Patent ID: 8824549

Claim:
A method of decoding an image, the method comprising: determining at least one coding unit included in a maximum coding unit by splitting the maximum coding unit according to split information obtained from a bitstream; obtaining at least one prediction unit from a current coding unit; obtaining a first predicted value of a current prediction unit by using neighboring pixels of the current prediction unit; and obtaining a second predicted value of pixels of the current prediction unit located on a top border and a left border of the current prediction unit by using the obtained first predicted value and at least one neighboring pixel, wherein: the second predicted value of the current prediction unit is obtained by using the at least one neighboring pixel and a weighted value of the obtained first predicted value, the image is split into a plurality of maximum coding units, according to information about a maximum size of a coding unit, the maximum coding unit is hierarchically split into one or more coding units of depths according to the split information, a coding unit of a current depth is one of rectangular data units split from a coding unit of an upper depth, when the split information indicates a split for the current depth, the coding unit of the current depth is split into coding units of a lower depth, independently from neighboring coding units, and when the split information indicates a non-split of the lower depth, at least one prediction unit is obtained from the coding unit of the lower depth.