Patent ID: 7702513

Claim:
An image and audio processing apparatus comprising: an input unit configured to input image data and audio data corresponding thereto; an image encoder configured to encode the image data input by said input unit; a first audio encoder configured to encode the audio data input by said input unit by an audio encoding method for encoding general audio data; a second audio encoder configured to encode the audio data input by said input unit, by another audio encoding method which is suitable for encoding speech data; an image encoding setting unit configured to set the encoding for said image encoder to encode the image data so that a partial region in each of frame images included in the image data is encoded with a high image quality; an audio encoding unit including said first encoder and said second encoder, said audio encoding unit being configured to operate said first audio encoder and said second audio encoder in accordance with whether said image encoding setting unit sets the encoding to make the partial region in each of frame images the high image quality, such that (1) the audio data is encoded by said first audio encoder to provide audio encoded data irrespectively of whether said image encoding setting unit effects the setting of the encoding, and (2) the audio data is encoded by each of said first audio encoder and said second audio encoder in a time period corresponding to the encoding set by said image encoding setting unit so that one of the respective audio encoded data provided by said first audio encoder and said second audio encoder is selected during the time period; and a data integration unit configured to integrate the encoded audio data provided by said audio encoding unit with encoded image data encoded by said image encoder in accordance with whether said image encoding setting unit sets the encoding for said image encoder, so as (a) to integrate, with the encoded image data encoded by said image encoder, a selected one of the respective encoded audio data provided by said first audio encoder and said second audio encoder in a case that said image encoding setting unit effects the setting of the encoding, and (b) to integrate, with the encoded image data encoded by said image encoder, the encoded audio data provided by said first audio encoder in a case that said image encoding setting unit does not effect the setting of the encoding, thereby outputting the integrated encoded data.