Image information transmitting system

Abstract: In an image information transmitting system of this invention, an image information signal constituted by a plurality of data constituting one frame is input. A plurality of pixel data blocks each consisting of a predetermined number of pixel data are formed from the input image information signal. Dynamic range information data associated with dynamic ranges of values of the pixel data constituting each pixel data block are formed in units of the plurality of pixel blocks. The pixel data constituting the pixel data block is coded using the dynamic range information data to form a plurality of coded data in units of pixel data blocks. The dynamic range information data and the coded data are sent onto a transmission line. These transmitted data are received, and a data portion of the dynamic range information data and the coded data which has an error is interpolated. High-quality image information can be efficiently transmitted.

Description: The present invention relates to an image information transmitting system and, more particularly, to an image information transmitting system capable of performing high-efficiency coding. For example, a high-efficiency coding scheme for a television signal is known as an image information transmitting scheme of this type. In this high-efficiency coding scheme for the television signal, since a transmission band must be narrowed, a so-called MIN-MAX method for reducing the average number of bits per pixel is employed. The MIN-MAX method will be described below. A television signal has strong correlation with time and space. When an image is divided into small blocks, the blocks often have only a small dynamic range due to local correlation. A local dynamic range is obtained in each block, and adaptive coding is performed to perform highly efficient data compression. This coding scheme will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Fig. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an image information transmitting system as a prior art. The image information transmitting system includes an input terminal 301. An analog signal obtained by raster-scanning, e.g., a television signal is sampled at a predetermined frequency, and data (n bits/sample) is input to the input terminal 301. The digital image data having 2 n gradation levels are supplied to a pixel block dividing circuit 302. Fig. 2 is a view showing a state wherein one-frame pixel data are divided into pixel blocks. In the pixel block dividing circuit 302, the one-frame pixel data are temporarily stored in a memory or the like. As shown in Fig. 2, the pixel data are read out in units of blocks each having (ℓ x m) pixels, i.e., ℓ pixels in the horizontal direction (to be referred to as an H direction hereinafter) and m pixels in the vertical direction (to be referred to as a V direction thereinafter). That is, the data are output in units of pixel blocks. Fig. 3 shows a format of each pixel block. This pixel block contains pixel data D 1,1 to D m,ℓ . Image data output from the pixel block dividing circuit 302 are input to a MAX value detection circuit 303, a MIN value detection circuit 304, and a timing adjusting circuit 305. Of all the pixel data (D 1,1 to D m,ℓ ) in each pixel block, a pixel (D max ) having a MAX value and a pixel (D min ) having a MIN value are detected by and output from the detection circuits 303 and 304, respectively. The timing adjusting circuit 305 delays all the pixel data by a period required to cause the MAX and MIN value detection circuits 303 and 304 to detect the pixels D max and D min . The pixel data are sent to a divided value converting circuit 306 in units of pixel blocks in a predetermined order. For example, data are sent in an order of D 1,1 , D 2,1 , D 3,1 ,..., D m,1 , D 1,2 ,... D m,2 ,..., D 1,(ℓ-1) ,... D m,(ℓ-1) , D 1,ℓ ,..., and D m,ℓ in units of pixel blocks. All the pixel data (D 1,1 to D m,ℓ ) and MAX and MIN values (D max and D min ) of each pixel block are input to the divided value converting circuit 306 and are compared with 2 k (where k is an integer smaller than n ) quantization levels between the values D max and D min , thereby obtaining k-bit division codes (Δ 1,1 to Δ m,ℓ ). The quantization state is shown in Fig. 4A. As shown in Fig. 4A, the division code Δ i,j is output as a k-bit binary code. The obtained k-bit division code Δ i,j and the n-bit values D max and D min are converted into serial data by parallel-to-serial (P-S) converters 307, 307', and 307", respectively. One of the outputs from the P-S converters is selected by a data selector 308, thus obtaining serial data shown in Fig. 5A. The data output from the data selector 308 is added with a p-bit error correction code (Fig. 5B) by an error correction code adding circuit 309. The output from the error correction code adding circuit 309 is processed by a first-in first-out (FIFO) memory 310 along the time axis so as to obtain a predetermined data transmission rate. In addition, an output from the FIFO memory 310 is added with a synchronizing signal by a synchronizing signal adding circuit 311. The obtained signal is sent out from an output terminal 312 onto a transmission line (a magnetic recording/reproducing system such as a VTR). The synchronizing signal is added in units of pixel blocks or every plurality of pixel blocks. The operation timings of the above circuits are determined on the basis of timing signals output from a timing control circuit 313. Fig. 6 is a block diagram showing a schematic arrangement of a receiving side corresponding to a data transmitting side shown in Fig. 1. The receiving side in Fig. 6 includes an input terminal 821 for receiving transmission data highly efficiently coded at the transmitting side. The input transmission signal is supplied to a synchronizing signal separating circuit 822 and an error correction circuit 823. The synchronizing signal separating circuit 822 separates a synchronizing signal from the input transmission data and sends the separated synchronizing signal to the error correction circuit 823 and a timing control circuit 831. The error correction circuit 823 separates the error correction code from the transmission data in synchronism with the synchronizing signal supplied from the synchronizing signal separating circuit 822, detects a data error generated along the transmission line in accordance with the error correction code, corrects this error, and supplies the corrected data to a data selector 824. The timing control circuit 831 controls operating timings of the respective circuits on the receiving side on the basis of the synchronizing signal supplied from the synchronizing signal separating circuit 822. The data selector 824 separates the transmission data into the n-bit data D max and D min and the k-bit codes Δ i,j quantized between the values D max and D min . These separated data are supplied to serial-to-parallel (S-P) converters 825 and 825', respectively, and are converted into parallel data thereby. The MAX and MIN value data D max and D min converted into the parallel data by the S-P converter 825 are latched by latch circuits 826 and 827, respectively. The latched MAX and MIN value data D max and D min are supplied to a divided value inverting circuit 828. The division code Δ i,j associated with all the pixel data in each pixel block are output from the S-P converter 825' in a predetermined order and are supplied to the divided value inverting converter 828. Fig. 4B is a view showing a state wherein representation data D i,j ' associated with the original pixel data are decoded from the division code Δ i,j and the MAX and MIN value data D max and D min . As shown in Fig. 4B, the representation value is set to be an intermediate value between the adjacent ones of 2 k quantization levels between the values D max and D min . The resultant n-bit representation value data (D 1,1 ' to D m,ℓ ') from the divided value inverting circuit 828 are output in units of pixel blocks in the predetermined order. In a scan convert circuit 829, output data from the divided value inverting circuit 828 is converted in an order corresponding to raster scan, and the obtained data appears as decoded image data at an output terminal 830. In the conventional arrangement, however, in order to correct a data error occurring on the transmission line, the error correction code must be added to the transmission data at the transmitting side, and the obtained data is sent onto the transmission line. At the receiving side, the data error occurring on the transmission line is corrected by using the error correction code. Redundancy of the transmission data is increased by the error correction code, and transmission efficiency cannot be improved much. A known system incorporating error correction as described above is disclosed for example in US-A-4 703 352 of Sony Corporation. Examples are described therein in which error correction capability can be provided independently for the MIN/MAX data and the pixel codes, or for the MIN/MAX data only. Another document US-A-4 792 953 of Ampex Corporation describes a system for digitally encoding a television signal, which includes operations of error correction and error concealment. The invention provides a method of transmitting image information, comprising: (a) dividing a plurality of pixel data comprising one image frame into a plurality of pixel data blocks, each block representing a predetermined number of pixels; (b) forming, for each pixel data block, distribution data representing a distribution of the pixel data of the pixel data block and position data representing for each pixel of the block a relative position in the distribution represented by said distribution data; (c) transmitting for each block via a transmission channel: (i) the distribution data; (ii) the position data and (iii) error detecting data for use in detecting whether an error occurs in the transmission channel; and (d) receiving for each block the distribution data, the position data and the error detecting data transmitted via the transmission channel; (e) detecting whether an error occurs in the received data for a given block by using the received error detecting data; and (f) replacing detected erroneous data of the received data using other data, in response to the detection of the occurrence of the error, wherein said detecting step (e) discriminates for each block between errors occurring in the distribution data and errors occurring in the position data, and wherein the replacing step (f) is performed in a manner dependent on the result of said discrimination, and wherein said error detection data is sufficient for the detection, but not the correction, of errors occurring each of the distribution data and the position data. In view of the fact that the error detection codes added for transmission are sufficient for error detection but not error correction, the advantages of data compression provided by the block based encoding of distribution data and position data can be maintained. Embodiments of the invention illustrate various techniques for the replacing of erroneous data, such that image degradation can be minimised. The invention further provides a transmitting apparatus and a receiving apparatus suitable for implementing respective parts of the method of the invention, and also provides an image signal conveying image information transmitted in accordance with that method. The above and other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the detailed description of particular embodiments, which follows. These embodiments are presented by way of example only. Fig. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a transmitting side in a conventional image information transmitting system; Fig. 2 is a view showing a state wherein all pixel data are divided into pixel blocks; Fig. 3 is a view showing data layout of each pixel block; Fig. 4A is a view showing conversion characteristics of a divided value converting circuit shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 4B is a view showing conversion characteristics of a divided value inverting circuit shown in Fig. 6 (to be described later); Fig. 5A is a view showing a data string output from a data selector 308 shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 5B is a view showing a transmission data string output from the transmitting system shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 6 is a schematic block diagram of a receiving side corresponding to the transmitting side of the image information transmitting system shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 7A is a schematic block diagram of a transmitting side of an image information transmitting system according to the first embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 7B is a view showing a transmission data string output from the transmitting side shown in Fig. 7A; Fig. 8 is a schematic block diagram of a receiving side of the image information transmitting system according to the first embodiment of to the present invention; Fig. 9A is a schematic block diagram of a transmitting side of an image information transmitting system according to the second embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 9B is a view showing a transmission data string output from the transmitting side shown in Fig. 9A; Fig. 10 is a schematic block diagram of a receiving side of the image information transmitting system according to the second embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 11A is a schematic block diagram of a transmitting side of an image information transmitting system according to the third embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 11B is a view showing a transmission data string output from the transmitting side shown in Fig. 11A; and Fig. 12 is a schematic block diagram of a receiving side of the image information transmitting system according to the third embodiment of the present invention. The present invention will be described in detail with reference to the preferred embodiments hereinafter. Fig. 7A shows a schematic arrangement of a transmitting side of an image information transmitting system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The same reference numerals as in Fig. 1 denote the same parts in Fig. 7A, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted. In this transmitting side shown in Fig. 7A, unlike the transmitting side shown in Fig. 1, an error detection code adding circuit 101 adds q- and r-bit error detection codes to serial data output from a data selector 308a, and the obtained data are supplied to a FIFO memory 310, as shown in Fig. 7B. With the above arrangement, the error detection codes added by the error detection code adding circuit 101 are used to detect whether an error occurs in data. The number of bits of the error detection codes can be smaller than that of the error correction code, and redundancy of the transmission data can be reduced. Fig. 8 shows a schematic arrangement of a receiving side of the image information transmitting system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Referring to Fig. 8, the receiving side includes an input terminal 201 for receiving transmission data (Fig. 7B) coded with high efficiency by the transmitting side of Fig. 7A. The input transmission data is supplied to a data selector 202, an error detection circuit 203, and a synchronizing signal separating circuit 204. In the synchronizing signal separating circuit 204, a synchronizing signal is separated from the input transmission data, and the separated synchronizing signal is supplied to the error detection circuit 203 and a timing control circuit 205. The timing control circuit 205 controls operation timings of the respective circuits in the receiving side on the basis of the synchronizing signal supplied from the synchronizing signal separating circuit 204. The data selector 202 supplies the n-bit data D max to the A side, the n-bit data D min to the B side, and the k-bit code Δ i,j obtained by quantizing the data between the data D max and D min to the C side. These data are converted by serial-to-parallel (S-P) converters 206a, 206b, and 206c into parallel data, respectively. The MAX value data D max of each pixel block which is converted into the parallel data by the S-P converter 206a is supplied to a memory 207a, and the B terminal of a data selector 208a. The MIN value data D min of each pixel block which is converted into the parallel data by the S-P converter 206b is supplied to a memory 207b and the B terminal of a data selector 208b. The division code Δ i,j associated with each pixel data within each pixel block and converted into the parallel data by the S-P converter 206c is supplied to a memory 207c and the B terminal of a data selector 208c. The memories 207a, 207b, and 207c are used to delay the input data by a one-field period each. The A terminals of the data selectors 208a, 208b, and 208c receive the MAX value data D max , the MIN value data D min , and the division code Δ i,j , respectively, of the immediately preceding field period. Note that switching of the data selectors 208a, 208b, and 208c is controlled by an error detection result output from the error detection circuit 203. More specifically, when the error detection circuit 203 detects that no error occurs in the transmission data, the data selectors 208a to 208c are connected to the corresponding B terminals. When both the MAX and MIN value data D max and D min have errors, the data selectors 208a and 208b are connected to the A terminals, respectively, and the data selector 208c is connected to the B terminal. When the division code Δ i,j has an error, all the data selectors 208a to 208c are connected to the A side. In the above operation, when an error occurs in the transmission data, the interpolation data is output from the data selector 208a, the data selector 208b, and/or the data selector 208c. The MAX value data D max , the MIN value data D min , and the division code Δ i,j respectively output from the data selectors 208a, 208b, and 208c are supplied to a divided value inverting circuit 211. The divided value inverting circuit 211 decodes the n-bit representation data D i,j associated with the original pixel data on the basis of the division code Δ i,j and the data D max and D min as in the receiving side shown in Fig. 6. The decoded data is supplied to a scan convert circuit 212. The scan convert circuit 212 converts the output data from the divided value inverting circuit 211 in an order corresponding to raster scan, and the converted data is output as decoded image data from an output terminal 213. As described above, even if data having high redundancy such as an error correction code need not be added to image data during its transmission, the image data can be transmitted without its degradation. In this embodiment, when an error occurs in the MAX value data D max , the MIN value data D min , and/or the division code Δ i,j in the transmission data, the transmission data of an immediately preceding field period stored in the memories 207a, 207b, and 207c can be transmitted to the divided value inverting circuit 211 as interpolation data in place of the data having the error. However, the present invention is not limited to this scheme. For example, the transmission data of an immediately preceding field period, of transmission data which corresponds to an error, and transmission data corresponding to neighboring pixel blocks of a pixel block represented by the transmission data of the immediately preceding field period may be used to calculate interpolation data. With this arrangement, degradation of the image data can be minimized. As described above, according to this embodiment, there is provided a method and system for efficiently transmitting high-quality image information. The second embodiment of the present invention will be described below. Fig. 9A shows a schematic arrangement of a transmitting side of an image information transmitting system according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The same reference numerals as in Fig. 1 denote the same parts in Fig. 9A, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted. In this transmitting side shown in Fig. 9A, unlike the transmitting side shown in Fig. 1, an error detection code adding circuit 101 adds q- and r-bit error detection codes to serial data output from a data selector 308a, and the obtained data are supplied to a FIFO memory 310, as shown in Fig. 9B. With the above arrangement, the error detection codes added by the error detection code adding circuit 101 are used to detect whether an error occurs in data. The number of bits of the error detection codes can be smaller than that of the error correction code, and redundancy of the transmission data can be reduced. Fig. 10 shows a schematic arrangement of a receiving side of the image information transmitting system according to the second embodiment of the present invention. Referring to Fig. 10, the receiving side includes an input terminal 1201 for receiving transmission data (Fig. 9B) coded with high efficiency by the transmitting side of Fig. 9A. The input transmission data is supplied to memories 1202 and 1203, an error detection circuit 1204, and a synchronizing signal separating circuit 1205. The synchronizing signal separating circuit 1205 separates a synchronizing signal from the input transmission data and supplies the synchronizing signal to the error detection circuit 1204 and a timing control circuit 1217. The timing control circuit 1217 controls operation timings of the respective circuits on the receiving side on the basis of the synchronizing signal supplied from the synchronizing signal separating circuit 1205. The transmission data input from the input terminal 1201 are sequentially stored in the memories 1202 and 1203. The error detection circuit 1204 outputs error detection data representing that one of MAX value data D max , MIN value data D min , and a division code Δ i,j in the transmission data input from the input terminal 1201 has an error. The error detection data output from the error detection circuit 1204 is stored in an error detection data memory 1206. As described above, the transmission data corresponding to one-field image data is stored in the memories 1202 and 1203, and the error detection data corresponding to this transmission data is stored in the error detection data memory 1206. The data stored in the respective memories are then read out. During read access of each memory, new input transmission data and new error detection data are stored in the corresponding memory. Therefore, the memories store the new data in place of the readout data. The transmission data stored in the memory 1203 is read out in a FIFO order and supplied to the B terminal of a data selector 1207. When the MAX value data D max or the MIN value data D min has an error, an address generating circuit 1208 outputs to the memory 1202 an address for reading out the data D max or D min in the transmission data corresponding to the neighboring pixel blocks on the screen in response to the error detection data supplied from the error detection data memory 1206. When the division code Δ i,j has an error, the address generating circuit 1208 outputs to the memory 1202 an address for reading out the codes Δ i,j corresponding to the neighboring pixels in the pixel block. The stored data are read out from the memory 1202 in response to the read address output from the address generating circuit 1208. The readout data is supplied to an operation circuit 1209. The operation circuit 1209 calculates interpolation MAX value data D max ', interpolation MIN value data D min ', and an interpolation division code Δ i,j ' by using the data supplied from the memory 1202. The calculated data are supplied to the A terminal of the data selector 1207. The error detection data read out from the error detection data memory 1206 is also supplied to a data selector control circuit 1210. When a data error is represented by the input error detection data, the data selector control circuit 1210 connects the data selector 1207 to the A terminal. Otherwise, the data selector control circuit 1210 connects the data selector 1207 to the B terminal. When an error is present in the transmission data read out from the memory 1203, the data having an error is replaced with the corresponding interpolation data, and the interpolated data is output. The transmission data output from the data selector 1207 is separated into n-bit data D max and D min and the division code Δ i,j by a data selector 1211. These separated data are converted into parallel data by serial-to-parallel (S-P) converters 1212 and 1213. The parallel MAX and MIN value data D max and D min from the S-P converter 1212 are latched by latches 1214 and 1215, respectively. The latched MAX and MIN value data D max and D min are supplied to a divided value inverting circuit 1216. The division code Δ i,j converted as parallel data by the S-P converter 1213 is also supplied to the divided value inverting circuit 1216. The divided value inverting circuit 1216 decodes n-bit representation data D i,j ' associated with the original pixel data on the basis of the division code Δ i,j and the data D max and D min as in the receiving side shown in Fig. 6. The decoded value is supplied to a scan convert circuit 1218. The scan convert circuit 1218 converts the output data from the divided value inverting circuit 1216 in an order corresponding to raster scan. The converted data is output as decoded image data from an output terminal 1219. As described above, without adding data having high redundancy such as an error correction code to image signal during its transmission, the image data can be corrected to an extent that image quality degradation occurring on the transmission line is negligible. Since extra data is not transmitted, transmission efficiency can be improved. As described above, according to this embodiment, there is provided a method and system for efficiently transmitting high-quality image information. The third embodiment of the present invention will be described below. Fig. 11A shows a schematic arrangement of a transmitting side of an image information transmitting system according to the third embodiment of the present invention. The same reference numerals as in Fig. 1 denote the same parts in Fig. 11A, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted. In this transmitting side shown in Fig. 11A, unlike the transmitting side shown in Fig. 1, an error detection code adding circuit 101 adds q- and r-bit error detection codes to serial data output from a data selector 308a, and the obtained data are supplied to a FIFO memory 310, as shown in Fig. 11B. With the above arrangement, the error detection codes added by the error detection code adding circuit 101 are used to detect whether an error occurs in data. The number of bits of the error detection codes can be smaller than that of the error correction code, and redundancy of the transmission data can be reduced. Fig. 12 shows a schematic arrangement of a receiving side of the image information transmitting system according to the third embodiment of the present invention. Referring to Fig. 12, the receiving side includes an input terminal 2201 for receiving transmission data (Fig. 11B) coded with high efficiency by the transmitting side of Fig. 11A. The input transmission data is supplied to a data selector 2202, an error detection circuit 2203, and a synchronizing signal separating circuit 2204. In the synchronizing signal separating circuit 2204, a synchronizing signal is separated from the input transmission data, and the separated synchronizing signal is supplied to the error detection circuit 2203 and a timing control circuit 2205. The timing control circuit 2205 controls operation timings of the respective circuits in the receiving side on the basis of the synchronizing signal supplied from the synchronizing signal separating circuit 2204. The data selector 2202 supplies the n-bit data D max to the A side, the n-bit data D min to the B side, and the k-bit code Δ i,j obtained by quantizing the data between the data D max and D min to the C side. These data are converted by serial-to-parallel (S-P) converters 2206a, 2206b, and 2206c into parallel data, respectively. The MAX value data D max of each pixel block which is converted into the parallel data by the S-P converter 2206a is supplied to a memory 2207a and the B terminal of a data selector 2208a. The MIN value data D min of each pixel block which is converted into the parallel data by the S-P converter 2206b is supplied to a memory 2207b and the B terminal of a data selector 2208b. The division code Δ i,j associated with each pixel data within each pixel block and converted into the parallel data by the S-P converter 2206c is supplied to a memory 2207c, the B terminal of a data selector 2208c, and an operation circuit 2209. The memories 2207a, 2207b, and 2207c are used to delay the input data by a one-field period each. The A terminals of the data selectors 2208a, 2208b, and 2208c receive the MAX value data D max , the MIN value data D min , and the division code Δ i,j , respectively. The operation circuit 2209 is a circuit for calculating an average value of the division codes Δ i,j associated with the pixel data of the pixel blocks output from the S-P converter 2206c. The data calculated by the operation circuit 2209 is supplied to the C terminal of the data selector 2208c, and a fixed data generator 2210 generates data representing an intermediate value of the values represented by the division codes Δ i,j . The output from the fixed data generator 2210 is supplied to the D terminal of the data selector 2208c. Note that switching of the data selectors 2208a, 2208b, and 2208c is controlled by an error detection result output from the error detection circuit 2203. More specifically, when the error detection circuit 2203 detects that no error occurs in the transmission data, the data selectors 2208a to 2208c are connected to the corresponding B terminals. When only the MAX value data D max has an error, the data selector 2208a is connected to the A terminal. When only the MIN value data D min has an error, the data selector 2208b is connected to the A terminal. When the MIN and MIN value data D max and D min and the division code Δ i,j have errors, all the data selectors 2208a to 2208c are connected to the A side. In this embodiment, when no error is present in the MAX data D max and the MIN value data D min , and an error is present in the division code Δ i,j , the data selector 2208c is connected to the C or D terminal in accordance with an error rate. More specifically, when the error detection circuit 2203 detects that the number of errors in the division codes Δ i,j exceeds a predetermined number, the average value of the division codes Δ i,j cannot be calculated. In this case, the data selector 2208c is connected to the D terminal, and data representing an intermediate value of the values of the division codes Δ i,j is output from the data selector 2208c in place of the data representing the average value. However, when the error detection circuit 2203 detects that the detected number of errors in the division codes Δ i,j is smaller than the predetermined number, the data selector 2208c is connected to the C terminal. Data representing the average value of the division codes Δ i,j and calculated by the operation circuit 2209 is output from the data selector 2208c. In the above operation, when an error occurs in the transmission data, the data selectors 2208a, 2208b, and 2208c output the corresponding interpolation data in place of the error data. The MAX value data D max , the MIN value data D min , and the division code Δ i,j respectively output from the data selectors 2208a, 2208b, and 2208c are supplied to a divided value inverting circuit 2211. The divided value inverting circuit 2211 decodes n-bit representation value data D i,j associated from the original pixel data on the basis of the division code Δ i,j and the data D max and D min as in the receiving side shown in Fig. 6. The decoded data is supplied to a scan convert circuit 2212. The scan convert circuit 2211 converts the output data from the divided value inverting circuit 2211 in an order corresponding to raster scan. The converted data is output as decoded image data from an output terminal 2213. As described above, even if data having high redundancy such as an error correction code is not added to image data during its transmission, various types of interpolation data can be formed in accordance with the error rate of the image data, and the data having an error is interpolated with the interpolation data. Therefore, the image data can be transmitted without being degraded. As described above, according to this embodiment, there is provided a method and system for efficiently transmitting high-quality image information.

Claims: A method of transmitting image information, comprising: (a) dividing (302) a plurality of pixel data comprising one image frame into a plurality of pixel data blocks, each block representing a predetermined number (l x m) of pixels; (b) forming (304-306), for each pixel data block, distribution data (D min , D max ) representing a distribution of the pixel data of the pixel data block and position data (Δ i,j ) representing for each pixel of the block a relative position in the distribution represented by said distribution data; (c) transmitting (307-312) for each block via a transmission channel: (i) the distribution data; (ii) the position data and (iii) error detecting data for use in detecting whether an error occurs in the transmission channel; (d) receiving (201-206) for each block the distribution data, the position data and the error detecting data transmitted via the transmission channel; (e) detecting (203) whether an error occurs in the received data for a given block by using the received error detecting data; and (f) replacing (208a-208c) detected erroneous data of the received data using other data (A), in response to the detection of the occurrence of the error, wherein said detecting step (e) discriminates for each block between errors occurring in the distribution data and errors occurring in the position data, wherein the replacing step (f) is performed in a manner dependent on the result of said discrimination, and wherein said error detection data is sufficient for the detection, but not the correction, of errors occurring in each of the distribution data and the position data. A method according to claim 1, wherein for the step (f) data previously transmitted and received via the transmission channel is used as said other data. A method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein for step (f) the other data used for replacing the erroneous data of a given block includes data transmitted and received via the transmission channel in respect of the same frame as contains the given block. A method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein for step (f) said other data used for replacing erroneous data of a given block includes data transmitted and received via the transmission channel in respect of a different image frame to that containing the given block. A method according to any preceding claim wherein, for a block with an error detected in the distribution data only, the erroneous distribution data is replaced using said other data, while the received position data is not replaced. A method according to any preceding claim wherein, when no error is detected in the received distribution data, while errors occur more than a predetermined number of times in the position data for the block, said position data is replaced by predetermined data representing an intermediate position in the distribution. A method according to any preceding claim wherein, if errors detected in the received position data for a block do not exceed a predetermined number, erroneous position data are replaced using an average value of the position data received for said block. A method according to any preceding claim wherein, for a block having errors in the distribution data and position data, the entire data for that block is replaced. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein said distribution data comprises two components defining a dynamic range of pixel values for each block, and wherein errors are detected and replacement performed for the individual components of the distribution data. An apparatus for transmitting image information via a transmission channel, comprising: means (302) for dividing a plurality of pixel data comprising one image frame into a plurality of pixel data blocks, each block representing a predetermined number of pixels; means (304-306) for forming for each pixel data block distribution data and position data, said distribution data representing a distribution of the pixel data of the pixel data block and said position data representing for each pixel of the block a relative position in said distribution; and means (307-312) for transmitting for each block into said transmission channel: (i) the distribution data; (ii) the position data; and (iii) error detecting data for use in detecting whether an error occurs in the transmission channel, wherein said error detecting data is generated so as to permit discrimination for a given block between errors occurring in the distribution data and errors occurring in the position data, characterised in that said error detection data is sufficient for the detection, but not the correction, of errors occurring in each of the distribution data and the position data. A transmitting apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said distribution data comprises two components defining a dynamic range for pixel data of the block, and wherein said error detecting data is generated so as to permit discrimination between errors in the transmission of each of said components. An apparatus for receiving image information via a transmission channel, pixel data for one image frame having been divided for transmission into a plurality of pixel data blocks, each block representing a predetermined number of pixels, the receiving apparatus comprising: means (201-206) for receiving for each block: (i) distribution data representing a distribution of the pixel data of the block; (ii) position data representing for each pixel of the block a relative position in the distribution represented by said distribution data; and (iii) error detecting data; means (203) for detecting whether an error has occurred in the received data for the block by using the received error detecting data; and means (208a-208c) for replacing detected erroneous data of the received data using other data, in response to the detection of the occurrence of the error by said detecting means, wherein said detecting means (203) includes means for discriminating for a given block between errors occurring in the distribution data and errors occurring in the position data, and wherein said error detection data received with said distribution data and position data is sufficient for the detection but not the correction of errors occurring in each of the distribution data and the position data. A receiving apparatus according to claim 12, wherein said distribution data comprises two components defining a dynamic range for the pixel data of each block, and wherein said detecting means (203) includes means for discriminating between errors in the transmission of each of said components individually. A signal conveying image information, wherein a plurality of pixel data comprising one image frame have been divided into a plurality of pixel data blocks, said signal conveying for each block distribution data representing distribution of the pixel data of the pixel data block and position data representing for each pixel of the block a relative position in the distribution represented by said distribution data, said signal further conveying, for each block, error detecting data permitting discrimination between errors occurring in the distribution data and errors occurring in the position data, characterised in that said error detecting data is sufficient for the detection, but not the correction, of errors occurring in each of the distribution data and the position data.

Inventors: AOKI AKIO, ISHII YOSHIKI, MIMOTO AKIHIRO, AOKI, AKIO, ISHII, YOSHIKI, MIMOTO, AKIHIRO, AOKI, AKIO, C/O CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA, ISHII, YOSHIKI, C/O CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA, MIMOTO, AKIHIRO, C/O CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Applicants: CANON KK, CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Application year: 1990
Main classification: H04N7
IPC codes: H04N7