IMAGE DELIVERY SYSTEM, CAMERA TERMINAL, AND RECEIVING TERMINAL

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable images which are minuter than initially delivered images to be provided without increasing a bit volume steadily when the delivered images are re-sent. SOLUTION: Image signals A obtained through a camera 11 of a camera terminal 10 are encoded through both an encoder 12a at a high compression rate to generate a low-quality image bit stream BL which is fed to a switch 14 and an encoder 12b at a low compression rate to generate a high-quality image bit stream BH which is fed as a delayed high-quality image bit stream BH' to the switch 14 through the intermediary of a recording medium 13. Usually, the low-quality image bit stream BL is delivered to receiving terminals 20 through a network 30. When the images which are delivered already are requested to be resent from the receiving terminal 20, the switch 14 is switched by a system controller 23 to deliver the high-quality image bit stream BH' obtained through the recording medium 13 to the receiving terminal 20.