Moving picture transmission system and moving picture transmission apparatus used therein

A moving picture transmission system comprising:

• a transmission apparatus for transmitting a maximum number of pieces of information obtained by hierarchically coding moving picture information in accordance with degrees of importance in terms of image quality within a moving picture frame period in the order of decreasing degrees of importance, wherein said transmission apparatus transmits hierarchically coded information, which could not be transmitted within a moving picture frame period, within at least one subsequent moving picture frame period, said transmission apparatus comprising,
• hierarchical coding means for hierarchically coding moving picture information in accordance with degrees of importance in terms of image quality;
• packet generating means for packeting, in units of levels, the hierarchically coded information output from said hierarchical coding means;
• first packet storage means for storing packets of the respective levels, output from said packet generating means, in a predetermined priority order;
• packet transmission means for sequentially reading out and transmitting the packets stored in said first packet storage means at the moving picture frame period;
• and
• control means for, when not all packets are transmitted within a moving picture frame period, rearranging packets to be transmitted in at least one subsequent moving picture frame period, including a packet which has not been transmitted, in said first packet storage means in the predetermined priority order, wherein when a packet stored in said first packet storage means is not transmitted within a hold period corresponding to a predtermined maximum number of moving picture frame periods which is determined in advance for each level and in which the packet can be stored, said control means discards the packet which is held after a lapse of the hold period;
• and
• a reception apparatus for reproducing a moving picture frame in accordance with only hierarchically coded information received at a moving picture frame period, wherein said reception apparatus is operative to select pieces of hierarchically coded information constituting a moving picture frame to be reproduced from hierarchically coded information received in a plurality of consecutive moving picture frame periods, and decodes the pieces of hierarchically coded information, thereby reproducing the moving picture frame.