Patent ID: 6173013
Filing Date: 2001-01-09
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
An image signal encoding apparatus for encoding a plurality of image signals, at least one of said plurality of image signals being an image signal representing a moving image object, said at least one of the plurality of image signals including a signal used to combine it with at least one other image signal of said plurality of image signals, said apparatus comprising:an image supplier for supplying a base layer image signal and an enhancement layer image signal scalably representing said image signal representing a moving image object;an enhancement layer encoder for encoding said enhancement layer image signal thereby generating an encoded enhancement layer signal; anda base layer encoder for encoding said base layer image signal thereby generating an encoded base layer signal;wherein said enhancement layer encoder comprises:a generator for generating a reference image signal used to calculate a motion vector of the enhancement layer image signal to be encoded, said reference image signal being generated by replacing the values of pixels outside said image object of the enhancement layer image signal with the values of predetermined pixels at corresponding locations of the base layer image signal;a detector for detecting the motion vector of said enhancement layer image signal to be encoded using said reference image signal; andan encoder for encoding said enhancement layer image signal using a predicted image signal of said enhancement layer image signal, said predicted image signal being generated by performing motion compensation using said detected motion vector.