JP2005176068A - Video distribution system and method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a moving image distribution system capable of distributing moving image data without causing a deterioration in image quality even when the moving image data divided by a plurality of devices is distributed even if it is a high definition image.
A moving image distribution system according to the present invention is a moving image distribution system that divides compressed moving image data temporally and spatially and distributes the data to a receiving device. As a set of a plurality of continuous frames, Image data segmenting means for dividing the source moving image data into a plurality of segments in time series, output means for sequentially transmitting the segments to the network in the order of division, and decoding the segments input via the network A transmission unit that spatially divides into segments, compresses the divided decoded sub-segments, and outputs the sub-segments to the network; and decodes the sub-segments input from a plurality of transmission units via the network And receiving means for synthesizing moving image data.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a moving image distribution system and method for distributing digital moving images.

In recent years, due to the processing speed of personal computers and the development of infrastructure including the Internet, moving image data is distributed to each home via a network, and is viewed by a personal computer, that is, moving image data as content is distributed. Much has been done.
However, when moving image data is transmitted through a network, a part of the moving image data being transmitted may be lost due to sudden deterioration of the communication state of the network, and this portion may not be received.

Even in such a case, as a method for obtaining a reproduced image that is comparable to the original image, the original image is transmitted after being divided into a plurality of data blocks in the spatial direction, and is divided after reception by the receiving device. Some data blocks are synthesized to reproduce the original image data (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
For the same purpose, a method of generating and transmitting a plurality of independent compressed data streams by thinning out original image data in units of frames can be considered. (For example, see Patent Document 1 2)
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-350004, “Data Transmitting Device, Data Receiving Device, Data Transmitting Method, and Data Receiving Method” Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-223437, “Moving Image Transmitting Device, Working Image Encoding Device, Moving Image Receiving Device, Moving Image Reproducing Device, and Moving Image Communication System”

Since the data transmission device described in Patent Document 1 described above divides moving image data into a plurality of blocks spatially and transmits the blocks in units of blocks, even if some data is lost, the data transmission device has a certain level of image quality. It is possible to play.
In addition, the moving image transmission apparatus described in Patent Document 2 also divides moving image data in units of frames to divide the moving image data in the time axis direction, and transmits each as an independent compressed data stream in units of streams. Even if some data is lost, it can be reproduced with a certain level of image quality.

However, when a plurality of data transmission devices of Patent Document 1 are used and the transcoding is performed in a distributed manner, if only one of the devices to be processed fails for some reason, the image quality will be improved. Has the disadvantage that it remains lowered.
On the other hand, when a plurality of data transmission devices described in Patent Document 2 are used and the transcoding is performed in a distributed manner, there is a drawback in that time division occurs when there is data loss when only time division is performed. ing.
Further, in the data transmission devices described in Patent Documents 1 and 2, when the moving image data to be transmitted has a very large data size such as HD (high definition) video, the time due to space division or frame thinning is used. When the direction division is used, it is necessary to increase the number of divisions, but this causes a reduction in the image quality of the reproduced image.

That is, as described above, the video compression efficiency decreases as the number of space divisions increases. Therefore, when trying to satisfy the same transfer rate, the compression rate is increased, the image quality is reduced, and the frame thinning interval is increased. Is expanded, inter-frame prediction used in a general moving image compression method cannot be sufficiently performed, and the quality of a reproduced image is deteriorated.
Furthermore, in the data transmission devices described in Patent Documents 1 and 2, it is necessary to provide a plurality of expensive distribution servers in order to transmit the divided moving image data, and a network construction for moving image data distribution is required. Requires a lot of funds.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and when distributing moving image data divided by a plurality of devices, even if the image is high-definition, the image quality is reduced without providing an expensive distribution server. It is an object of the present invention to provide a moving image distribution system and a method thereof that can distribute moving image data without causing an error.

  The moving image distribution system of the present invention is a moving image distribution system that divides compressed moving image data temporally and spatially and distributes it to a receiving device. Image data segmenting means for dividing the source moving image data into a plurality of segments, output means for sequentially transmitting the segments to the network in the order of division, and segments input via the network are decoded and spatially obtained as decoded segments A transmission unit that compresses the divided decoding sub-segment and outputs the sub-segment to the network; and the sub-segment input from the plurality of transmission units via the network is decoded into a segment; Receiving means for synthesizing moving image data.

  The moving image distribution system of the present invention is characterized in that each segment output from the image data segmenting means is converted into a compressed sub-segment by a plurality of transmitting means.

  In the moving image distribution system of the present invention, the image data segmentation means calculates the transmission means to be used and the number of segment and sub-segment divisions based on the transmission means information registered in advance, and divides into the transmission means to be used. A segment is transmitted, and information including the transmission means to be used and the number of segments and sub-segments is transmitted to the receiving means.

  The moving image distribution system of the present invention is characterized in that each of the transmission means assigned with the same segment compresses the sub-segment at the position designated by the reception means and outputs the compressed sub-segment.

  In the moving image distribution system of the present invention, the receiving unit decodes an input sub-segment and outputs a decoded sub-segment, and a space in which the decoded sub-segment is spatially synthesized to generate a decoded segment. And synthesizing means, and moving picture reproduction means for reproducing the decoded segments as decoded moving picture data by connecting the decoded segments in time series.

  The moving image distribution method of the present invention is a moving image distribution method in which compressed moving image data is divided temporally and spatially and distributed to a receiving device. As a set of a plurality of continuous frames, in time series, An image data segmentation process that divides source video data into a plurality of segments, a transmission process that sequentially transmits the segments to the network in the order of division, and a segment that is input via the network is decoded and spatially obtained as a decoded segment. And dividing the decoded sub-segment, and outputting the sub-segment to the network as a sub-segment, and decoding the plurality of sub-segments input via the network into segments, and moving image data And a receiving process for synthesizing.

  The moving image distribution method of the present invention is characterized in that, in the space division process, conversion into compressed sub-segments is performed for each segment by a plurality of transmission means.

  In the moving image distribution method of the present invention, in the image data segmentation process, the transmission means to be used and the number of segments and sub-segments are calculated based on the transmission means information registered in advance, and divided into the transmission means to be used. And transmitting information including the transmission means to be used and the number of segment and sub-segment divisions in the reception process.

  The moving image distribution method of the present invention is characterized in that each of the transmission means assigned with the same segment compresses a sub-segment at a specified position in the reception process and outputs the compressed sub-segment.

  In the moving image distribution method of the present invention, the receiving process includes a decoding process of decoding an input subsegment and outputting a decoded subsegment, and a space for spatially synthesizing the decoded subsegment to generate a decoded segment. And a moving picture reproduction process of reproducing the decoded segments as decoded moving picture data by connecting the decoded segments in time series.

According to the moving image distribution system of the present invention, since space division cannot be performed as it is compressed, it is once decoded by the transmission means and then spatially divided into sub-segments, and the non-encoded sub-segments are compressed again. A sub-segment is generated by (encoding), and this sub-segment is transmitted to the receiving means.
As a result, the moving image distribution system of the present invention can use both the segmentation in the time axis direction and the division in the spatial direction, and the moving image data is lost even in an unstable network environment such as a P2P network or a wireless network. By using the remaining sub-segments for the sub-segments, it is possible to restore with a certain level of quality, so that moving image data can be distributed without interruption.

  Further, according to the moving image distribution system of the present invention, the moving image data is segmented in the time axis direction, and transmission of each segment is performed from a plurality of transmitting devices, so that communication of any transmitting device is partially interrupted. Even in this case, by quickly switching to another transmission device, the reproduction quality can be recovered in units of segments, and the user requests existing compressed (encoded) moving image data even for high-definition images with high processing costs. It can be delivered in real time while transcoding to another compression (encoding) format.

  Furthermore, according to the moving image distribution system of the present invention, in the case of distributing on-demand moving image data using an in-house or individual PC (personal computer) group without using an expensive server, the time axis direction By performing segmentation in (time series) at the source distributor and dividing in the spatial direction by the transmission apparatus (in-house or personal PC group), the load on each transmission apparatus can be reduced, and an efficient apparatus Data transmission between the two systems is realized, and even when the transmission apparatus is in a communication environment with low uplink speed (such as ADSL), it is possible to distribute moving image data at a high bit rate as a whole system.

Hereinafter, a moving image distribution system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the embodiment.
In this figure, a source distributor 1 divides a compressed digital moving image data (hereinafter referred to as moving image data), which is a source, into a plurality of segments by segmenting in time series, and a plurality of segments are connected via a network I. Transmit to the transmitter 2. The segment here is performed as a predetermined number of GOPs based on the encoding unit, that is, in the case of MPEG, based on the GOP unit.

Here, the network I is an information communication network including a public information network, a dedicated information network, and the Internet.
The transmission device 2 decodes and spatially divides an input segment, generates / encodes (compresses) a plurality of subsegments, that is, performs transcoding processing in units of subsegments, and encodes in other formats. The compressed compressed sub-segment is transmitted to the transmission device 3 via the network I.
The receiving device 3 decodes the input compressed sub-segment, synthesizes the segments from the decoded sub-segments, joins the segments in the segmented order, and outputs them as reproduced moving image data.

In the present invention, the time-series image data (frame data) in the moving image data is divided into time-series by using a plurality of continuous frames as a unit (GOP unit), thereby dividing the moving image into segments. Indicated as “segment”.
Further, thinning out image data in units of frames and dividing it into a plurality of streams is referred to as “division by frame thinning”.
For example, if the moving image data is composed of still image data of frame numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,..., The data generated by the segment is “1, 2, 3”, “4”. , 5, 6 ”,..., While the data generated by the division by frame thinning is“ 1, 3, 5 ”,“ 2, 4, 6 ”,“.

Next, the configuration of the source distributor 1 will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the source distributor 1 of FIG.
The input unit 11 inputs the moving image data requested from the receiving device 1 from an external database and outputs it to the data segmenting unit 12.
The data segmentation unit 12 segments the moving image data into segments each having a designated number of frames as shown in FIG. 3 according to a division control signal from the division control unit 13 and outputs these segments to the transmission unit 14. To do.
The transmission unit 14 transmits each segment to the transmission device 2 configured by a server designated in advance or a personal computer installed in the home by a transmission control signal from the division control unit 13. Here, a plurality of transmission units 14 may be provided.

When the content request signal for requesting moving image data from the receiving device 3 is input, the division control unit 13 determines the transmission device 2 to be used, the segment, and the subsegment according to the device information of the transmitting device 2 registered in advance. And the division control signal including the number of segments to be segmented is output to the data segmentation unit 12.
Further, the division control unit 13 receives the division information including the transmission device used for transmitting the moving image data, the transmission device 2 that transmits the segments segmented in time series, and the number of sub-segment divisions. 3 is transmitted.

Here, the device information refers to the data processing speed, data transfer speed (network performance), past usage history (stability when used in the past, etc.), and the usage status of whether or not the transmission apparatus 2 is in a usable state. It contains information.
The division control unit 13 selects a predetermined number in descending order of stability, data transfer speed, and data processing speed corresponding to the volume of moving image data to be transmitted to the receiving apparatus 3 from the usable transmitting apparatus 2. The number of divisions for each segment and sub-segment is calculated based on the number.
Further, the division control unit 13 includes the above division number of the segment in the division control signal and outputs it to the data segmenting unit 12, and the data segmentation unit 12 segments the moving image data into segments corresponding to the division number.

Next, the configuration of the transmission device 2 will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of the transmission device 2 of FIG.
The decoder 21 decodes the input segment and outputs the decoded segment and the attached division number to the space division unit 22.
As shown in FIG. 3, the space division unit 22 divides the input decoded segment according to the number of subsegments attached, and outputs the plurality of divided decoded subsegments to the data selection unit 23.

This division is a spatial division, that is, a regional division. As an example of the present invention, each of all the frames constituting the segment has a pixel row as a block (region), and this block has a predetermined interval in the horizontal direction. By grouping each frame, a plurality of sub-segments each having a predetermined group are generated. Here, each group in the sub-segment is composed of blocks at the same position in all frames.
For example, as shown in FIG. 5, by selecting every other block in the horizontal direction in each frame (complementary thinning out in units of blocks), each frame is divided into two sub-segments consisting of complementary groups. To do.
The data selection unit 23 selects a decoding subsegment corresponding to the division position indicated by the designation signal from the receiving device 3 from the plurality of input decoding subsegments, and outputs the selected decoding subsegment to the encoder 24.

The encoder 24 encodes the input decoding sub-segment and transmits the re-encoded compressed sub-segment to the reception device 3 via the network I.
As described above, the transmission apparatus 2 according to the present embodiment once decodes the frame data encoded by the decoder 21 into a decoded uncompressed decoded segment, and divides it into decoded sub-segments. The decoding sub-segment is encoded by a different format to perform transcoding processing.

Next, the configuration of the receiving device 3 will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of the receiving device 3 in FIG.
The receiving device 3 includes a segment image restoration unit 31, a moving image reproduction unit 32, and a reception plan unit 33. The segment image decoding unit 31 includes a decoder 34 and a synthesis unit 35.
The decoder 34 decodes the input compressed subsegment and outputs it to the synthesis unit 35 as a decoded subsegment.
As shown in FIG. 7, the combining unit 35 uses the position correspondence table between the transmitting device 2 that has been transmitted stored in the reception planning unit 33 and the position of the decoded subsegment in the decoded segment to input the decoded subsegment. , Combining them at corresponding positions to generate a decoded segment.

As shown in FIG. 7, the moving image reproduction unit 32 converts the input segment to the time by the order correspondence table between the transmitted transmission device 2 stored in the reception plan unit 33 and the segmented order. The video data is reproduced and output in the order of series.
The reception planning unit 33 outputs a transmission request for moving image data requested by the user to the source distributor 1 when a reproduction request for moving image data (moving image content) input by the user is input.

Further, the reception planning unit 33 is based on the data field of the transmission device 2 used for distributing moving image data transmitted from the source distributor 1 and the order of segments transmitted to the transmission device 2. 2 and an order correspondence table of segment orders are generated.
Further, the reception planning unit 33 refers to the order correspondence table, extracts the transmission device 2 to which the same segment is transmitted, generates a group by these transmission devices 2, and within this group, the transmission device 2 And a position correspondence table indicating the relationship between the position of the decoding sub-segment to be compressed and the position of the decoding sub-segment to be compressed, and a designation signal indicating the division position of the decoding sub-segment to be compressed in the decoding segment. Output.

Next, an operation example of the embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 9. 8 and 9 are sequence diagrams showing an operation example of the moving image distribution system of FIG.
The reception planning unit 33 receives the moving image data reproduction request from the user (step S1), and distributes the requested moving image data to the source distributor 1 and a list of the transmission devices 2 that perform the distribution. A transmission request for requesting is transmitted (step S2).
Thereby, the input unit 11 reads out the moving image data requested by the transmission request from a predetermined database, and selects the transmission device 2 used for transmitting the moving image data based on the device information.

Further, the division control unit 13 sets the number of segments into which the moving image data is divided based on the number of selected transmission apparatuses 2.
For example, n transmission devices 2 are selected from the processing speeds and transfer speeds of the transmission devices 2 that can be used by the division control unit 13, and the amount of data that can be processed in each transmission device 2 from each processing speed. If it is determined that the moving image data needs to be segmented into n / 4 segments, the number of segments into which the moving image data is divided is n / 4.
Thereby, since the number of segments is n / 4 with respect to n units, the division control unit 13 calculates that four transmission apparatuses 2 are allocated per segment (step S3).

Then, the data segmentation unit 12 segments the moving image data into n / 4 segments in time series as shown in FIG. 3 under the control of the division control unit 13 (step S4).
The data segmentation unit 12 segments the moving image data on the time axis, transmits and deploys the same segment to the plurality of transmission apparatuses 2, divides the data into sub-segments by each transmission apparatus 2, and transmits the transmission apparatus 2. Since the moving image data is distributed by sequentially transmitting the sub-segments by switching, it is possible to reduce the influence of the failure of the transmission device 2 or the withdrawal of the network.

Next, each transmission unit 14 transmits and deploys each segment to the transmission device 2 designated by the division control unit 13 (step S5). At this time, each transmission unit 14 transmits the same segment to four different transmission apparatuses 2 under the control of the division control unit 13.
Further, the division control unit 13 generates a list of transmission devices 2 that arranges segments (transmission device list), and data (plan) indicating the order of each segment divided in time series and the correspondence of the transmission devices 2. Then, the data is transmitted to the receiving device 3 (step S6). At this time, steps S5 and S6 are performed in parallel processing.

Each transmitting device 2 receives a predetermined segment (step S7), and the receiving device 3 receives the transmitting device list and the plan, and generates an order correspondence table (step S8).
Next, the reception planning unit 33 sequentially requests the transmission apparatuses 2 in the transmission apparatus list to transmit compressed sub-segments based on the data in the order of the plan documents (Step S9).
At this time, the reception planning unit 33 designates which division position is output as a sub-segment to the transmission apparatus 2 that processes the same segment, and generates a position correspondence table.
In addition, when one decoder 34 in FIG. 6 is generated, stream data (subsegment) is smoothly received without interruption. Therefore, even if reception of the previously requested compressed subsegment is not completed, the next compressed subsegment is generated. A pre-buffering configuration that requires a segment may be provided in the preceding stage of the decoder 34.
Furthermore, only one segment image restoration unit 31 is provided, and the segment image restoration unit 31 sequentially receives the compressed sub-segments from the transmission device 2 in correspondence with the order in which the moving image data is segmented. Good.

Each transmitter 2 receives the request for the compressed sub-segment from the receiver 3 (step S10), and the decoder 21 decodes the deployed segment and outputs the decoded segment to the space division unit 22 (step S10). S11).
Next, the space division unit 22 performs a predetermined thinning process based on the attached number of divisions, and generates a decoding subsegment corresponding to the number of divisions.
At this time, even if the transmission apparatus 2 has not received the entire segment from the source distributor 1, as soon as the sub-segment transmission request is input from the reception apparatus 3, a decodable part of the segment is input. For example, decoding and division processing are performed.
Then, the data selection unit 23 extracts the decoded subsegment at the division position designated from the receiving device 3, and outputs the extracted decoded subsegment to the encoder 24 (step S12).

As a result, the encoder 24 encodes (compresses) the input decoding sub-segment in the format requested by the receiving device 3 (encoding format attached to the division position designation signal), and the user's request A compressed sub-segment of the encoding format to be generated is created (step S13), and this compressed sub-segment is transmitted to the receiving device 3 (step S14).
At this time, even if the entire decoding segment is not divided, the transmission device 2 transmits the encoded sub-segments to the reception device 3 in order from the encoded compressed sub-segment as soon as the sub-segment transmission request from the reception device 3 is input. .
Then, the decoder 34 decodes the input compressed subsegment and outputs it as a decoded subsegment (step S15).

Next, the synthesis unit 35 refers to the position correspondence table stored in the reception planning unit 33 with reference to the position correspondence table stored in the reception planning unit 33, and decodes the sub-segments input from the decoders 34 according to the corresponding positions as shown in FIG. The segments are combined to generate and output a decoded segment (step S16).
At this time, since it is divided in the spatial direction, even if the compressed sub-segment is lost during transmission, it is possible to reproduce the segment with a certain quality by the information of the remaining compressed sub-segments.
That is, when detecting that a certain compression subsegment is lost, for example, the combining unit 35 calculates an average value of pixel data (pixel gradation, etc.) on both sides adjacent to the lost compression subsegment, This average value is used as pixel data of the lost sub-segment.
Then, the moving image reproduction unit 32 refers to the decoded segments input from the segment image restoration units 31 with reference to the order correspondence table stored in the reception planning unit 33, as shown in FIG. The decoded moving image data (restored moving image) is reproduced and output by arranging the decoded segments in the segmented order (step S17).
The receiving device 3 displays the restored moving image on a display device (not shown) (step S18).

  1 is recorded on a computer-readable recording medium, and the program recorded on the recording medium is read into a computer system. Each process may be performed by executing a corresponding program in each device. Here, the “computer system” includes an OS and hardware such as peripheral devices. The “computer system” includes a WWW system having a homepage providing environment (or display environment). The “computer-readable recording medium” refers to a storage device such as a flexible medium, a magneto-optical disk, a portable medium such as a ROM and a CD-ROM, and a hard disk incorporated in a computer system. Further, the “computer-readable recording medium” refers to a volatile memory (RAM) in a computer system that becomes a server or a client when a program is transmitted via a network such as the Internet or a communication line such as a telephone line. In addition, those holding programs for a certain period of time are also included.

  The program may be transmitted from a computer system storing the program in a storage device or the like to another computer system via a transmission medium or by a transmission wave in the transmission medium. Here, the “transmission medium” for transmitting the program refers to a medium having a function of transmitting information, such as a network (communication network) such as the Internet or a communication line (communication line) such as a telephone line. The program may be for realizing a part of the functions described above. Furthermore, what can implement | achieve the function mentioned above in combination with the program already recorded on the computer system, and what is called a difference file (difference program) may be sufficient.

It is a block diagram which shows the example of 1 structure of the moving image delivery system of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows one structural example of the source distributor 1 of FIG. FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an operation of dividing moving image data in the source distributor 1 and the transmission device 2. It is a block diagram which shows one structural example of the transmitter 2 of FIG. It is a conceptual diagram explaining the process which divides | segments the segment in the transmitter 2 into a subsegment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a receiving device 3 in FIG. 1. 6 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an operation of combining moving image data in the receiving device 3. FIG. It is a sequence diagram explaining the operation example of the moving image delivery system of this invention. It is a sequence diagram explaining the operation example of the moving image delivery system of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Source distributor 2 ... Transmission apparatus 3 ... Reception apparatus 11 ... Input part 12 ... Data segmentation part 13 ... Division | segmentation control part 14 ... Transmission part 21,34 ... Decoder 22 ... Space division part 23 ... Data selection part 24 ... Encoder 31 ... Segment image restoration unit 32 ... moving image reproduction unit 33 ... reception planning unit 35 ... composition unit

Claims (10)

A moving image distribution system that divides compressed moving image data temporally and spatially and distributes it to a receiving device,
Image data segmenting means for dividing the source moving image data into a plurality of segments in a time series as a set of a plurality of continuous frames;
Output means for sequentially transmitting the segments to the network in the order of division;
Transmitting means for decoding a segment input via a network, spatially dividing the segment as a decoded segment, compressing the divided decoded sub-segment, and outputting the compressed sub-segment to the network;
A moving image distribution system comprising: a receiving unit that decodes the sub-segments input from the plurality of transmitting units via the network into segments and combines the moving image data.   2. The moving image distribution system according to claim 1, wherein each segment output from the image data segmentation means is converted into a compressed sub-segment by a plurality of transmission means.   The image data segmenting means calculates the transmission means to be used and the number of segments and sub-segments divided according to the transmission means information registered in advance, and transmits the segment to the transmission means to be used. 3. The moving image distribution system according to claim 2, wherein information including transmission means to be used and the number of segments and sub-segments is transmitted.   4. The moving image distribution system according to claim 3, wherein each of the transmission means assigned with the same segment compresses a sub-segment at a position designated by the reception means and outputs the compressed sub-segment. The receiving means is
Decoding means for decoding the input sub-segment and outputting the decoded sub-segment;
Spatial synthesis means for spatially synthesizing the decoded sub-segments to generate decoded segments;
5. The moving image distribution system according to claim 1, further comprising: moving image reproducing means for reproducing the decoded segments as decoded moving image data in time series in the division order. A moving image distribution method in which compressed moving image data is divided in time and space and distributed to a receiving device.
An image data segmentation process that divides source moving image data into a plurality of segments in a time series as a set of a plurality of continuous frames,
A transmission process of sequentially transmitting the segments to the network in the order of division;
A spatial division process of decoding a segment input via the network, spatially dividing the segment as a decoded segment, compressing the divided decoded sub-segment, and outputting to the network as a sub-segment;
A moving image distribution method comprising: a receiving step of decoding the plurality of sub-segments input via a network into segments and combining the moving image data.   7. The moving image distribution method according to claim 6, wherein, in the space division process, conversion into a compressed sub-segment is performed for each segment by a plurality of transmission units.   In the image data segmentation process, the transmission means to be used and the number of segments and sub-segments are calculated based on the transmission means information registered in advance, and the divided segments are transmitted to the transmission means to be used. 8. The moving image distribution method according to claim 7, wherein in the process, information including transmission means to be used and the number of segments and sub-segments is transmitted.   9. The moving image distribution method according to claim 8, wherein each of the transmission means assigned with the same segment compresses a sub-segment at a specified position in the reception process and outputs the compressed sub-segment. The receiving process is
A decoding process of decoding an input subsegment and outputting a decoded subsegment;
A spatial synthesis process for spatially synthesizing the decoded sub-segments to generate a decoded segment;
10. The moving image distribution method according to claim 6, further comprising: a moving image reproduction process of reproducing the decoded segments as decoded moving image data by connecting the decoded segments in time series. 10.

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