Patent ID: 7212572

Claim:
An image coding apparatus configured to analyze images, said images comprising a first image and a second image, in a multiresolutional manner, characterized in that: the analyzing images in a multiresolutional manner comprises a plurality of stages corresponding to a plurality of resolutions, said plurality of stages comprising at least a first stage and a final stage, and wherein said analyzing comprises at least a standard method and a simplified method; and the analyzing is switched to the simplified method at a stage prior to the final stage; the image coding apparatus comprising; a matching processor which generates corresponding point data based on said analysis of said first image and second image in a multiresolutional manner; and a stream generator which outputs, as coded data, the corresponding point data generated by said matching processor; wherein said matching processor switches the analyzing to the simplified method at a stage prior to reaching a final resolution of the first and second images, and corresponding point data that have been generated prior to switching to the simplified method are output on the assumption that the simplified method is to be executed at a decoding side.