A method of encoding an image in a merge mode, the method including determining motion information of a current prediction unit, and generating a prediction block using the motion information; generating a residual block using an original block and the prediction block, transforming the residual block to generating a transformed block, quantizing the transformed block using a quantization parameter to generate a quantized block, and scanning the quantized block to entropy-code the quantized block; and encoding the motion information using effective spatial and temporal merge candidates of the current prediction unit. In addition, a motion vector of the temporal merge candidate is a motion vector of a temporal merge candidate within a temporal merge candidate picture, and the quantization parameter is encoded using an average of two effective quantization parameters among a left quantization parameter, an upper quantization parameter and a previous quantization parameter of a current coding unit, also when the quantized block is larger than a predetermined size, the quantized block is divided into a plurality of subblocks to be scanned, and a scan pattern for scanning the plurality of subblocks is the same as a scan pattern for scanning quantized coefficients within each subblock. Further, a scanning scheme for scanning the quantized coefficients is determined according to an intra-prediction mode and a size of a transform unit.

The present invention provides an image encoding apparatus carrying out inter-color prediction, comprising a residual block acquisition module obtaining a residual block with respect to a first color component and a residual block with respect to a second color component from a difference between an input block and a prediction block; an inter-color component prediction module carrying out inter-color component prediction by generating a residual signal reflecting a difference between a residual block with respect to the first color component and a residual block with respect to the second color component; a transform module generating a transformat coefficient by carrying out transformation with respect to the residual signal; a quantization module generating quantized data by carrying out quantization with respect to the transform coefficient; and an entropy encoding module carrying out entropy encoding by removing statistical redundancy of the quantized data.

The present invention provides an image encoding apparatus carrying out inter-color prediction, comprising a residual block acquisition module obtaining a residual block with respect to a first color component and a residual block with respect to a second color component from a difference between an input block and a prediction block; an inter-color component prediction module carrying out inter-color component prediction by generating a residual signal reflecting a difference between a residual block with respect to the first color component and a residual block with respect to the second color component; a transform module generating a transformat coefficient by carrying out transformation with respect to the residual signal; a quantization module generating quantized data by carrying out quantization with respect to the transform coefficient; and an entropy encoding module carrying out entropy encoding by removing statistical redundancy of the quantized data.

An encoding apparatus for encoding an image includes: a communicator configured to receive, from a device, device information related to the device; and a processor configured to encode the image by using image information of the image and the device information, wherein the processor is further configured to process the image according to at least one of the device information and the image information, determine a non-encoding region, a block-based encoding region, and a pixel-based encoding region of the image according to at least one of the device information and the image information, performs block-based encoding on the block-based encoding region by using a quantization parameter determined according to at least one of the device information and the image information, perform pixel-based encoding on the pixel-based encoding region, generates an encoded image by entropy encoding a symbol determined by the block-based encoding or the pixel-based encoding, and generate a bitstream comprising the encoded image, region information of the block-based encoding region and the pixel-based encoding region, and quantization information of the quantization parameter, and wherein the communicator is further configured to transmit the bitstream to the device.

Super-transform coding may include identifying a plurality of sub-blocks for prediction coding a current block, determining whether to encode the current block using a super-transform, and super-prediction coding the current block. Super-prediction coding may include generating a super-prediction block for the current block by generating a prediction block for each unpartitioned sub-block of the current block, generating a super-prediction block for each partitioned sub-block of the current block by super-prediction coding the sub-block, and including the prediction blocks and super-prediction blocks for the sub-blocks in a super-prediction block for the current block. Including the prediction blocks and super-prediction blocks for the sub-blocks in a super-prediction block for the current block may include filtering at least a portion of each prediction block and each super-prediction block based on a spatially adjacent prediction block. Super-transform coding may include transforming the super-prediction block for the current block using a corresponding super-transform.

Super-transform coding may include identifying a plurality of sub-blocks for prediction coding a current block, determining whether to encode the current block using a super-transform, and super-prediction coding the current block. Super-prediction coding may include generating a super-prediction block for the current block by generating a prediction block for each unpartitioned sub-block of the current block, generating a super-prediction block for each partitioned sub-block of the current block by super-prediction coding the sub-block, and including the prediction blocks and super-prediction blocks for the sub-blocks in a super-prediction block for the current block. Including the prediction blocks and super-prediction blocks for the sub-blocks in a super-prediction block for the current block may include filtering at least a portion of each prediction block and each super-prediction block based on a spatially adjacent prediction block. Super-transform coding may include transforming the super-prediction block for the current block using a corresponding super-transform.

Various innovations in media encoding are presented herein. In particular, the innovations can reduce the computational complexity of encoding by selectively skipping certain evaluation stages during encoding. For example, based on analysis of decisions made earlier in encoding or based on analysis of media to be encoded, an encoder can selectively skip evaluation of certain coding tools (such as residual coding or rate-distortion-optimized quantization), skip evaluation of certain values for parameters or settings (such as candidate unit sizes or transform sizes, or candidate partition patterns for motion compensation), and/or skip evaluation of certain coding modes (such as frequency transform skip mode) that are not expected to improve rate-distortion performance during encoding.

Various innovations in media encoding are presented herein. In particular, the innovations can reduce the computational complexity of encoding by selectively skipping certain evaluation stages during encoding. For example, based on analysis of decisions made earlier in encoding or based on analysis of media to be encoded, an encoder can selectively skip evaluation of certain coding tools (such as residual coding or rate-distortion-optimized quantization), skip evaluation of certain values for parameters or settings (such as candidate unit sizes or transform sizes, or candidate partition patterns for motion compensation), and/or skip evaluation of certain coding modes (such as frequency transform skip mode) that are not expected to improve rate-distortion performance during encoding.

The present invention relates to a method and device for sharing a candidate list. A method of generating a merging candidate list for a predictive block may include: producing, on the basis of a coding block including a predictive block on which a parallel merging process is performed, at least one of a spatial merging candidate and a temporal merging candidate of the predictive block; and generating a single merging candidate list for the coding block on the basis of the produced merging candidate. Thus, it is possible to increase processing speeds for coding and decoding by performing inter-picture prediction in parallel on a plurality of predictive blocks.

The present invention relates to a method and device for sharing a candidate list. A method of generating a merging candidate list for a predictive block may include: producing, on the basis of a coding block including a predictive block on which a parallel merging process is performed, at least one of a spatial merging candidate and a temporal merging candidate of the predictive block; and generating a single merging candidate list for the coding block on the basis of the produced merging candidate. Thus, it is possible to increase processing speeds for coding and decoding by performing inter-picture prediction in parallel on a plurality of predictive blocks.