JPH09153815A - Encoding/decoding device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simplify the designation method of encoding information and to improve the use efficiency of a communication line. SOLUTION: In transmitting encoding information for reconstituting a decoding system being a means for decoding encoding information, the identification code 31 of a basic decoding system, which is previously defined, and difference information 32 and 33 for the basic decoding system are designated, and information on the addition, elimination and exchanged of a function module are contained in difference information. Thus, the decoding system can easily be changed, transmission data quantity is prevented from considerably increasing and the communication line can efficiently be used.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a coding / decoding apparatus for image data or the like, and more particularly, for forming a decoding system which is means for decoding coded data together with coded data from the coding apparatus. The present invention relates to an encoding / decoding device that transmits the encoded information of 1., reconstructs the decoding method from the encoded information received on the decoding side, and decodes the received encoded data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, ISDN (Integrated Services)
Digital Network: Image communication service has been realized as a new communication service by the spread of integrated service digital network. Examples are a videophone and a video conference system. Further, with the development of wireless transmission networks represented by PHS and FPLMTS, further sophistication of services,
The demand for diversification and portability is increasing rapidly. Generally, when transmitting image information such as a videophone or a video conference system, the amount of image information is enormous, but in terms of the line speed and cost of the line used for transmission,
It is necessary to compress and encode the information amount of the image to be transmitted and reduce the information amount before transmission.

As a coding method for compressing image information, a still image coding method such as JPEG (Joint Photographic) is used.
Coding Experts Group), H.264 as a moving image coding method. 261, MPEG1 as a moving image encoding system for storage
(Moving Picture Coding Expert Group 1), MPE
G2 has already been internationally standardized. 64 kbp
MPE as an encoding method at an ultra-low bit rate of s or less
G4 standardization activities are underway. In MPEG4,
Since it can flexibly support a wide variety of applications and can be encoded by an optimum method for each application, the existing JPEG, H.264 and H.264 standards are used. 261, MPEG1, MP
Unlike the EG2 encoding method, which does not perform encoding according to a certain fixed means, each of the functional modules independent of the encoder (converter, quantizer, inverse transformer, inverse quantizer, etc.) It is necessary to prepare a method in which a large number of them are prepared and encoding is performed by an appropriate combination thereof.
Similarly, the decoding method can be realized by combining the functional modules.

FIG. The encoded data encoded in H.261 is converted into H.264. 261 is an example of a data string of encoded output information when transmitting to a device having no decoding function of H.261.
As described above, it is premised that the encoding system is not constant, and the combination of each functional module of the encoder can be freely selected. It is necessary to transmit information indicating whether the encoding has been performed (hereinafter referred to as encoded information) together with the encoded data. In FIG. 4, the motion compensation module 12a, the inverse transform module 12b, the quantization module 12c, and the decoding method configuration information 11 are the coding information, and the subsequent motion vector 13a, the transform coefficient 13b,
The quantization step 13c is the encoded data. Each of the functional modules 12a to 12c shows a procedure for decoding the corresponding encoded data 13a to 13c, and is provided with the corresponding functional module in the case of including the procedure itself and on the decoding device side. In some cases, only the identification number of the functional module is shown. Decoding method configuration information 1
Reference numeral 1 denotes each functional module and a method of using the output of the processing result thereof. In the case of the example shown in FIG. 4, the result of motion compensation refers to the data of a certain image block decoded immediately before. Encoding system in this case, such as H.264. 261 shows information regarding the procedure itself of H.261. The device on the decoding side which receives the encoded output information shown in FIG. 4 can configure a decoding system by the interpretation of the encoded information, the motion compensation module, the inverse transform module, and the quantization module, and the encoded data received thereafter. Can be correctly decoded.

By including the description of the processing procedure of the functional module itself and the usage of the processing result by each functional module in the coded information as described above, a decoding method or a functional module not provided in the decoding device side is required. Even in such cases, the received encoded data can be decoded, but in order to increase the efficiency of use of the line, use a decoding method that does not need to send the decoding method configuration itself or information of functional modules. Is desired. In practice, since the purpose used by the encoding / decoding device and the required quality are determined to some extent, each encoding / decoding device should be provided with an encoding / decoding method that is considered to be frequently used. Is realistic.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a data string of encoded output information when devices having a plurality of encoding / decoding systems which are frequently used in advance communicate with each other. By transmitting a predefined identification code 21 as the encoding information, the decoding device side can call the same decoding method that is built in and perform the decoding process of the received encoded data. Compared to the example of FIG. 4, it is possible to greatly reduce the amount of transmission data and improve the utilization efficiency of the communication line, since it is not necessary to transmit the information of the functional module and the configuration information of the decoding method.

[0007]

However, H.264. 2
As is also seen in the 61 encoding system, etc., it is usual to switch the details of the encoding system at any time depending on whether the encoding efficiency is important or the image quality is important, or the nature of the input image. Done. In addition, as described above, since the intended use is limited only by the encoding method provided in advance, there is a demand for switching the encoding method according to the application. In this case, when the encoder side tries to transmit the data encoded using the method that the decoder side does not have, the encoding information is transmitted at the same time as described above. According to the above-described method, the encoding information, as shown in FIG. 4, includes information on the functional modules included in the decoding system, regardless of the size of the decoding system provided in advance on the decoding device side. It is necessary to transmit all of them, and even if a method with a small difference from the decoding method provided in the decoding apparatus is used, a large transfer rate may be occupied and the line usage efficiency may be reduced. However, in reality, there are functional modules that are almost commonly used regardless of the difference in the coding method such as transform coding in moving images. Therefore, another functional module is added to the configuration based on such a functional module. By doing so, it is possible to develop into a different type of encoding method. The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and when transmitting the decoding method, the difference is reduced by transmitting only the difference information for the functional module and the decoding method already provided in the receiving side device. (EN) Provided is an encoding / decoding device having a decoding method designation / identification method capable of designating / identifying a required decoding method by a procedure and preventing the use efficiency of a communication line from being significantly reduced. To aim.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides (1) an encoding device to provide encoding information necessary for constructing a decoding system for decoding encoded data. At the time of transmission, the identification information of the basic decoding method that is defined in advance and the difference information for the basic decoding method are transmitted,
The decoding apparatus configures a decoding method specified by the received basic decoding method identification code and difference information, and the encoding apparatus stores several types of encoding methods and functional modules configuring the encoding methods. Coding system database, coding system selecting unit for deciding coding system according to input data, coding processing unit for coding input data according to the determined coding system, and code for controlling each unit And a decoding method configuration for reconfiguring the decoding method according to the received coding information, and a decoding method database that stores several types of decoding methods and functional modules that configure the decoding methods. Units, a decoding processing unit that performs a decoding process of the received data according to the reconfigured decoding method, and a decoding control unit that controls each unit.

Further, (2) the encoding device transmits, as the difference information, information that one or several types of functional modules are added to the basic decoding system, and the decoding device identifies the received basic decoding system identification. Configuring a decoding method specified by the code and the difference information, and (3)
The encoding device transmits, as the difference information, information that one or several functional modules included in the basic decoding system are not used, and the decoding device is designated from the received basic decoding system identification code and difference information. (4) The encoding device transmits, as the difference information, information that one or several kinds of functional modules included in the basic decoding system are replaced by different modules, and the decoding device configures the decoding system. Configuring a decoding method designated from the received basic decoding method identification code and difference information, and (5) the encoding device is a combination of several kinds of selectable decoding methods when transmitting the encoding information. Among them, the information amount is compared, and the combination with the smallest transmitted information amount is selected and transmitted. That.

By adopting the above-mentioned system, the coding information for decoding the coded data among the coded output information transmitted from the coding apparatus is the identification code of the basic decoding system and the basic decoding. It consists only of the difference information for the method. By adding, deleting, or replacing a functional module with respect to the basic decoding method in the difference information,
Another decoding method that is an extension of the basic decoding method is expressed. Further, when there are two or more methods for specifying the difference information, the specifying method that requires less information amount of the difference information is selected, and the transmission amount is minimized.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the encoding of the present invention /
It is a block diagram which shows an example of the data string of the encoding output information by a decoding device. In FIG. 1, the decoding method identification code 31 forming the encoded information is the same as that of FIG.
This is an identification code of a predefined basic decoding method. Further, the additional condition information 32 and the module information 33 add a certain process to the basic decoding method identification code 31,
This is instruction information for deleting or replacing, and the basic encoding method is H.264. H.261, but when using an encoding method in which the processing of details is partially changed, H.264 is used.
By transmitting only the decoding method identification code of H.261 and the difference information corresponding thereto as the encoding information, the decoding method on the decoding side can be reconfigured and the information of all the functional modules as shown in FIG. 4 is transmitted. The waste of doing can be omitted.

Since it is possible to specify conditions such as addition, deletion, and replacement as described above in the additional condition information,
For example, H. The motion compensation process, which is used to efficiently represent the motion of an object in the H.261 coding system, requires a large number of calculations on the coding side, which tends to cause a decrease in processing speed. In the case where it is not used, by indicating the information indicating the deletion of the functional module in the additional condition information and designating the identification code of the motion compensation module as the information of the functional module, H.264 that does not include motion compensation. It is possible to significantly reduce the amount of transmission data as compared with the case of newly transmitting the coding information of the H.261 coding system.

Similarly, designation of addition of a functional module not included in the basic decoding system or replacement of a functional module having the same function with another functional module is performed by combining the additional condition information and the functional module information. It is possible to reduce the amount of transmission data as compared with the case where all the information configuring the decoding method is transmitted again.

The respective configurations of the encoding device and the decoding device that realize the above processing will be described below. FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing an example of an embodiment of an encoding device having the above-described function. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 41 denotes an encoding system database, and the encoding system database 41 stores a basic encoding system and a functional module group in advance so that necessary contents can be called from the outside. Reference numeral 42 denotes an encoding method selecting unit, which determines an optimal encoding method according to the property of the input data, and the encoding method database 41 requires the required encoding method. Call the contents of the configuration and function module of. The called encoding method is transferred to the encoding processing unit 43, and the input data is sequentially encoded. The encoding control unit 44 collectively controls the processing modules of the respective units and controls the input / output of data. When there are a plurality of designation methods in the coding information for representing the determined coding scheme, the coding scheme selection unit 42 compares the transmission data amount between the designation methods and determines the maximum transmission information amount. Control is performed so as to prevent the use efficiency of the communication line from being reduced as much as possible by selecting and transmitting a specified method with a small number.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of an embodiment of a decoding device having the above-mentioned function. In FIG.
Reference numeral 51 denotes a decryption method database. This decryption method database 51 stores a basic decryption method and a functional module group in advance so that necessary contents can be called from the outside. Reference numeral 52 is a decoding system interpretation unit,
The decoding method interpretation unit 52 calls the required decoding method configuration and contents of functional modules from the decoding method database 51 according to the received encoding information. The called decoding method is transferred to the decoding processing unit 53 and sequentially performs decoding processing on the input encoded data. The control of the processing module of each unit, the control of data input / output, and the like are collectively performed by the decoding control unit 54.

[0016]

As is apparent from the above description, the present invention has the following effects. (1) When transmitting the encoded information, the identification code of the basic decoding method that is defined in advance and the difference information with respect to the basic decoding method are transmitted to specify all the information of the functional modules that configure the decoding method. Compared with the case, it is possible to reduce the amount of transmission data, it is possible to not significantly reduce the use efficiency of the communication line, and (2) when transmitting the encoded information, the basic decoding method is set to 1 By transmitting the information that one or several types of functional modules are added as the difference information, it is possible to extend and use the decoding method incorporated in the decoding device, and (3)
When transmitting the encoded information, the information that one or several functional modules included in the basic decoding method is not used is transmitted as the difference information, thereby simplifying the decoding method incorporated in the decoding device. It is also possible to use, and (4) when transmitting the encoded information, the information that one or several kinds of functional modules included in the basic decoding method are replaced with different functional modules is transmitted as the difference information. By doing so, it becomes possible to change and use the decoding method built in the decoding device, and (5) when the coding device transmits the coding information, several kinds of selectable coding information By comparing the amount of information from each combination and selecting the combination with the smallest amount of information to transmit, the communication line usage efficiency is significantly reduced. To allow that no.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a data string of encoded output information using a decoding method identification code and difference information according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of an encoding device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a decoding device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram showing a data string of encoded output information including encoded information.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram showing a data string of encoded output information in which a decoding method identification code is used as encoded information.

[Explanation of symbols]

 31 Decoding Method Identification Code 32 Additional Condition Information 33 Module Information 41 Encoding Method Database 42 Encoding Method Selection Section 43 Encoding Processing Section 44 Encoding Control Section 51 Decoding Method Database 52 Decoding Method Interpretation Section 53 Decoding Processing Section 54 Decoding Control Section

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. The encoding side transmits the encoded data together with the encoded data, which includes a decoding system which is a means for decoding the encoded data and a functional module which constitutes the decoding system, and which is received by the decoding side. In a coding / decoding device that reconfigures a decoding method based on coding information and decodes encoded data received using the decoding method obtained by the reconfiguration, a basic decoding method defined in advance is used. An encoding / decoding device characterized in that the decoding side can identify the required decoding method by notifying the encoding side of the difference information between the identification code and the basic decoding method as the coding information. 2. A coding method database that stores several kinds of coding methods and functional modules that configure the coding methods, a coding method selecting unit that determines a coding method according to input data, and the determined coding method. The encoding apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: an encoding processing unit that performs an encoding process of input data according to a method, and an encoding control unit that controls each unit. 3. A decoding method database that stores several types of decoding methods and functional modules that configure the decoding methods,
A decoding method configuration unit that reconfigures a decoding method according to the received encoding information, a decoding processing unit that performs decoding processing of received data according to the reconfigured decoding method, and a decoding control unit that controls each unit. The decoding device according to claim 1, wherein: 4. A basic decoding method identification code and information that one or several kinds of functional modules are added to the basic decoding method are transmitted as coding information,
Claim 1, or Claim 2, or Claim 3 which enables it to extend and use the decoding system prepared at the decoding side.
Encoding / decoding device as described. 5. A decoding method prepared on the decoding side is transmitted by transmitting, as encoded information, a basic decoding method identification code and information indicating that one or several kinds of functional modules included in the basic decoding method are not used. The encoding / decoding device according to claim 1, 2 or 3, which enables simplification of use. 6. The decoding side is prepared by transmitting, as encoded information, a basic decoding method identification code and information that one or several kinds of functional modules included in the basic decoding method are replaced by different functional modules. The encoding / decoding device according to claim 1, 2 or 3, which enables the decoding method being changed to be used. 7. When transmitting encoded information, a combination having the smallest amount of transmitted information is selected and transmitted from among several possible combinations of encoded information. Item 2. The encoding device according to item 2.