Patent ID: 8126052

Claim:
A motion image encoding apparatus for encoding a target block to be predicted from a previously decoded reference block, comprising: a memory that stores previously decoded blocks including the previously decoded reference block; a first divider that divides an inputted target image into plural target blocks to be encoded which contain the target block to be predicted; a decoded low-resolution block generator that generates a low-resolution prediction block from the target block to be predicted and the previously decoded reference block and generates a decoded low-resolution block from the target block to be predicted and the low-resolution prediction block, wherein the decoded low-resolution block comprises a smaller number of pixels than that of the target block to be predicted; an enhanced block generator that enhances the decoded low-resolution block to a block with the same number of pixels as that of the target block to be predicted; a second divider that divides the enhanced block into a plurality of small blocks; a small block predictor that generates small prediction blocks from the small blocks and the previously decoded reference block; and a block combiner that combines the small prediction blocks to generate a prediction block.