Method and apparatus for region-based moving image encoding and decoding

An apparatus for encoding an image signal, said apparatus comprising:

• a region partitioning section which includes:
• a partitioning processing section partitioning the image signal into a first plurality of regions based on a partition judgment criterion, wherein said partitioning processing section includes:
• an activity calculating section calculating prediction error power accompanying motion-compensated prediction of each region as an activity of the region;
• and
• a partitioning judgment section comparing the calculated activity with a criterion -value that was set in advance,
• wherein said partition processing section further partitions regions having activity greater than said criterion value into smaller regions;
• and
• an integration processing section integrating each region of said first plurality of regions with adjacent regions to convert said first plurality of regions into a second plurality of regions;
• and
• an encoder separately encoding each region of said second plurality of regions.

An apparatus for encoding an image signal, said apparatus comprising:

• a region partitioning section which includes:
• a partitioning processing section partitioning the image signal into a first plurality of regions based on a partition judgment criterion, wherein said partitioning processing section includes:
• an activity calculating section calculating edge intensity of an original signal for each region as the activity of the region;
• and
• a partitioning judgment section comparing the calculated activity with a criterion value that was set in advance,
• wherein said partition processing section further partitions regions having activity greater than said criterion value into smaller regions;
• and
• an integration processing section integrating each region of said first plurality of regions with adjacent regions to convert said first plurality of regions into a second plurality of regions;
• and
• an encoder separately encoding each region of said second plurality of regions.

An apparatus for encoding an image signal, said apparatus comprising:

• a region partitioning section which includes:
• a partitioning processing section partitioning the image signal into a first plurality of regions based on a partition judgment criterion, wherein said partitioning processing section includes:
• an activity calculating section calculating, for each region, a linear sum of a plurality of numeric values indicating the characteristics of the image of the region;
• and
• a partitioning judgment section comparing the calculated activity with a criterion value that was set in advance,
• wherein said partition processing section further partitions regions having activity greater than said criterion value into smaller regions;
• and
• an integration processing section integrating each region of said first plurality of regions with adjacent regions to convert said first plurality of regions into a second plurality of regions;
• and
• an encoder separately encoding each region of said second plurality of regions.

An apparatus for encoding an image signal, said apparatus comprising:

• a region partitioning section which includes:
• a partitioning processing section partitioning the image signal into a first plurality of regions based on a partition judgment criterion, wherein said partitioning processing section includes:
• a provisional encoder preliminarily encoding the image for each region and calculating the amount of code thereof;
• a decoder decoding the image encoded by the provisional encoder;
• an encoding distortion calculating section calculating an encoding distortion using the image that was decoded by the decoder;
• and
• an evaluation value calculating section calculating the evaluation value for judging merit of encoding while taking into consideration both the amount of code and the encoding distortion,
• wherein it is determined for each region whether or not to perform partitioning for the region based on a result comparing the evaluation value that is obtained in the case where the region is further partitioned into smaller regions and the evaluation value that is obtained in the case where the region is not further partitioned into smaller regions;
• and
• an integration processing section integrating each region of said first plurality of regions with adjacent regions to convert said first plurality of regions into a second plurality of regions;
• and
• an encoder separately encoding each region of said second plurality of regions.

An apparatus for decoding encoded data of an image, the image being encoded after being partitioned into a first plurality of regions and after the first plurality of regions are transformed into a final set of regions, wherein at least one of the final set of regions is formed by integrating two or more regions of the first plurality of regions based on predetermined criteria, the final set of regions including at least two different regions, the encoded data including region shaping information, said apparatus for decoding comprising:

• an input receiving the encoded data including the region shaping information representing said region integration process based on said predetermined criteria;
• a region shape restoring section operatively connected to said input, said region shape restoring section operatively arranged to restore the final set of regions, based on the received region shaping information, said restored final set of regions, including at least two different regions;
• and
• a coded data decoder operatively connected to said region shape restoring section, said coded data decoder decoding encoded data corresponding to regions of said restored final set of regions to facilitate deriving the image therefrom.

A method for decoding encoded data of an image, the image being encoded after being partitioned into a first plurality of regions and after the first plurality of regions are transformed into a final set of regions, wherein at least one of the final set of regions is formed by integrating two or more regions of the first plurality of regions based on predetermined criteria, the final set of regions including at least two different regions, the encoded data including region shaping information, said method comprising the steps of:

• receiving the encoded data including the region shaping information representing said region integration process based on said predetermined criteria;
• restoring the final set of regions based on the received region shaping information, said restored final set of regions including at least two different regions;
• and
• decoding encoded data corresponding to regions of said restored final set of regions to facilitate deriving the image therefrom.

An apparatus for decoding encoded data of an image,

• the image being encoded after being partitioned into a first plurality of regions and after the first plurality of regions are transformed into a final set of regions, wherein at least one of the final set of regions is formed by recursive integration of two or more regions of the first plurality of regions based on predetermined criteria, the final set of regions including at least two different regions, the encoded data including region shaping information, said apparatus for decoding comprising:
• an input receiving the encoded data including the region shaping information;
• a region shape restoring section operatively connected to said input, said region shape restoring section operatively arranged to restore the final set of regions, based on the received regions shaping information, said restored final set of regions, including at least two different regions;
• and
• a coded data decoder operatively connected to said region shape restoring section, said coded data decoder decoding encoded data corresponding to regions of said restored final set of regions to facilitate deriving the image therefrom.

A method for decoding encoded data of an image,

• the image being encoded after being partitioned into a first plurality of regions and after the first plurality of regions are transformed into a final set of regions, wherein at least one of the final set of regions is formed by recursive integration of two or more regions of the first plurality of regions based on predetermined criteria, the final set of regions including at least two different regions, the encoded data including region shaping information, said method for decoding comprising:
• receiving the encoded data including the region shaping information;
• restoring the final set of regions based on the received region shaping information, said restored final set of regions including at least two different regions;
• and
• decoding encoded data corresponding to regions of said restored final set of regions to facilitate deriving the image therefrom.