Patent ID: 6263107
Filing Date: 2001-07-17
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
An image encoding apparatus, comprising:memory adapted to store image data of a picture;a read-out unit adapted to read out the stored image data on a unit basis of a reference block, the reference block containing a section of the luminance data and the spatially corresponding color difference data, the reference block consisting of at least a pixel block of luminance data comprising a plurality of pixels and at least a pixel block of color difference data comprising a plurality of pixels,said read-out unit reading out sequentially the reference blocks every n reference blocks in a predetermined order, the reading-out operation in the predetermined order being performed in such a manner that the picture is divided into a plurality of portions, where a portion at a more inner position in the picture is read out earlier than a portion at a more outer position in the picture, and each of said plurality of portions divided from the picture includes a plurality of reference blocks; andan encoding unit adapted to encode the image data read out by said read-out unit, wherein the read-out image data are encoded in the predetermined order.