Patent ID: 7697607

Claim:
A bitstream multiplexing apparatus for multiplexing a plurality of incoming first moving-picture bitstreams into a moving-picture bitstream at a bit rate lower than a total bit rate of the incoming first moving-picture bitstreams, each incoming first moving-picture bitstream having first moving-picture bitstreams of first pictures used as reference pictures for inter-picture prediction and bitstreams of second pictures other than the first pictures, the apparatus comprising: a decimation controller to set a decimation rate on the second pictures of the incoming first moving-picture bitstreams according to virtual buffer occupancy to the multiplexed moving-picture bitstream; a bitstream decimator to decimate the bitstreams of the second pictures from the incoming first moving-picture bitstreams at a predetermined interval according to the decimation rate, thus obtaining second bitstreams; a multiplexer to multiplex the second bitstreams to obtain the multiplexed bitstream; and virtual buffer means for obtaining a code amount of the multiplexed bitstream for each reproduction period as the virtual buffer occupancy.