Patent ID: 9538181
Date: 2017-01-03
CPC Classifications: H04N

Claim:
1. An image decoding apparatus comprising: circuitry configured to determine whether a plurality of candidate blocks, which is positioned in a predetermined positional relationship with respect to a target block, is available in an order defined according to the positional relationship; decode input encoded data to obtain identification information; select a selection block from one or more candidate blocks that are determined to be available, in accordance with the identification information; and generate a predicted image of the target block based on motion information of the selection block, wherein the plurality of candidate blocks includes a plurality of blocks in a first frame to which the target block belongs and a plurality of blocks in a second frame different from the first frame, the plurality of blocks in the first frame including a block adjacent to an upper left of the target block and a block adjacent to a top of the target block, wherein the circuitry is configured to perform a determination for the block adjacent to the upper left of the target block after performing a determination for the block adjacent to the top of the target block, wherein, when determining whether the plurality of candidate blocks is available, the circuitry is further configured to, when at least one candidate block among the plurality of candidate blocks has been determined to be available, determine that a current candidate block is available if the current candidate block includes motion information and the motion information of the current candidate block is different from motion information of each candidate block among the plurality of candidate blocks that has been determined to be available, and determine that the current candidate block is not available if the current candidate block includes the motion information and the motion information of the current candidate block is the same as motion information of a candidate block among the plurality of candidate blocks that has been determined to be available, wherein, when determining whether the plurality of candidate blocks is available, the circuitry is further configured to determine that the current candidate block is available if the current candidate block includes the motion information, when no candidate block among the plurality of candidate blocks has been determined as available, and wherein the identification information has a data length corresponding to a number of candidate blocks that are determined to be available and a position of the selection block.