Patent ID: 9131236
Filing Date: 2015-09-08
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
1. A code amount control method used in a video encoding method for performing code amount control by estimating an amount of code generated for an encoding target picture, the control method comprising: a step that computes a feature value of the encoding target picture and stores the feature value of the encoding target picture into a storage device; a step that extracts a feature value of a previously-encoded picture which is used for generated code amount estimation, where the feature value of the previously-encoded picture has been stored in the storage device; a step that compares the feature value of the encoding target picture with the feature value of the previously-encoded picture, where the encoding target picture and the previously-encoded picture are both intra pictures and they are positioned at a large interval such that there are at least five pictures between them; and a step that is performed according to a result of the feature value comparison, wherein if it is determined that difference between both feature values is larger than a predetermined criterion value and the encoding target picture is more complex than the previously-encoded picture, the step estimates the amount of code generated for the encoding target picture without using any result of encoding of previously-encoded pictures, and otherwise the step estimates the amount of code generated for the encoding target picture based on a result of encoding of the previously-encoded picture; wherein if it is determined that the difference between both feature values is larger than a predetermined criterion value and the encoding target picture is more complex than the previously-encoded picture the code amount control for non-intra pictures are performed in an initialized state, without using any encoding result of previously-encoded pictures.