Patent ID: 7020339

Claim:
An image decoding apparatus for decoding image data including plural image sequences, said image decoding apparatus comprising: a memory having plural memory regions respectively corresponding to the plural image sequences, and being operable to hold decoding information to be used when the image data of the respective image sequences are decoded; a memory region selection unit operable to select one of said memory regions in said memory based on image identifying information which indicates a target image sequence to be decoded, said one of said memory regions corresponding to the target image sequence to be decoded; a temporary data holding unit operable to temporarily hold the decoding information of the target image sequence transferred from said memory; a decoding information transfer unit operable to transfer the decoding information of the target image sequence collectively from said one of said memory regions selected by said memory region selection unit to said temporary data holding unit; and a decoder operable to perform decoding on the image data of the target image sequence based on the decoding information held in said temporary data holding unit.