Patent ID: 7130310

Claim:
A statistical multiplex system, comprising: a plurality of image encoding means for encoding a plurality of program data, each of which includes image data, and outputting the resultant; at least one information encoding means for acquiring an information encoding rate, encoding auxiliary data other than the program data, determining a target encoding rate for said auxiliary data, and outputting the resulting encoded auxiliary data; means for determining data remaining condition information regarding said encoded auxiliary data; data transmission command means for acquiring said target encoding rate, acquiring said data remaining condition information, and determining said information encoding rate on the basis of said target encoding rate and said data remaining condition information; multiplex means for multiplexing output data of each of the image encoding means and the at least one information encoding means; and statistical multiplex control means for setting a respective image code rate for each image encoding means, the image code rate representing an amount of codes to be outputted per unit time, acquiring an encoding difficulty level which indicates a level of difficulty in encoding for each program data, and assigning the respective image code rate to each of the image encoding means on the basis of the information encoding rate for the at least one information encoding means and the encoding difficulty level.