Patent ID: 8649434

Claim:
An image processing apparatus comprising: a storage means configured to store a plurality of decoded images, wherein the plurality of decoded images are obtained by: encoding pictures constituting a frame sequential, in which pictures of a first image and a second image each having a disparity are alternately arranged, and by performing local decoding in which a reference picture is referenced when a predicted image is created for use in temporally later predictive encoding; and a storage control means configured to control storage of the plurality of decoded images in the storage means at least in part by discarding a decoded image from the storage means, wherein the discarding causes a first decoded image to be stored in the storage means during subsequent decoding of a current picture in a decoding process, and wherein the first decoded image is: encoded temporally earlier than the current picture, capable of becoming a reference picture, a picture of an image at a same viewpoint as the current picture from among the first image and the second image, and closest to the current picture in a display order.