Signal encoding and decoding method and device.

摘要

A method of encoding and decoding image and/or audio signals includes an encoding step comprising previously preparing a quantization table which has pairs of a sampling interval and a quantized difference value, calculating a difference value between a given initial value and a sampling point succeeding to the initial value, comparing the calculated difference value with the quantization table, and searching the most matching quantization level. The search is started from the sampling point immediately succeeding to the initial value and then stopped upon finding of the matching quantization level. The index of that matching quantization level is transmitted. The decoding step comprises preparing the same quantization table as used in the encoding step, determining the sampling interval and the quantized difference value based on the index received, and adding the quantized difference value to the initial value to obtain a decoded value. In case there are present two or more sampling intervals, the corresponding samples are interporated. As a result, the sampling interval is prolonged in the flat parts of signal and shortened in the steeply changing parts, thereby providing compression fit for human visual and auditory characteristics.