined image data. A separation unit separates the coded image data into basic data for reproducing contents of the coded image data as a visible image, and complementary data for complementing the basic data, so that the two pieces of data are distributed on different occasions. An adding unit adds information for independent copyright control to at least either one of the basic data and the complementary data.

Image display method, image coding apparatus, and image decoding apparatus

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Hashima, Japan

Yoshihiro Matsuo