Patent ID: 8279928

Claim:
An encoding apparatus for encoding moving picture information using either an intraframe predictive coding scheme or an interframe predictive coding scheme, the encoding apparatus comprising: a control unit operable to select a coding scheme to apply to each picture of a moving picture and extract a plurality of pictures from the moving picture at a predetermined interval; and a coding unit operable to encode each picture of the moving picture based on the coding scheme selected by the control unit, wherein the control unit selects: for a first picture included in the extracted plurality of pictures, the intraframe predictive coding scheme; for a second picture included in the extracted plurality of pictures, a limited interframe predictive coding scheme in which reference pictures used in an interframe prediction are limited to either an intraframe predictive coded picture or a coded picture of another picture in the extracted plurality of pictures; and for each picture that is not extracted by the control unit, either the intraframe predictive coding scheme or a non-limited interframe predictive coding scheme, wherein the reference pictures are not limited as the reference pictures in the limited interframe predictive coding scheme.