TRANSMITTING APPARATUS AND METHOD, RECEIVING APPARATUS AND METHOD, PROGRAM AND RECORDING MEDIUM, AND TRANSMITTING/RECEIVING SYSTEM

• US 20110059771A1
• Filed: 08/03/2010
• Published: 03/10/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/09/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tetsujiro Kondo
• Original Assignee: Tetsujiro Kondo
• Inventors: Kondo, Tetsujiro
• Granted Patent: US 8,014,635 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/556.2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1616 with folding flat displays, e.g. laptop computers or notebooks having a clamshell configuration, with body parts pivoting to an open position around an axis parallel to the plane they define in closed position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1626 with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/163 Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1632 External expansion units, e.g. docking stations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1641 the display being formed by a plurality of foldable display components G06F1/1647 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1647 including at least an additional display G06F1/1692 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1679 for locking or maintaining the movable parts of the enclosure in a fixed position, e.g. latching mechanism at the edge of the display in a laptop or for the screen protective cover of a PDA G06F1/1681 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1683 for the transmission of signal or power between the different housings, e.g. details of wired or wireless communication, passage of cabling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1692 the I/O peripheral being a secondary touch screen used as control interface, e.g. virtual buttons or sliders
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/103 Selection of coding mode or of prediction mode
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/154 Measured or subjectively estimated visual quality after decoding, e.g. measurement of distortion use of rate-distortion criteria H04N19/147
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/162 User input
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/172 the region being a picture, frame or field
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/503 involving temporal prediction adaptive coding with adaptive selection between spatial and temporal predictive coding H04N19/107; adaptive coding with adaptive selection among a plurality of temporal predictive coding modes H04N19/109
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/895 in combination with error concealment
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/94 Vector quantisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/98 Adaptive-dynamic-range coding [ADRC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234327 by decomposing into layers, e.g. base layer and one or more enhancement layers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41407 embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44008 involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in the video stream arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/440227 : by decomposing into layers, e.g. base layer and one or more enhancement layers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 : communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/658 : Transmission by the client directed to the server

Abstract

A receiving processing unit receives identical SD pictures transmitted a plurality of number of times, and performs addition for weighting an SD picture stored in a storage and the received SD pictures. The receiving processing unit stores the obtained values as a new SD picture in the storage. A picture-quality determining unit determines the picture quality of the new SD picture stored in the storage, and based on the determined picture quality, a request-signal transmitting unit requests class codes representing classes obtained by classifying the pixels of an HD picture in which the quality of an SD picture is increased. A receiving-control unit receives class codes which are transmitted in response to the request, and based on the SD picture and the class codes, an adaptive processing unit calculates predicted values of an HD picture corresponding to the SD picture.

Claims

1. A transmitting apparatus for transmitting upgrade information for upgrading first data, comprising:

data transmitting means for transmitting said first data;

classifying means for classifying second data of interest into one of classes, said second data of interest being included in second data generated by upgrading said first data;

acquiring means for acquiring the, upgrade information, which is set for each of the classes;

detecting means for detecting a predetermined event; and

upgrade-information transmitting means for transmitting the upgrade information when the predetermined event is detected.

2. A transmitting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said detecting means detects, as the predetermined event, a request sent from a receiving apparatus which receives said first data.

3. A transmitting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said detecting means detects, as the predetermined event, one of states in which said data transmitting means does not transmit said first data and in which said receiving apparatus which receives said first data is not receiving said first data.

4. A transmitting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said classifying means classifies said second data of interest based on said second data, and said second data is spatially or temporally close in position to said second data of interest.

5. A transmitting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said acquiring means acquires, as the upgrade information, a class code representing the class obtained by classifying said second data of interest by said classifying means.

6. A transmitting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said acquiring means acquires the upgrade information based on said second data of interest and said first data, and said first data is spatially or temporally close to a position corresponding to said second data of interest.

7. A transmitting apparatus according to claim 6, wherein:

said acquiring means comprises;

prediction-tap extracting means for extracting said first data as a prediction tap for use in predicting calculation for predicting said second data of interest, said first data being spatially or temporally close to a position corresponding to said second data of interest; and

tap-coefficient calculating means for calculating, for the classes, tap coefficients minimizing statistical error in predicted values of said second data which are calculated by performing predicting calculation using the prediction taps and predetermined tap coefficients; and

said acquiring means acquires the tap coefficients for classes as the upgrade information.

8. A transmitting apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said tap-coefficient calculating means calculates, for the classes, tap coefficients which minimize the square errors of predicted values obtained by linear first-degree predicting calculation using the prediction taps and the predetermined tap coefficients.

9. A transmitting apparatus according to claim 7, wherein, in said acquiring means, in addition to the tap coefficients for the classes, the class code obtained by classifying said second data of interest by said classifying means is also acquired as the upgrade information.

10. A transmitting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of said first data and said second data is picture data or audio data.

11. A transmitting method for transmitting upgrade information for upgrading first data, comprising:

a data transmitting step for transmitting said first data;

a classifying step for classifying second data of interest into one of classes, said second data of interest being included in second data generated by upgrading said first data;

an acquiring step for acquiring the upgrade information, which is set for each of the classes;

a detecting step for detecting a predetermined event; and

an upgrade-information transmitting step for transmitting the upgrade information when the predetermined event is detected.

12. A program for causing a computer to perform a transmitting process for transmitting upgrade information for upgrading first data, said program comprising:

a data transmitting step for transmitting said first data;

a classifying step for classifying second data of interest into one of classes, said second data of interest being included in second data generated by upgrading said first data;

an acquiring step for acquiring the upgrade information, which is set for each of the classes;

a detecting step for detecting a predetermined event; and

an upgrade-information transmitting step for transmitting the upgrade information when the predetermined event is detected.

13. A recording medium containing a program for causing a computer to perform a transmitting process for transmitting upgrade information for upgrading first data, said program comprising:

a data transmitting step for transmitting said first data;

a classifying step for classifying second data of interest into one of classes, said second data of interest being included in second data generated by upgrading said first data;

an acquiring step for acquiring the upgrade information, which is set for each of the classes;

a detecting step for detecting a predetermined event; and

an upgrade-information transmitting step for transmitting the upgrade information when the predetermined event is detected.

14. A receiving apparatus for receiving first data which is transmitted in identical form a plural number of times, and upgrade information for upgrading said first data, said receiving apparatus comprising:

data receiving means which receives the first data;

data storage means which stores the first data;

adding means which performs addition for weighting the first data stored in said data storage means and the first data received by said data receiving means, and which uses the resultant values of the addition as new first data to replace the first data stored in said data storage means;

quality-determining means which determines the quality of the new first data stored in said data storage means;

requesting means which, in accordance with the quality of the first data, requests the upgrade information, which is set for each of classes obtained by classifying second data generated by upgrading the first data;

upgrade-information receiving means which receives the upgrade information when the upgrade information is transmitted in response to the request by said requesting means; and

predicting means which, based on the first data stored in said data storage means and the upgrade information, calculates a predicted value of the second data which corresponds to the first data.

15. A receiving apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said quality-determining means calculates correlation between the first data stored in said data storage means and the new first data generated by said adding means, and determines the quality of the new first data based on the correlation between the first data and the new first data.

16. A receiving apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said quality-determining means calculates the auto-correlation of the new first data, and determines the quality of the new first data based on the auto-correlation of the new first data.

17. A receiving apparatus according, to claim 14, wherein, based on an external input, said quality-determining means determines the quality of the new first data.

18. A receiving apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said upgrade-information receiving means receives, as the upgrade information, a class code representing the class of the second data.

19. A receiving apparatus according to claim 18, further comprising tap-coefficient storage means which stores predetermined tap coefficients for the classes,

wherein said predicting means comprises:

prediction-tap extracting means which extracts the first data as a prediction tap for use in predicting calculation for predicting second data of interest included in the second data, and the first data is spatially or temporally close to a position corresponding to the second data of interest; and

predicting calculation means calculates a predicted value of the second data of interest by performing predicting calculation using the prediction taps, and the tap coefficients corresponding to the class code representing the class of the second data of interest.

20. A receiving apparatus according to claim 19, wherein said upgrade-information receiving means also receives, as the upgrade information, the tap coefficients for the classes.

21. A receiving apparatus according to claim 19, wherein said predicting calculation means calculates the predicted value of the second data of interest by performing linear first-degree predicting calculation using the prediction taps and the tap coefficients corresponding to the class code representing the class of the second data of interest.

22. A receiving apparatus according to claim 14, wherein each of the first data and the second data is picture data or audio data.

23. A receiving method for receiving first data which is transmitted in identical form a plural number of times, and upgrade information for upgrading said first data, said receiving method comprising:

a data receiving step which receives the first data;

a data storage means which stores the first data in data storage means;

an adding step which performs addition for weighting the first data stored in said data storage means and the first data received by said data receiving step, and which uses the resultant values of the addition as new first data to replace the first data stored in said data storage means;

a quality-determining step which determines the quality of the new first data stored in said data storage means;

a requesting step which, in accordance with the quality of the first data, requests the upgrade information, which is set for each of classes obtained by classifying second data generated by upgrading the first data;

an upgrade-information receiving step which receives the upgrade information when the upgrade information is transmitted in response to the request; and

a predicting step which, based on the first data stored in said data storage means and the upgrade information, calculates a predicted value of the second data which corresponds to the first data.

24. A program causing a computer to perform a receiving process for receiving first data which is transmitted in identical form a plural number of times and upgrade information for upgrading said first data, said program comprising:

a data receiving step which receives the first data;

a data storage means which stores the first data in data storage means;

an adding step which performs addition for weighting the first data stored in said data storage means and the first data received by said data receiving step, and which uses the resultant values of the addition as new first data to replace the first data stored in said data storage means;

a quality-determining step which determines the quality of the new first data stored in said data storage means;

a requesting step which, in accordance with the quality of the first data, requests the upgrade information, which is set for each of classes obtained by classifying second data generated by upgrading the first data;

an upgrade-information receiving step which receives the upgrade information when the upgrade information is transmitted in response to the request; and

a predicting step which, based on the first data stored in said data storage means and the upgrade information, calculates a predicted value of the second data which corresponds to the first data.

25. A recording medium containing a program causing a computer to perform a receiving process for receiving first data which is transmitted in identical form a plural number of times and upgrade information for upgrading said first data, said program comprising:

a data receiving step which receives the first data;

a data storage means which stores the first data in data storage means;

an adding step which performs addition for weighting the first data stored in said data storage means and the first data received by said data receiving step, and which uses the resultant values of the addition as new first data to replace the first data stored in said data storage means;

a quality-determining step which determines the quality of the new first data stored in said data storage means;

a requesting step which, in accordance with the quality of the first data, requests the upgrade information, which is set for each of classes obtained by classifying second data generated by upgrading the first data;

an upgrade-information receiving step which receives the upgrade information when the upgrade information is transmitted in response to the request; and

a predicting step which, based on the first data stored in said data storage means and the upgrade information, calculates a predicted value of the second data which correspond to the first data.

26. A transmitting/receiving system comprising:

a transmitting apparatus for transmitting first data and upgrade information for upgrading the first data; and

a receiving apparatus for receiving the first data and the upgrade information,

wherein;

said transmitting apparatus. comprises;

data transmitting means for transmitting said first data in identical form a plural number of times;

classifying means for classifying second data of interest into one of classes, said second data of interest being included in second data generated by upgrading said first data;

acquiring means for acquiring the upgrade information;

detecting means for detecting a predetermined event; and

upgrade-information transmitting means for transmitting the upgrade information when the predetermined event is detected; and

said receiving apparatus comprises;

data receiving means which receives the first data transmitted in identical form a plural number of times;

data storage means which stores the first data;

adding means which performs addition for weighting the first data stored in said data storage means and the first data received by said data receiving means, and which uses the resultant values of the addition as new first data to replace the first data stored in said data storage means;

quality-determining means which determines the quality of the new first data stored in said data storage means;

requesting means which requests the upgrade information in accordance with the quality of the first data;

upgrade-information receiving means which receives the upgrade information when the upgrade information is transmitted in response to the request by said requesting means; and

predicting means which, based on the first data stored in said data storage means and the upgrade information, calculates a predicted value of the second data which corresponds to the first data.

27. A receiving apparatus for receiving upgrade information for upgrading first data, comprising:

upgrade-information receiving means which receives the upgrade information;

upgrade-information storage means which stores the upgrade information;

upgrade-information updating means which finds new upgrade information based on said upgrade information received by said upgrade-information receiving means and said upgrade information stored in said upgrade-information storage means, and uses the new upgrade information to update said upgrade information stored in said upgrade-information storage means; and

predicting means which, based on said upgrade information stored in said upgrade-information storage means and the first data, calculates a predicted value of second data generated by upgrading the first data.

28. A receiving apparatus according to claim 27, wherein:

the upgrade information is a tap coefficient for use in predicting calculation using the first data; and

said upgrade-information updating means calculates a new tap coefficient to be used as the new tap coefficient by performing addition for weighting a tap coefficient as said upgrade information stored in said upgrade-information storage means and a tap coefficient received by said upgrade-information receiving means.

29. A receiving apparatus according to claim 28, wherein said predicting means comprises:

prediction-tap extracting means in which the first data is extracted as a prediction tap for use in predicting second data of interest which is included in the second data, and the first data is spatially or temporally close to a position corresponding to said second data of interest; and

predicting calculation means which calculates a predicted value of the second data of interest by performing predicting calculation using the prediction tap and the tap coefficients.

30. A receiving apparatus according to claim 29, wherein said predicting calculation means calculates the predicted value of the second data of interest by performing linear first-degree predicting calculation using the prediction taps and the tap coefficients.

31. A receiving apparatus according to claim 29, wherein:

said prediction means comprises;

class-tap extracting means in which the first data is extracted as a class tap for use in classifying second data of interest included in the second data, and the first data is spatially or temporally close to a position corresponding to the second data of interest; and

classifying means in which, based on the class taps, the second data of interest is classified into one of classes, and a class code representing the class is output;

the upgrade information is a tap coefficient for each of the classes; and

said predicting calculation means which calculates the predicted value of the second data of interest by performing predicting calculation using the prediction taps and the tap coefficient corresponding to the class code representing the second data of interest.

32. A receiving apparatus according to claim 27, wherein:

said predicting means calculates a predicted value of the second data by performing predicting calculation using the first data and predetermined tap coefficients;

said tap coefficients are used to minimize statistic error in predicted values obtained by predicting calculation using said predetermined tap coefficients and the first data; and

the upgrade information is information of an equation for calculating said predetermined tap coefficients for minimizing the statistic error.

33. A receiving apparatus according to claim 32, wherein:

said predetermined tap coefficients are used to minimize square error of the predicted values obtained by performing linear first-degree predicting calculation using the first data and said predetermined tap coefficients; and

the upgrade information is information of a normalization equation for calculating said predetermined tap coefficients for minimizing the square error.

34. A receiving apparatus according to claim 33, wherein said upgrade-information updating means finds information of a new normalization equation by adding the information of the normalization equation which is stored in said upgrade-information storage means and the information of the normalization equation which is received by said upgrade-information receiving means, and uses the found information to update the information of the normalization equation stored in said upgrade-information storage means.

35. A receiving apparatus according to claim 32, further comprising tap-coefficient calculating means which, based on the information of the equation stored in said upgrade-information storage means, the tap coefficients,

wherein said predicting means comprises:

prediction-tap extracting means in which the first data is extracted as a prediction tap for use in predicting the second data of interest included in the second data, and the first data is spatially or temporally close to a position corresponding to the second data of interest; and

predicting calculation means which calculates the predicted value of the second data of interest by performing predicting calculation using the prediction taps and the tap coefficients.

36. A receiving apparatus according to claim 35, wherein:

said predicting means comprises;

class-tap extracting means in which the first data is extracted as a class tap for use in classifying the second data of interest, and the first data is spatially or temporally close to a position corresponding to the second data of interest; and

classifying means which, based on the class taps, the second data of interest is classified into one of classes, and a class code representing the class is output;

said upgrade-information storage means stores the information of the equation for each of the classes;

said upgrade-information updating means finds new information of the equation;

said tap-coefficient calculating means finds the tap coefficients for the classes based on the information of the equation for the classes which is stored in said upgrade-information storage means; and

said predicting calculation means calculates the predicted value of the second data of interest by performing predicting calculation using the prediction taps. and the tap coefficients corresponding to the class code representing the class of the second of interest.

37. A receiving apparatus according to claim 36, wherein said predicting calculation means calculates the predicted value of the second data of interest by performing linear first-degree predicting calculation using the prediction taps and the tap coefficients.

38. A receiving apparatus according to claim 27, further comprising upgrade-information calculating means which calculates the upgrade information on the basis of input data, wherein said upgrade-information updating means finds new upgrade information based on the upgrade information stored in said upgrade-information storage means and the upgrade information calculated by said upgrade-information calculating means, and uses the new upgrade information to update the upgrade information stored in the upgrade-information storage means.

39. A receiving apparatus according to claim 27, wherein each of the first data and the second data is picture data or audio data.

40. A receiving method for receiving upgrade information for upgrading first data, comprising:

an upgrade-information receiving step which receives the upgrade information;

an upgrade-information storage step which stores the upgrade information in upgrade-information storage means for storing information;

an upgrade-information updating step which finds new upgrade information based on said upgrade information received by said upgrade-information receiving step and said upgrade information stored in said upgrade-information storage means, and uses the new upgrade information to update said upgrade information stored in said upgrade-information storage means; and

a predicting step which, based on said upgrade information stored in said upgrade-information storage means and the first data, finds a predicted value of second data generated by upgrading the first data.

41. A program causing a computer to perform a receiving process for receiving upgrade information for upgrading first data, said program comprising:

an upgrade-information receiving step which receives the upgrade information;

an upgrade-information storage step which stores the upgrade information in upgrade-information storage means for storing information;

an upgrade-information updating step which finds new upgrade information based on said upgrade information received by said upgrade-information receiving step and said upgrade information stored in said upgrade-information storage means, and uses the new upgrade information to update said upgrade information stored in said upgrade-information storage means; and

a predicting step which, based on said upgrade information stored in said upgrade-information storage means and the first data, finds a predicted value of second data generated by upgrading the first data.

42. A recording medium containing a program causing a computer to perform a receiving process for receiving upgrade information for upgrading first data, said program comprising:

an upgrade-information receiving step which receives the upgrade information;

an upgrade-information storage step which stores the upgrade information in upgrade-information storage means for storing information;

an upgrade-information updating step which finds new upgrade information based on said upgrade information received by said upgrade-information receiving step and said upgrade information stored in said upgrade-information storage means, and uses the new upgrade information to update said upgrade information stored in said upgrade-information storage means; and

a predicting step which, based on said upgrade information stored in said upgrade-information storage means and the first data, finds a predicted value of second data generated by upgrading the first data.

43. A transmitting/receiving system comprising:

at least one transmitting apparatus for transmitting upgrade information for upgrading first data; and

a receiving apparatus for receiving the upgrade information, wherein;

said at least one transmitting apparatus comprises;

upgrade-information calculating means which, based on the first data and second data generated by upgrading the first data, calculates the upgrade information; and

upgrade-information transmitting means which transmits the upgrade information;

said receiving apparatus comprises;

upgrade-information receiving means which receives the upgrade information;

upgrade-information storage means which stores the upgrade information;

upgrade-information updating means which finds new upgrade information based on the upgrade information stored in said upgrade-information storage means and the upgrade information calculated by said upgrade-information calculating means, and uses the new upgrade information to update the upgrade information stored in the upgrade-information storage means; and

predicting means which, based on the upgrade information stored in the upgrade-information storage means and the first data, finds a predicted value of the second data which corresponds to the first data.

44. A data processing system comprising:

an encoding apparatus which encodes data; and

a decoding apparatus which decodes the encoded data,

wherein;

said encoding apparatus comprises;

encoding means which encodes the data by using the encoding information required for encoding the data, and outputs the encoded data; and

encoding-information updating means which updates the encoding information by the encoded data; and

said decoding apparatus comprises;

decoding means which decodes the encoded data by using the decoding information required for decoding the encoded data; and

decoding-information updating means which updates the decoding information by using the encoded data.

45. An encoding apparatus for encoding data, comprising:

encoding means which encodes the data by using the encoding information required for encoding the data, and outputs the encoded data; and

encoding-information updating means which updates the encoding information by using the encoded data.

46. An encoding apparatus according to claim 45, further comprising:

encoding-information storage means which stores at least one piece of the encoding information; and

encoding-information selecting means which, from the at least one piece of the encoding information, selects encoding information for encoding the data by said encoding means,

wherein said encoding means encodes the data by using the encoding information selected by said encoding-information selecting means.

47. An encoding apparatus according to claim 46, further comprising transmitting means which transmits the encoded data,

wherein, based on a destination to which the encoded data is transmitted, said encoding-information selecting means selects the encoding information.

48. An encoding apparatus according to claim 46, wherein, based on an external input, said encoding-information selecting means selects the encoding information.

49. An encoding apparatus according to claim 46, wherein, based on a feature of the data, said encoding-information selecting means selects the encoding information.

50. An encoding apparatus according to claim 49, wherein:

the data is picture data; and

said encoding-information selecting means detects the picture represented by the picture data, and selects the encoding information based on the detected picture.

51. An encoding apparatus according to claim 45, wherein:

the encoding information is a codebook which is used for vector quantization and in which code vectors are correlated with codes representing the code vectors;

said encoding means comprises;

vector-quantization means which performs vector quantization on the data by using the codebook, and outputs corresponding codes among said codes;

vector-dequantization means which uses the codebook to perform vector dequantization on the codes output by said vector-quantization means, and outputs the dequantized data; and

differential calculation means which calculates a difference between the data and the dequantized data corresponding to the data, and outputs the differential data; and

the data and the differential data are output as the encoded data.

52. An encoding apparatus according to claim 51, wherein said encoding-information updating means updates the codebook based on:

a first frequency which is a frequency at which each of the codes is output up to the previous updating of the codebook in vector quantization on the data by using the codebook;

a second frequency which is a frequency at which each of the codes is output from the previous updating of the codebook to the present in vector quantization on the data by using the codebook; and

a summation of the differential data which is obtained from the previous updating of the codebook to the present in vector quantization on the data by using the codebook.

53. An encoding apparatus according to claim 51, further comprising vectorization means which, when the data is picture data, outputs picture vectors having, as components, the pixel levels of a plurality of pixels constituting the picture data,

wherein said vector quantization means performs vector quantization on the picture vectors.

54. An encoding apparatus according to claim 45, wherein the data is picture data or audio data.

55. An encoding method for encoding data, comprising:

an encoding step which encodes the data by using the

encoding information required for encoding the data, and outputs the encoded data; and

an encoding-information updating step which updates the encoding information by using the encoded data.

56. A program causing a computer to perform an encoding process for encoding data, said program comprising:

an encoding step which encodes the data by using the encoding information required for encoding the data, and outputs the encoded data; and

an encoding-information updating step which updates the encoding information by using the encoded data.

57. A recording medium containing a program causing a computer to perform an encoding process for encoding data, said program comprising:

an encoding step which encodes the data by using the encoding information required for encoding the data, and outputs the encoded data; and

an encoding-information updating step which updates the encoding information by using the encoded data.

58. A decoding apparatus for decoding encoded data generated by encoding data, comprising:

decoding means which decodes the encoded data by using the decoding information required for decoding the encoded data, and outputs the decoded data; and

decoding-information updating means which updates the decoding information by using the encoded data.

59. A decoding apparatus according to claim 58, further comprising:

decoding-information storage means which stores at least one piece of the decoding information; and

decoding-information selecting means which selects decoding information for decoding the encoded data from said at least one piece of the decoding information,

wherein said decoding means decodes the encoded data by using the decoding information selected by said decoding-information selecting means.

60. A decoding apparatus according to claim 59, further comprising receiving means which receives the encoded data,

wherein, based on a transmitting source of the encoded data, said decoding-information selecting means selects the decoding, information.

61. A decoding apparatus according to claim 59, wherein, based on an external input, said decoding-information selecting means selects the decoding information.

62. A decoding apparatus according to claim 59, wherein, based on a feature of the data, said decoding-information selecting means selects the decoding information.

63. A decoding apparatus according to claim 62, wherein:

the data is picture data; and

said decoding-information selecting means detects the picture represented by the picture data, and selects the decoding information based on the detected picture.

64. A decoding apparatus according to claim 58, wherein:

the decoding information is a codebook which is used for vector dequantization and in which code vectors are correlated with codes representing the code vectors;

the encoded data is differential data generated by performing vector dequantization on the codes obtained by performing vector quantization on the data and the code vectors corresponding thereto, and calculating the difference between the dequantized result and the data;

said decoding means comprises;

vector-dequantization means which uses the codebook to performs vector dequantization on a code in the encoded data, and outputs a code vector corresponding to the code; and

adding means which, by adding the code vector output by said vector-dequantization means the differential data in the encoded data, outputs decoded data generated by decoding the encoded data.

65. A decoding apparatus according to claim 64, wherein said decoding-information updating means updates the codebook based on:

a first frequency which is a frequency of each of the codes up to the previous updating of the codebook in vector dequantization using the codebook;

a second frequency which a frequency of each of the codes from the previous updating of the codebook to the present in vector dequantization using the codebook; and

a summation of the differential data for each of the codes from the previous updating of the codebook to the present in vector dequantization using the codebook.

66. A decoding apparatus according to claim 64, wherein:

the data is picture data; and

the codes in the encoded data are obtained by performing vector quantization on picture vectors having, as components, the pixel levels of a plurality of pixels constituting the picture data.

67. A decoding apparatus according to claim 58, further comprising:

error-detecting means which detects an error in the encoded data; and

error-correcting means which corrects the error in the encoded data.

68. A decoding apparatus according to claim 67, wherein:

the decoding information is a codebook which is used for vector dequantization and in which code vectors are correlated with codes representing the code vectors; and

said error-correcting means corrects the error in the encoded data by using the codebook.

69. A decoding apparatus according to claim 58, wherein the data is picture data or audio data.

70. A decoding method for decoding encoded data generated by encoding data, comprising:

a decoding step which decodes the encoded data by using the decoding information required for decoding the encoded data, and outputs the decoded data; and

a decoding-information updating means which updates the decoding information by using the encoded data.

71. A program causing a decoding process for decoding encoded data generated by encoding data, said program comprising:

a decoding step which decodes the encoded data by using the decoding information required for decoding the encoded data, and outputs the decoded data; and

a decoding-information updating means which updates the decoding information by using the encoded data.

72. A recording medium containing a program causing a decoding process for decoding encoded data generated by encoding data, said program comprising:

a decoding step which decodes the encoded data by using the decoding information required for decoding the encoded data, and outputs the decoded data; and

a decoding-information updating means which updates the decoding information by using the encoded data.