Patent ID: 8737476

Claim:
An image decoding device that decodes coded image data on a block-by-block basis, the coded image data being resulted from coding, on a block-by-block basis, of image data partitioned into blocks each of which has a predetermined number of pixels, said image decoding device comprising: a storage unit configured to store data of at least one reference image to be referred to for decoding the coded image data; a pre-decoding unit configured to decode, on a block-by-block basis, reference information indicating a number of reference images to be referred to on a block-by-block basis for decoding the coded image data; an amount-of-transferred-data prediction unit configured to calculate, on a block-by-block basis using the reference information, a predictive data amount of a reference image to be read out on a block-by-block basis from said storage unit for decoding the coded image data; a block determination unit configured to determine, using the predictive data amount calculated, multiple blocks in the coded image data which are to be decoded in parallel, in such a manner as to reduce variation in amounts of data read out from said storage unit; and block decoding units configured to decode in parallel the determined multiple blocks in the coded image data.