Patent ID: 7970052

Claim:
A method of encoding moving pictures by adaptively using a plurality of quantization weight matrices not related by a scalar, the method comprising: transforming, using at least one processing device, an input image into one or more macroblocks; selecting a respective quantization weight matrix corresponding to a respectively determined spatial characteristic of each of respective macroblocks among the plurality of the quantization weight matrices; quantizing each of the respective macroblocks by using the selected respective quantization weight matrix; variable length encoding the quantized macroblocks; and outputting a variable length encoded data with information specifying the selected quantization weight matrix, wherein the plurality of the quantization weight matrices comprise a plurality of quantization weight matrices for a luminance component of each macroblock that is determined to be an inter block, and wherein, when a result of a determination of a spatial characteristic of a determined first inter block of the input image is different from a result of a determination of a spatial characteristic of a determined second inter block of the input image, a different quantization weight matrix is selected from the plurality of quantization weight matrices for the luminance component for the first block than is selected for the second block.