Fixed length cell handling type image communication method as well as transmission apparatus for fixed length cell handling type image communication and reception apparatus for fixed length cell handling type image communication

Abstract

The invention provides a fixed length cell handling image communication method wherein moving picture data are compressed to data having a fixed transmission rate using a compression method for still pictures and then converted into fixed length cells so that image processing such as compression/decompression of the moving picture data can be performed at a high rate while keeping a high compression ratio and a high picture quality. A transmission apparatus for use with the method includes an image data compression section for performing still picture compression processing for moving picture data, which define information of a plurality of screens individually divided into a plurality of fields to be successively transmitted per unit time, in response to field timing information representative of a compression timing of each field to convert the moving picture data into variable length data which are independent of each other, a transmission buffer section for converting the variable length data into fixed length data having a fixed transmission rate, and a fixed length cell transmission section for placing the fixed length data and the field timing information into data parts of fixed length cells and transmitting the fixed length cells.