Image coding apparatus, image decoding apparatus and image processing system

An image decoding apparatus comprising:

• a receiving unit which receives multiple moving picture streams that have been divided into packets with a priority tag attached to each header from a network which includes a router with a packet priority control function;
• a priority determination unit which obtains the priority tag from each header of multiple packets received during a specified period and determines the moving picture stream whose packets have the highest priority tag received during the specified period to be a priority moving picture stream;
• a decoder which decodes each of the multiple moving picture streams and regenerates multiple moving images;
• and
• a synthesis unit which synthesizes the multiple moving images so that a moving image regenerated from the priority moving picture stream is highlighted when it is displayed.

An image processing system in which an image decoding apparatus is connected to multiple image coding apparatuses via a network, wherein each of the multiple image coding apparatuses comprises:

• an importance level determination unit which determines, by frame, an importance level of a moving image taken with a camera;
• an encoder which encodes frames of the moving image;
• a packetizer which transforms the frames, which have been encoded, into packets;
• a tag attachment unit which attaches a priority tag reflecting the importance level to the packet header;
• and
• a transmission unit, which transmits packets with the priority tag to a network which includes a router with a packet priority control function, and
• the image decoding apparatus comprises:
• a receiving unit which receives moving picture streams that have been divided into packets with the priority tag attached to each header from each of the multiple image coding apparatuses via the network;
• a priority determination unit which obtains the priority tag from each header of multiple packets received during a specified period and determines the moving picture stream whose packets have the highest priority tag received during the specified period to be a priority moving picture stream;
• a decoder which decodes each of the moving picture streams from the multiple image coding apparatuses and regenerates multiple moving images;
• and
• a synthesis unit which synthesizes the multiple moving images so that a moving image regenerated from the priority moving picture stream is highlighted when it is displayed.

A computer-readable recording medium having stored therein a set of instructions that when executed, cause a computer to perform:

• receiving multiple moving picture streams that have been divided into packets with a priority tag attached to each header from a network which includes a router with a packet priority control function;
• obtaining the priority tag from each header of multiple packets received during a specified period and determining the moving picture stream whose packets have the highest priority tag received during the specified period to be a priority moving picture stream;
• decoding each of the multiple moving picture streams and regenerating multiple moving images;
• and
• synthesizing the multiple moving images so that a moving image regenerated from the priority moving picture stream is highlighted when it is displayed.