Patent ID: 7356080

Claim:
An MPEG-4 encoding method, comprising the steps of: a) removing spatial redundancy from source image data entered in frame units using a prescribed H.263 quantization value; b) predicting a DC component of an image frame having no spatial redundancy using a prescribed MPEG-4 quantization value; c) performing a VLC (Variable Length Coding) process on the image frame using the predicted DC component, and outputting the VLC-processed image frame in the form of an MPEG-4 bit stream; d) reconstructing the image frame having no spatial redundancy, and storing the reconstructed image frame; e) converting the reconstructed image frame into an MPEG-4 frame, and storing the MPEG-4 frame; f) comparing the MPEG-4 frame stored at step (e) with a newly entered next frame, and removing temporal redundancy according to a result of the comparison; and g) determining by an MPEG-4 reconstruction image memory a resultant value of predetermined H.263 DC component coefficientÃ—H.263 quantization valueâˆ’MPEG-4 DC component coefficientÃ—MPEG-4 quantization value to be an image conversion constant, and converts an H.263 reconstruction image into an MPEG-4 reconstruction image using the image conversion constant.