Patent ID: 6895052

Claim:
A coded signal separating apparatus for transcoding a first coded moving picture sequence signal to generate a second coded moving picture sequence signal and a differential coded moving picture sequence signal being a difference between said first coded moving picture sequence signal and said second coded moving picture sequence signal, comprising: inputting means for inputting said first coded moving picture sequence signal therethrough, said first coded moving picture sequence signal generated as a result of encoding original moving picture sequence signal and consisting of a series of first picture information having first coefficient information, said first coefficient information including a matrix of first coefficients; coded signal converting means for inputting said first coded moving picture sequence signal from said inputting means, and converting said first coded moving picture sequence signal inputted through said inputting means to generate said second coded moving picture sequence signal, said second coded moving picture sequence signal consisting of a series of second picture information having second coefficient information, said second coefficient information including a matrix of second coefficients, each of said original moving picture sequence signal, said first coded moving picture sequence signal, and said second coded moving picture sequence signal is in the form of a hierarchical structure including one or more sequence layers each having a plurality of screens sharing common information, one or more picture layers each having a plurality of slices sharing common information with respect to one of said screens, one or more slice layers each having a plurality of macroblocks with respect to one of said slices, one or more macroblock layers each having a plurality of blocks with respect to one of said macroblocks, and one or more block layers each having block information with respect to one of said blocks; and differential coded signal generating means for inputting said first coded moving picture sequence signal and said second coded moving picture sequence signal from said coded signal converting means to generate said differential coded moving picture sequence signal, whereby said differential coded signal generating means is operative to generate said differential coded moving picture sequence signal on the basis of said first coefficient information obtained from said series of first picture information of said first coded moving picture sequence signal, and said second coefficient information obtained from said series of said second picture information of said second coded moving picture sequence signal.