IMAGE ENCODING METHOD, IMAGE ENCODING DEVICE, IMAGE DECODING METHOD, IMAGE DECODING DEVICE, AND IMAGE ENCODING/DECODING DEVICE.

摘要

This image encoding method includes: a decision step (S601) for deciding the maximum number of merge candidates; a first derivation step (S602) for deriving a plurality of first merge candidates on the basis of blocks that are spatially or temporally adjacent to a block to be encoded; a determination step (S604) for determining whether or not the number of the plurality of first merge candidates is less than the maximum number; a second derivation step (S605) for deriving a bidirectionally predicted second merge candidate by combining the plurality of first merge candidates when the number of the plurality of first merge candidates has been determined to be less than the maximum number; a selection step (S606) for selecting a merge candidate to be used in encoding the block to be encoded from among the plurality of first merge candidates and the second merge candidate; and an encoding step (S607) for using the decided maximum number to encode an index for specifying the selected merge candidate, and adding the encoded index to a bit stream.