Patent ID: 7894532

Claim:
A variable-length encoding apparatus which receives image data on a block basis, generates syntax elements from the image data, and outputs an encoded stream by performing variable-length encoding of the syntax elements, comprising: a block memory unit group including a plurality of block memory units which store the image data on a block basis; a syntax element generation unit group including a plurality of syntax element generation units which read out image data from said block memory units and generate syntax elements; a variable-length encoding unit group including a plurality of variable-length encoding units which independently variable-length-encode syntax elements input from said syntax element generation unit group and output variable-length codewords; a variable-length code memory unit group including a plurality of variable-length code memory units which independently store the variable-length codewords supplied from said variable-length encoding unit group as codeword streams; and a variable-length code combination unit which generates an encoded stream by combining a plurality of codeword streams supplied from said variable-length code memory unit group for each syntax element independently, wherein the codeword streams of at least two types of syntax elements are combined.