IMAGE ENCODING METHOD, IMAGE DECODING METHOD, IMAGE ENCODING APPARATUS, AND IMAGE DECODING APPARATUS

摘要

An image encoding method for hierarchically encoding an input image (153) includes a layer number determining step (S301) of determining a number of layers (161) for hierarchical encoding such that the number of layers (161) is less than or equal to a maximum number of layers determined according to a frame rate (151), and an encoding step (S302) of generating an encoded sequence (155) by hierarchically encoding said input image (153) with the determined number of layers (161).