Patent ID: 8369630

Claim:
An image encoding device comprising: a single image pickup unit configured to generate image data by shooting at least one subject; an image compression unit configured to generate digital image data by compressing the generated image data; a distance measuring unit configured to measure a distance to the subject when the image pickup unit performs the shooting; a multiplexing unit configured to generate multiplexed data based on the digital image data and the measured distance by appending, in a header part of the digital image data, distance data indicating a distance to a subject of each of given pixel blocks of the digital image data to the digital image data; and an image conversion unit configured to generate right-eye image data and left-eye image data in accordance with a parallax occurring at a viewpoint defined during the shooting by horizontally moving each subject data included in the digital image data in a right direction and a left direction based on the distance data obtained for each of the given pixel blocks by using the generated multiplexed data.