Methods of recording coded motion picture data.

0001This invention relates to methods of recording coded motion picture data. The invention is particularly, but not exclusively, applicable to cases where coded motion picture data which have been obtained by high efficiency coding of video signals are recorded in an editable form.

0002There has been previously proposed a recording/reproducing system in which video signals which represent a motion picture are high efficiency coded to form high density intraframe coded data and interframe coded data, are recorded on a compact disc, for example, a magneto-optical compact disc (CD-MO disc), and the recorded coded motion picture data are searched and reproduced when necessary (see Japanese patent publication 63/1183 and Japanese patent application 1/267049).

0003More specifically, for example, as shown in Figure 1, each of images PC1, PC2, PC3, .... which are motion pictures at respective times t = t1, t2, t3, .... is digitized and then supplied to a transmission system including, for example, a CD-MO recording/reproducing system. Processing is performed in such a manner as to enhance transmission efficiency by compressing image data to be transmitted, using the fact that video signals have substantial correlation in the time dimension. In the intraframe coding, compression such as to obtain differences by comparing pixel data with reference data is performed on the images PC1, PC2, PC3, ...., and for each of the images PC1, PC2, PC3, ...., image data are derived, the image data having been compressed using correlation between pixel data in the same frame.

0004On the other hand, in the interframe coding, image data PC12, PC23, .... which are differences of pixel data between adjacent images PC1 and PC2, PC2 and PC3, ...., respectively, are calculated, and are sent together with image data obtained by intraframe coding of the initial image PC1 at the time t = t1.

0005It is thus possible to code the images PC1, PC2, PC3, .... with high efficiency to provide digital data of an amount substantially less than where all the image data are sent, and then to transmit them to a CD-MO recording/reproducing system.

0006The encoding of such video signals is carried out in a coded motion picture data generating unit 1 having a configuration shown in Figure 2.

0007In the data generating unit 1, dropping of every other field, one field line thinning, and like processing are carried out by processing input video signals VD in a preprocessing circuit 2, and luminance signals and chrominance signals thereof are then converted to a transmission unit block (hereinafter referred to as a macro block) data S11, the macro block data S11 being data of 16 pixels (horizontal) x 16 pixels (vertical). The macro block data S11 is fed to an image data coding circuit 3.

0008The image data coding circuit 3 receives predictive current frame data S12 which is formed in a predictive coding circuit 4, and calculates the difference between those data and the macro block data S11 thereby to generate interframe coded data (this is referred to the interframe coding mode). This is fed to a transform coding circuit 5 as differential data S13. In the image data coding circuit 3, the difference between the macro block data S11 and the reference data is computed to produce intraframe coded data, which are also supplied as differential data S13 to the transform coding circuit 5.

0009The transform coding circuit 5 comprises a discrete cosine transform circuit, and performs high efficiency coding on the differential data S13 by orthogonal transformation to produce transform coding data S14. The transform coding data S14 are supplied to a quantization circuit 6, which thereby sends quantized image data S15.

0010The quantized image data S15 which have been thus obtained from the quantization circuit 6 undergo high efficiency coding again in a retransform coding circuit 7 which includes a variable length coding circuit, and is then supplied as transmission image data S16 to a transmission buffer memory 8.

0011In addition to this, the quantized image data S15 are subjected to inverse quantization and inverse transform coding in the predictive coding circuit 4, and are thereby decoded to the differential data. The predictive coding circuit 4 corrects the predictive previous frame data on the basis of the differential data, and thereby stores new predictive previous frame data. Furthermore, the predictive previous frame data which is stored in the predictive coding circuit 4 are motion compensated by motion detection data derived on the basis of the macro block data S11, thereby to produce predictive current frame data, which are fed to the image data coding circuit 3. Thus, the difference between the macro block data S11 of a frame to be currently transmitted and the predictive current frame data S12 is obtained as the differential data S13.

0012In a case where in the configuration of Figure 2, the motion picture previously described with reference to Figure 1 is transmitted, the image data of the image PC1 are firstly provided as the macro block data S11 at a time t1 (Figure 1). In this case, the image data coding circuit 3 is placed in the intraframe coding mode, in which these data are fed as the intraframe coded differential data S13 to the transform coding circuit 5, and thus the transmission image data S16 are supplied to the transmission buffer memory 8 via the quantization circuit 6 and the retransform coding circuit 7.

0013Concurrently, the quantized image data S15 which are obtained at the output terminal of the quantization circuit 6 undergo the predictive coding in the predictive coding circuit 4, and the predictive previous frame data which represent the transmission image data S16 supplied to the transmission buffer memory 8 are thereby held in the previous frame memory. When the macro block data S11 which represent the image PC2 at t = t2 are subsequently fed to the image data coding circuit 3, they are motion compensated by the predictive current frame data S12.

0014Thus, the image data coding circuit 3 supplies interframe coded differential data S13 to the transform coding circuit 5 at t = t2, and thereby differential data which represent a shift of the image between the frames are fed as transmission image data S16 to the transmission buffer memory 8. Concurrently, the predictive previous frame data are formed and stored in the predictive coding circuit 4 by supplying the quantized image data S15 to the predictive coding circuit 4.

0015Only differential data which represent the shift of the image between the previous frame and the current frame are sequentially sent to the transmission buffer memory 8 by repeating the same operations while the image data coding circuit 3 performs the interframe coding.

0016The transmission buffer memory 8 temporarily stores the transmission image data S16 thus supplied, and the transmission image data S16 are sequentially derived and sent as transmission data DTRANS via a transmission line 9 at a data transmission rate which depends on the transmission capacity of the transmission line 9.

0017At the same time, the transmission buffer memory 8 detects the amount of remaining data, and feeds back remaining amount data S17, which varies according to the amount of the remaining data, to the quantization circuit 6 to control the quantization step size according to the remaining amount data S17, so that an appropriate amount of the remaining data (which do not produce overflow or underflow) is kept in the transmission buffer memory 8 by adjusting the amount of data which are produced as the transmission image data S16.

0018More specifically, when the data remaining amount of the transmission buffer memory 8 reaches the upper allowable limit, the step size of the quantization step STPS (Figure 3) of the quantization circuit 6 is enlarged by the remaining amount data S17, so that coarser quantization is carried out in the quantization circuit 6, thereby to decrease the amount of data of the transmission image data S16.

0019On the contrary, in a case where the amount of the remaining data of the transmission buffer memory 8 decreases to the lower allowable limit, the remaining amount data S17 controls the step size of the quantization step STPS of the quantization circuit 6 to become smaller, and thereby the amount of data of the transmission image data S16 is increased by executing finer quantization in the quantization circuit 6.

0020As transmission data DTRANS which are being sent from the coded motion picture data generating unit 1 with such a configuration, complete intraframe coded frames A1, A9, .... (hereinafter referred to as intraframes and indicated by the character "A"), interframe coded previous frame prediction coded frames B3, B5, B7, .... (hereinafter referred to as predictive frames and designated by the character "B"), and interpolated prediction coded frames C2, C4, C6, .... (hereinafter referred to as interpolated frames and indicated by the character "C") corresponding to these frames are transmitted in the order of input frames of the image data VD as shown in Figures 4A and 4B.

0021When such transmission data DTRANS are received, and the interpolated frame C2, for example, is decoded, the intraframe A1 and the predictive frame B3 are needed as shown in Figure 4C, and hence a memory and the control circuit thereof becomes necessary for the decoding system of the coded motion picture data, the memory being for delaying the interpolated frame C2 until the intraframe A1 and the predictive frame B3 are received. This makes the circuit configuration rather complicated and excessively increases the amount of delay.

0022For this reason, it has been considered that the transmission data DTRANS could be transmitted in the order necessary for the decoding operation as shown in Figure 4D. In such a case, the transmission data DTRANS is recorded so that groups of frames GOF1, GOF2 which include 8 frames (A1, C2, B3, C4, B5, C6, B7 and C8) between intraframes A1 and A9, .... use 20 sectors, for example, of the CD-MO disc.

0023However, in a case where an edit operation to edit and rewrite the group of frames GOF1, for example, is performed on the coded motion picture data recorded on a CD-MO disc in such an order of frames, and then the data are reproduced from the beginning, it is not possible to obtain video signals since the interpolated frame C8 in the group of frames GOF1 is interpolated on the basis of the new seventh predictive frame B7 in the group of the frames GOF1 and the old first intraframe A9 in the group of frames GOF2. As a result, there is a problem that the result of the edit is not correctly reproduced.

0024According to the present invention there is provided a method of recording coded motion picture data, in which: video signals are alternatively intraframe coded or interframe coded and are then quantized to provide coded motion picture data; and said coded motion picture data are recorded on a predetermined recording medium for each group of frames which includes a predetermined number of said intraframe coded or interframe coded frames; characterized in that: in editing said coded motion picture data, recorded on said recording medium, for each group of frames, edit flags are set in the groups of edited frames and/or the frames following immediately after the edit operations.

0025According to the present invention there is also provided a method of recording coded motion picture data, in which: video signals are alternatively intraframe coded or interframe coded and are then quantized to provide coded motion picture data; and said coded motion picture data are recorded on a predetermined recording medium for each group of frames which includes a predetermined number of said intraframe coded or interframe coded frames; characterized in that: said coded motion picture data have frame numbers added, and are then recorded on said recording medium; and in editing said coded motion picture data, recorded on said recording medium, for each group of frames, new coded motion picture data of the group of frames has new frame numbers added which are different from the frame numbers and are then recorded.

0026According to the present invention there is also provided a method of recording coded motion picture data, in which: video signals are alternatively intraframe coded or interframe coded and are then quantized to provide coded motion picture data; and said coded motion picture data are recorded on a predetermined recording medium for each group of frames which includes a predetermined number of intraframe coded or interframe coded frames; characterized in that: said interframe coded frames in the group of frames of said coded motion picture data to be recorded on said recording medium are formed only on the basis of said intraframe coded or interframe coded frames in said group of frames.

0027Thus, in editing coded motion picture data, recorded on a recording medium, for each group of frames the edit operation can be freely carried out by discriminating the groups of frames.

0028A predetermined number of frames intraframe coded or interframe coded can be made self-sufficient within the one group of frames, and thereby the editing is freely carried out with a simple construction.

0029The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, throughout which like parts are referred to by like references, and in which: <ul id="ul0001" list-style="none"><li>Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view of intraframe/interframe coding;</li><li>Figure 2 is a block diagram showing a previously proposed coded motion picture data generating system;</li><li>Figure 3 is a characteristic graph showing quantization steps;</li><li>Figures 4A to 4D are diagrammatic views illustrating a previously proposed recording sequence of motion picture data;</li><li>Figures 5A, 5B and 6 are block diagrams illustrating a motion picture coding system and a motion picture decoding system which form a motion picture coding/decoding system to which the present invention is applied;</li><li>Figure 7 is a schematic diagram showing the form of frame image data;</li><li>Figures 8A and 8B are block diagrams illustrating a header data processing system of Figures 5A and 5B;</li><li>Figure 9 is a schematic diagram showing the form of flag data of Figures 8A and 8B;</li><li>Figure 10 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of motion picture data recording/reproducing system;</li><li>Figures 11A to 11E are schematic diagrams illustrating a format of recording/reproducing data;</li><li>Figures 12A to 12D are diagrammatic views showing a recording sequence of the coded motion picture data of the embodiment;</li><li>Figure 13 is a block diagram showing a frame sequence reordering circuit;</li><li>Figure 14 is a flow chart illustrating an edit routine;</li><li>Figure 15 is a diagrammatic view showing a recording region of a CD-MO disc;</li><li>Figure 16 is a block diagram showing a frame sequence reordering circuit;</li><li>Figure 17 is a block diagram showing a discontinuity detection circuit; and</li><li>Figures 18A to 18D and 19A to 19D are diagrammatic views illustrating another recording sequence of the coded motion picture data.</li></ul>

0030An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a coded motion picture data recording/reproducing system will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

(1) The general configuration of the motion picture coding/decoding system.

0031In Figures 5A, 5B and 6, a motion picture coding/decoding system 21 comprises a motion picture coding system 21A and a motion picture decoding system 21B. The motion picture coding system 21A preprocesses an input video signal VDIN in an input circuit unit 22 and then supplies input image data S21, which is pixel data of 16 by 16 pixels, that is, pixel data of a macro block MB, from an analogue/digital conversion circuit 23 to a pixel data processing system SYM1. At the timing of processing the pixel data in the unit of the macro block MB in each processing step of the pixel data processing system SYM1, processing information data corresponding to the data to be processed are sequentially transmitted through a header data processing system SYM2. Thus, the pixel data and the header data are parallel processed in the pixel data processing system SYM1 and the header data processing system SYM2, respectively.

0032In this embodiment , macro block data which are sequentially sent as the input image data S21 are extracted from frame image data FRM according to a technique shown in Figure 7.

0033Firstly, in a case where the input video signals VDIN have a picture size (176 x 144 pixels) of QCIF, frame image data FRM of a frame is separated into 2 (horizontal) x 3 (vertical) block groups GOB. Each block group GOB contains 11 (horizontal) x 3 (vertical) of macro blocks MB. Each macro block MB contains 16 x 16 pixels of luminance signal data Y00 to Y11 (each consisting of 8 x 8 pixels of luminance signal data) and chrominance signal data Cb and Cr which are chrominance signal data corresponding to all the pixel data of the luminance signal data Y00 to Y11.

0034Secondly, in a case where the input video signals VDIN have a picture size (252 x 288 pixels) of QCIF, frame image data FRM of a frame is separated into 2 (horizontal) x 6 (vertical) block groups GOB. Each block group GOB contains 11 (horizontal) x 3 (vertical) macro blocks MB. Each macro block MB contains 16 x 16 pixels of luminance signals data Y00 to Y11 (each consisting of 8 x 8 pixels of luminance signal data) and chrominance signal data Cb and Cr which are chrominance signal data corresponding to all the pixel data of the luminance signal data Y00 to Y11.

0035Thus, the input image data S21 which are sent for each macro block MB are fed to a motion compensation circuit 25. The motion compensation circuit 25 compares the input image data S21 and predictive previous frame data S23 from a predictive previous frame memory 27 in response to a motion detection control signal S22 fed from a motion compensation control unit 26, which is provided in the header data processing system SYM2, and the motion compensation circuit 25 thereby detects motion vector data MVD(x) and MVD(y), which are supplied as first header data HD1 (Figure 4) to the motion compensation control unit 26. Furthermore, the motion compensation circuit 25 forms predictive current frame data S25 by motion compensating the predictive previous frame data S23 by the motion vector data MVD(x) and MVD(y) in a motion compensation circuit unit 25A. The predictive current frame data S24 are fed to an image data coding circuit 28, together with current frame data S25 which are the input image data S21 to be processed.

0036As shown in Figure 8, the motion compensation control unit 26 identifies each macro block MB, which is sequentially transmitted to each processing step of the pixel data processing system SYM1, by adding the following data as the first header data HD1 for the macro block being currently processed: transmission frame number data "TR Counter" representing the transmission sequence of the frame image data FRM; block group number data "GOB address" representing the block group GOB (Figure 7); and macro block number data "MB address" representing the macro block in the group. Moreover, the motion compensation control unit 26 forms flag data "FLAGS" representing the processing or a processing type of the macro block MB to be processed, the motion vector data "MVD(x)" and "MVD((y)" of the macro block MB, and differential data "Σ|A-B|" which represent the evaluation.

0037As shown in Figure 9, the flat data "FLAGS" can have one word (16 bits) of flags at maximum. A motion compensation control flag "MC on/off" which represents whether or not the macro block MB to be processed should be processed in motion compensation mode is set at the zero bit of the flag data "FLAGS".

0038At the bit 1 of the flag data "FLAGS", interframe/intraframe flag Inter/Intra which represents whether the macro block MB to be processed should be in interframe coding mode or in intraframe coding mode is set.

0039At the bit 2 of the flag data "FLAGS", a filter flag "Filter on/off" which represents whether or not a loop filter 25B of the motion compensation circuit 25 is used is set.

0040At the bit 3 of the flag data "FLAGS", a transmission flag "Coded/Not-coded" which represents whether or not block data Y00 to Cr (Figure 7) contained in the macro block MB to be processed should be sent can be set.

0041At the bit 4 of the flag data "FLAGS", a drop flame flag "Drop frame flag" which represents whether or not the macro block MB to be processed is frame dropped can be set.

0042At the bit 5 of the flag data "FLAGS", a forced refreshing flag "Refresh on/off" which represents whether or not the macro block MB to be processed is forcibly refreshed can be set.

0043At the bit 6 of the flag data "FLAGS", a macro block power appreciation flag "MBP appreciate" may be set.

0044The differential data "Σ|A-B|" represent a minimum value of the differences between the macro block data A to be processed of the current flame data S25 and macro block data B compensated by detection motion vectors of the predictive previous frame data S23, and enables appreciation of detected motion vectors.

0045In the intraframe coding mode, the image data coding circuit 28 supplies the current flame data S25, which is provided from the motion compensation circuit 25, as difference data S26 to a transform coding circuit 29 without any change. On the other hand, in the interframe coding mode the difference data S26 which are the difference between the pixel data of the current flame data S25 and the pixel data of the predictive current frame data S24 are fed to the transform coding circuit 29.

0046In the header data processing system SYM2, and interframe/intraframe coding control unit 30 is provided to correspond to the image data coding circuit 28. According to the first header data HD1, fed from the motion compensation control unit 26, and the operation data S31, supplied from the image data coding circuit 28, the interframe/intraframe coding control unit 30 operates on data necessary for obtaining the interframe/intraframe flag "Inter/Intra" and the filter flag "Filter on/off" (Figure 9) and sends the resulting data as second header data HD2 to a filter control unit 31. The interframe/intraframe flag "Inter/Intra" is to indicate the coding mode of the image data coding circuit 28, whereas the filter flag "Filter on/off" is to control the operation of a loop filter 25B of the motion compensation circuit 25.

0047As shown in the Figure 8, the second header data HD2 take over the data which constitutes the first header data HD1; the transmission frame number data "TR Counter" to the differential data "Σ|A-B|". Furthermore, in the interframe/intraframe coding control unit 30, power data necessary to form interframe/intraframe coding mode switching signal S33 and filter on/off signal S34 are added to the second header data HD2, the power data "Σ(A)²(L)" and "Σ(A)²(H)", "Σ(A-B)²(L)" and "Σ(A-B)²(H)", "Σ(A-FB)²(L)" and "Σ(A-FB)²(H)", and " (A)".

0048The power data "Σ(A)²(L)" and "Σ(A)²(H)" represent the lower bit and the upper bit of the sum of the squares of macro block pixel data A of the current flame data S25, respectively. The power data "Σ(A-B)²(L)" and "Σ(A-B²(H)" represent the lower bit and the upper bit of the sum of the squares of the difference (A-B) of the macro block pixel data A of the current frame data S25 and macro block pixel data B of the predictive current frame data S24, which is formed without passing through the loop filter 25B, respectively. The power data "Σ(A-FB)²(L)" and "Σ(A-FB)²(H)" represents the lower bit and the upper bit of the sum of the squares of the difference A-FB between the macro block pixel data A of the current frame data S25 and macro block pixel data FB of the predictive current frame data S24, which is formed through the loop filter 25B, respectively. The "Σ(A)" represents the sum of the macro block pixel data A of the current frame data S25. To evaluate the magnitude of each data to be processed, the amount of the data is expressed in power value (each sum of the squares is obtained as a value irrespective of sign).

0049According to the second header data HD2 fed from the interframe/intraframe coding control unit 30 and residual amount data S32 fed from a transmission buffer memory 32, the filter control unit 31 supplies an interframe/intraframe coding mode switching signal S33 to the image data coding circuit 28 and a filter on/off signal S34 to the loop filter 25B, and furthermore the filter control unit 31 adds the filter flag "Filter on/off", representing the contents of the filter on/off signal S34, to the second header data HD2 and supplies the resulting data as third header data HP3 to a threshold control unit 35.

0050Here, the filter control unit 31 firstly controls the image data coding circuit 28 to the intraframe coding mode when transmission data interframe coded becomes larger in amount than the transmission data intraframe coded.

0051Secondly, according to the filter on/off signal S34 the filter control unit 31 controls the loop filter 25B not to perform the filtering operation when during the processing in the interframe coding mode, the predictive current frame data S24 which has not been processed in the loop filter 25B is smaller in differential value than the predictive current frame data S24 which has been processed there.

0052Thirdly, the filter control unit 31 switches the image data coding circuit 28 to the intraframe coding mode according to the interframe/intraframe coding mode switching signal S33 in the forced refreshing mode.

0053Fourthly, the filter control unit 31 detects a state in which the transmission buffer memory 32 is liable to overflow data according to the residual amount data S32 provided from the transmission buffer memory 32, and thereby supplies to the threshold control unit 35 the third header data HD3 which contains a flag to command to execute a frame dropping procedure.

0054Thus, the image data coding circuit 28 supplies to the transform coding circuit 29 difference data S26 which has been encoded in such a mode that the difference between the current frame data S25 and the predictive current frame data S24 becomes a minimum.

0055As shown in Figure 8, the third header data HD3 takes over transmission frame number data "TR Counter" to motion vector data "MVD(x)" and "MVD(y)" from the second header data HD2, and the filter control unit 31 adds 6 bits of filter flag "Filter on/off" which correspond to the block data Y00 to Cr to the third header data HD3.

0056The transform coding circuit 29 is a discrete cosine transform circuit and sends to a transmission block setting circuit 34 transform code data S35 which is obtained by zigzag scanning discrete cosine transformed coefficients per 6 blocks Y00, Y01, Y10, Y11, Cb and Cr.

0057The transmission block setting circuit 34 computes the sum of squares of coefficient data of n from the leading data about each of the six block data Y00 to Cr (Figure 7), and supplies the result of the operation as power detection data S36 to the threshold control unit 35.

0058In this event, the threshold control unit 35 compares the power detection data S36 of each of the block data Y00 to Cr with a predetermined threshold and thereby forms 6 bits of transmission permitted/not-permitted data "CBPN" which represents that the block data are not permitted to be transmitted when the power detection data S36 are smaller than the threshold, whereas the block data are permitted to do so when the power detection data S36 are larger than the threshold. These data are added to the third header data HD3 which has been received from the filter control unit 31. The threshold control unit 35 supplies the resulting data to a quantization control unit 36 as fourth header data HD4 and controls the transmission block setting circuit 34 to send corresponding block data Y00 to Cr as transmission block patterning data S37 to a quantizer 37.

0059Here, as shown in Figure 8 the fourth header data HD4 takes over the transmission frame number data "TR Counter" to filter flag "Filter on/off" of the third header data HD3 without any change, and 6 bits of the transmission permitted/not-permitted flag "CBPN", which has been generated at the threshold control unit 35 to correspond to the blocks Y00 to Cr, is added to the fourth header data HD4.

0060On the basis of the fourth header data HD4 supplied from the threshold control unit 35 and the residual amount data S32 sent from the transmission buffer memory 32, the quantization control unit 36 determines a quantization step size, and thereby sends a quantization step size control signal S38 to the quantizer 37, thereby causing the quantizer 37 to perform the quantization procedure at the quantization step size which matches the data contained in the macro block MB. Consequently, quantized image data S39 which has been obtained at the output terminal of the quantizer 37 is fed to a variable length coding circuit 38.

0061In addition to this, is dependence on the fourth header data HD4, the quantization control unit 36, as shown in Figure 8, forms as header data HD5 data in which the flag data "FLAGS" and the motion vector data "MVD(x)" and MVD(y)" are separated and arranged in series to correspond to each of the block data Y00 to Cr (Figure 7), and the quantization control unit 36 supplies header data HD5 to the variable length coding circuit 38 and an inverse quantizer 40.

0062As shown in Figure 8, the header data HD5 takes over the transmission frame number data "TR Counter" to the macro block "MB address" in the fourth header data HP4 without any change, and the quantization control unit 36 adds quantization size data "QNT" and flag data "FLAGS" for the block data Y00 to Cr, and motion vector data "MVD(x)" and "MVD(y)", to the header data HD5.

0063The variable length coding circuit 38 performs variable length coding operations on the header data HD5 and the quantized image data S39 to form transmission image data S40, which are supplied to the transmission buffer memory 32.

0064In variable length coding the block data Y00 to Cr, the variable length coding circuit 38 performs processing to neglect the block data without sending them as transmission image data S40, when "frame dropping" or "transmission not permitted" is instructed by the corresponding flag data "FLAGS".

0065The transmission buffer memory 32 stores the transmission image data S40, which are read at a predetermined transmission rate and are composed with transmission voice data S41, sent from a voice data generator 42, in a multiplexer 41 to produce and send coded motion picture data VDREC to the CD-MO unit.

0066The inverse quantizer 40 inversely quantizes the quantized image data S39, sent from the quantizer 37, according to the header data HD5, and then feeds the inverse quantization data S42 to an inverse transform coding circuit 43 for transforming to inverse transform coded data S43, which are then fed to a decoder circuit 44. Thus, coded differential data S44 which represents image information sent as the transmission image data S40 is supplied to the predictive previous frame memory 27.

0067In this event, the predictive previous frame memory 27 performs correction of the predictive previous frame data stored using the coded differential data S44 to store as new predictive previous frame data.

0068Thus, in the motion picture coding system 21A of the configuration in Figures 5A and 5B, the pixel data processing system SYM1 pipelines pixel data in the unit of a macro block according to the header information fed from the header data processing system SYM2. Synchronously with this, header data are transferred in the header data processing system SYM2, and thereby the pixel data are appropriate processed by performing addition or deletion of the header data in each step of the header data processing system SYM2 according to needs.

0069As shown in Figure 6, in the motion picture decoding system 21B the coded motion picture data VDPB reproduced in the CD-MO unit is accepted in a transmission buffer memory 52 through a demultiplexer 51 while transmission voice data S51 are received in a voice data receiving unit 53.

0070The pixel data received in the transmission buffer memory 52 are separated into received image data S52 and header data HD11 in a variable length inverse transform circuit 54. The received image data S52 is inverse quantized to form inverse quantized data S53 in an inverse quantizer 55, and is then inverse transformed to inverse transform coded data S54 by discrete inverse transformation in an inverse transform coding circuit 56.

0071The inverse transform coded data S54 is fed to a decoder circuit 67 together with header data HD12 formed in the inverse quantizer 55, and is then stored as coded differential data S55 in a frame memory 58.

0072Thus, the pixel data transmitted are decoded in the frame memory 58 on the basis of the coded differential data S55. In a digital/analogue conversion circuit 59, the decoded image data S56 are converted to analogue signals, which are then outputted as output video signals VDOUT through an output circuit unit 60.

(2) The order of recording the coded motion picture data.

0073Figure 10 shows a coded motion picture data recording/reproducing system 70 to which the coded motion picture data recording method according to the present invention is applied.

0074In the recording/reproducing system 70, input video signals VDIN are high efficiency coded through the coding/encoding system 21, and the resulting coded motion picture data VDREC are inputted to a CD-MO unit 71 where it is recorded on a CD-MO disc (not shown).

0075Conversely, reproduced signals obtained from the CO-MO unit 71 are inputted as coded motion picture data VDPB to the motion picture coding/encoding system 21, and output video signals VDOUT which can be obtained by decoding the resulting coded motion picture data VDPB are sent out.

0076In the recording/reproducing system 70, the coding/encoding system 21 is connected to a recording/reproducing controlling circuit 73 which includes a central processing unit (CPU) via a bus 72. The coding of the input video signals VDIN and decoding of the coded motion picture data VDPB are controlled by the recording/reproducing controlling circuit 73.

0077In addition to this, the CD-MO unit 71 has a SCSI (small computer system interface) incorporated in it, and is connected to the recording/reproducing controlling circuit 73 through a SCSI bus 74, a SCSI control circuit 75 and the bus 72. This enables the recording and reproducing operations to be controlled by the recording/reproducing controlling circuit 73.

0078The coded motion picture data VDREC which is supplied from the motion picture coding/encoding system 21 are inputted to the CD-MO unit 71 in a format which has a layer structure as shown in Figure 7, and the coded motion picture data VDPB are inputted from the CD-MO unit 71 to the motion picture coding/encoding system 21 in the same format.

0079More specifically, in the coded motion picture data VDREC and the coded motion picture data VDPB, data which correspond to 8 frames of input video signals VDIN constitute a group of frames GOF as a frame group layer, and each group of frames GOF consists of: a frame group start code (GOFSC) representing the start of the group of frames; a link flag (LPG) representing a continuous relationship to the immediately previous GOF; data which represent horizontal and vertical sizes, the ratio of the number of horizontal and vertical pixels, and the like of the frames to be sent (HORSIZE, VERSIZE, HVPRAT); data (RATE) representing the rate of the transmission frames; data (P.data) of the picture layer which are picture data of one frame for each of 8 frames; and a stuffing bit (TSB) (Figure 11A).

0080The data of the picture layer (P.data) of one frame consists of a frame start code (PSC) representing the start of the frame, the frame number (TR), data (PEI, PSPARE) representing extension information, and one frame of data (GOB data) of the block group layer which includes picture data for a block unit (Figure 11B).

0081One block group of data (GOB data) of the block group layer is made up of a block group start code (GBSC) representing the start of the one block group, address data (GN) of the block group, data (GQUANT) relating to requantization step size for the block group, data (GEI and GSPARE) representing extension information, and one block group of data of the macro block layer (MB data) (Figure 11C).

0082One macro block of data (MB data) of the macro block layer consists of data representing the address of the macro block (MBA), data representing the type of the macro block (MTYPE), data of the requantization step size of the macro block (MQUANT), data of the motion vectors in the macro block (MVD1, MVD2), data of the block pattern in the macro block (CBP), and data of the block layer for one macro block (Block data) (Figure 11D).

0083One block of data of the block layer (Block data) consists of coefficient data of a predetermined number (TCOEF) and data representing the end of the block layer (EOB) (Figure 11E).

0084In the motion picture coding system 21A of this embodiment, the coded motion picture data VDREC is formed in the order of the frame recording, as shown in Figure 12B, to correspond to the decoding in the motion picture decoding system 21B in place of the usual frame recording order according to the input video signals VDIN of Figure 12A, and is supplied to and recorded by the CD-MO unit 71. The coded motion picture data VDPB reproduced by the CD-MO unit 71 are inputted to the motion picture encoding system 21B in this frame recording order.

0085In this way, when the interpolated frame C2, for example, is to be decoded, the intraframe A1 and the predictive frame B3 which are necessary for decoding have been already inputted, and when the interpolated frame C4, for example, is to be decoded, the predictive frames B3 an B5 which are necessary for decoding have been already inputted. Thus, the motion picture encoding system 21B is capable of executing the decoding of the interpolated frame C2 or C4 at once.

0086In the motion picture coding system 21A of this embodiment, a frame order reordering circuit 80 incorporated in the motion compensation circuit 25 is used, as shown in Figure 13, to reorder the order of the frame recording based on the input video signals VDIN to the order of the frame recording according to the decoding operation as previously described.

0087The frame order reordering circuit 80 includes first to third one frame delay circuits 81, 82 and 83, and is capable of executing detection of motion vectors as well as the reordering of the sequence of the frames.

0088More specifically, the input video signals VDIN undergo predetermined processing in the input circuit unit 22 and the analogue digital conversion circuit 23, and the resulting input image data S21 are inputted to the first one frame delay circuit 81.

0089First delayed data SD1 from the first one frame delay circuit 81 are inputted to the second one frame delay circuit 82 as well as to the first input terminal a of a first frame selection circuit 84.

0090The delayed data SD2 from the second one frame delay circuit 82 are passed to the third one frame delay circuit 83, where they are delayed one frame and are inputted as the delayed data SD3 to the second input terminal b of the first frame selection circuit 84.

0091This enables the frame order reordering circuit 80 sequentially to input image data S21 at the timing of each frame, and selectively to control the first and second input terminals a and b of the first frame selection circuit 84 at the timing of the frame pulse FP which is synchronized with the input image data S21, so that the reordering of the frame sequence is accomplished.

0092The input image data S21 and the first delay data SD1 are inputted to a first motion vector detection circuit 85, and the resulting motion vector data DMV1 and differential data DDR1 between the input image data S21 and the first delay data SD1 are supplied to the motion compensation unit 26.

0093Furthermore, the second and the third delay data SD2 and SD3 are inputted to first and second input terminals a and b of a second frame selection circuit 86, and either one is selected at the timing of the frame pulse FP and is then inputted to a second motion vector detection circuit 87.

0094In addition to this, first delay data SD1 are inputted to the second motion vector detection circuit 87, and the resulting motion vector data DMV2 and differential data DDR2 between the first delay data SD1 and the delay data SD2 or delay data SD3 are supplied to the motion compensation unit 26.

0095In the construction previously described, frames are reordered in the order to correspond to the decoding operation in place of the frame order on the basis of the input video signals VDIN when the coded motion picture data VDREC are obtained by high efficiency coding the input video signals VDIN. This realizes the coded motion picture data transmission method which is capable of simplifying and making efficient the control and the circuit configuration of the decoding system.

(3) Method of editing coded motion picture data.

0096The recording/reproducing controlling unit 73 of the coded motion picture recording/reproducing system 70 executes an edit routine RT) as shown in Figure 14 in response to an edit instruction externally inputted, and thereby rewrites the coded motion picture data VDREC in the unit of one group of frames, thus performing the edit operation. As shown in Figure 15, the coded motion picture data VDREC are recorded in one group of frames per 20 sectors of a CD-MO disc.

0097In the input video signals VDIN, the intraframe, interpolated frames and predictive frames CO, A1, C2, B3, C4, B5, C6 and B7, which follow the interpolated frame CO immediately prior to the intraframe A1, are according to this embodiment transmitted as one group of frames GOF11, GOF12, .... instead of the usual method which makes one group of frames GOF1, GOF2, .... of 8 frames, the intraframe, interpolated frames and predictive frames, which follow the intraframe, A1, C2, B3, C4, B5, C7, B7, and C8 as shown in Figure 12C.

0098In this way, an error such that a frame in one group of frames GOF11, GOF12, .... is contained in the other group of frames GOF11, GOF12, .... is prevented.

0099In practice, the recording/reproducing controlling circuit 73 enters the edit routine RTO shown in Figure 14, and analyzes the edit instruction in the step SP1.

0100When it is instructed to rewrite 40 sectors of the third and the fourth group of frames GOF3 and GOF4 by new coded motion picture data VDREC, the recording/reproducing controlling circuit 73 proceeds to the next step SP2.

0101In this step SP2, the recording/reproducing controlling circuit 73 sends out a control command to the SCSI control circuit 75 to respond to the edit instruction, according to which rewrite control of the CD-MO disc is executed by way of the SCSI bus 74.

0102In this event, by the control of the recording/reproducing controlling circuit 73 through the bus 72, input video signals VDIN of two new groups of frames GOF3N and GOF4N are inputted as coded motion picture data VDREC to the CD-MO unit 71 via the motion picture coding/encoding system 21.

0103Subsequently, the recording/reproducing controlling circuit 73 executes the next step SP3, in which is judges whether or not the rewrite operation is finished. When a negative result is obtained in this step, the recording/reproducing controlling circuit 73 returns to the step SP2, where it continues the control of the rewrite operation. When an affirmative result is eventually obtained, it goes to the step SP4.

0104In the step SP4, the recording/reproducing controlling circuit 73 reads the leading sector of the edited CD-MO disc (the fortieth sector in this embodiment).

0105In the next step SP5, the recording/reproducing controlling circuit 73 sets as the edit flag the link flag (LPG) of the frame group layer which exists in the 25th bit from the beginning of the sector, and writes this at the position on the CD-MO disc of the sector read.

0106Subsequently, in the step SP6 the recording/reproducing controlling circuit 73 reads the sector (the 80th sector in this embodiment) following the last sector of the CD-MO disc edited.

0107In the next step SP7, as previously described the recording/reproducing controlling circuit 73 sets as the edit flag the link flag (LPG) of the frame group layer which exists in the 25th bit from the beginning of the sector, and writes this at the position on the CD-MO disc of the sector read. In the next step SP8, the edit routine RTO is completed.

0108The coded motion picture data CDREC which have been edited and recorded on the CD-MO disc practically in such a manner is read by the control of the recording/reproducing controlling circuit 73, and the resulting coded motion picture data VDPB which is obtained as reproduction signals is inputted to the motion picture coding/encoding system 21.

0109In the motion picture encoding system 21B of this embodiment, by using a frame sequence reverse reordering circuit 90, as illustrated in Figure 16, reverse reordering which reorders the frame sequence according to the decoding operation to the frame order based on the input video signals VDIN is carried out. The frame sequence reverse reordering circuit 90 is included in the decoder circuit 57. Concurrently, edit reproduction is executed with reference to the edit flag set in the link flag (LPG of the frame group layer.

0110More specifically, the inverse transform coded data S54 sent from the inverse transform coding circuit 56 is directly inputted to a first input terminal A of a selector circuit 91 of the decoder circuit 57, and is also inputted to a second input B through a frame memory 92 with a delay of 2 frames.

0111The selector circuit 91 and the frame memory 92 are operated at the timing of the frame pulse FP, and thereby the reverse reordering from the frame order according to the decoding operation (Figure 12B) to the frame order based on the input video signals VDIN (Figure 12A) is executed.

0112Edit flag signals SLPG which correspond to the edit flag set in the link flag (LPG) of the header data HD12 formed in the inverse quantization circuit 55 are inputted to the selector circuit 91, and only when it is represented that the edit flag signals SLPG is set, the selection operation is discontinued and a frame which arrives after this is outputted without any change.

0113This prevents frame data in the old groups of frames GOF1, GOF2, GOF5, .... being mixed into frame data in the new groups of edited frames GOFN3 and GOFN4, for example, causing disturbance to be produced in the reproduced image.

0114In a case where the edit flag is set in the group of frames GOF12 shown in Figure 12D, the intraframe A9 is outputted twice in place of the 8th interpolated frame C8.

0115In performing an edit operation on recorded, coded motion picture data by the constructive previous described for each group of frames, the edit flag is set to the link flags (LPG) of the groups of frames edited and the groups of frames immediately after the edit operations, and interpolation is executed on interpolated frames with reference to the edit flags in reproduction. Thus, it is possible to realize the coded motion picture recording method which is capable of freely and well performing edit operations.

(4) Other embodiments

0116(4-1) In the embodiment previously described, it is stated that in performing edit operations on recorded, coded motion picture data for each group of frames, the edit flag is set to the link flags (LPG) of the groups of frames edited and the groups of frames immediately after the edit operations. However, in a case where the recording/reproducing controlling circuit 73 stores the edited groups of frames, edit operations can be performed in an excellent manner merely by setting the edit flag to the link flags (LPG) of the groups of frames immediately after edit operations. (4-2) In the embodiment above described, it is mentioned that in performing edit operations on recorded, coded motion picture data for each group of frames, the edit flag is set to the link flags (LPG) of the groups of frames edited and the groups of frames immediately after the edit operations. Alternatively, in the motion picture coding system 21A, consecutive numbers which start from a random number generated in the recording/reproducing controlling circuit 73 may be added to frame numbers (TR) of the picture layer, and signals similar to the edit flag signals SLPG previously described may be generated at the timing of detection of discontinuity in the frame number (TR) in edit reproducing. In this manner a similar effect to that of the embodiment above described can be achieved.

0117In this connection, the discontinuity in the frame number (TR) is detected in a discontinuity detection circuit 95 shown in Figure 17.

0118More specifically, the discontinuity detection circuit 95 is provided in the frame sequence reverse reordering circuit 90, and the frame numbers (TR) of the picture layer contained in the inverse transform coded data S54 are inputted to a comparison circuit 96 and a latch circuit 97.

0119The latch circuit 97 performs a latch operation at the timing of the frame pulse FP, and consequently, a frame number (TR) is inputted to an adder circuit 98 with a delay of one frame for adding "1", and is inputted to the comparison circuit 96 as a comparison frame number CTR.

0120The comparison circuit 96 compares the frame number (TR) with the comparison frame number CTR, and generates a disconsistency detection signal at logic level "H" when the values are not consistent with each other. The comparison circuit 96 sends this signal to an AND circuit 99.

0121In addition to this, the leading frame group signal GOFF having a logic level "H" is inverted through an inversion circuit 100 and is then inputted to the AND circuit 99. Thus, the inconsistency detection signal is controlled at a logic level "L" in reproduction of the leading frame group, and in the other operations, edit flag signals SLPG with a logic level corresponding to inconsistency detection signal are outputted to the selector circuit 91 of the frame sequency reverse reordering circuit 90. (4-3) In the embodiment previously described, edited groups of frames are discriminated using edit flags and frame numbers (TR) in executing edit operations for each group of frames. However, the relationship of each frame in each group of frames may be made complete by interpolating each interpolated frame C of each frame group, using only the intraframe A and the predictive frame B in the frame group. This enables a coded motion picture data recording method to be realized which is capable of executing edit operations easily and freely even if degradation in picture quality is produced to some extent. (4-4) In the above embodiment, it is stated that the frame sequence of the coded motion picture data is reordered. In the frame sequence, intraframes A, predicted frames B and interpolated frames C are arranged as shown in Figure 12A. The frame arrangement of the coded motion picture data is not limited to this. Also, in cases illustrated in Figures 18A and 19A, similar effects to the foregoing embodiment can be achieved by sending the frames in a reordered frame sequence which corresponds to the processing sequence of the decoding side as shown in Figures 18B and 19B.

0122In these cases, arrangements of groups of frames GOF21, GOF22, .... in Figure 18D, and GOF31, GOF32, .... in Figure 19D, may be adopted in place of the arrangements of groups of frames GOF1, GOF", .... shown in Figures 18C and 19C, and thereby similar effects on edit operations to those of the foregoing embodiment can be achieved. (4-5) In the above embodiment, a case is described in which video signals are high efficiency coded and then recorded on the CD-MO disc, but the recording medium is not limited to this. The present invention may be applied to various other recording media, such as an optical disc, magnetic disc and magnetic tape. (4-6) In the embodiment above, it is described that video signals are high efficiency coded and then recorded on the CD-MO disc, but the present invention is not limited to this. The present invention may be applied to coded motion picture data transmission methods in which high efficiency coded video signals are transmitted.