Optical recording medium recording pixel data as a compressed unit data block

DETAILED DESCRIPTION It is the first object of the present invention to provide an image information encoding method which can eliminate the drawback (i.
e.
, the necessity to using large code tables) of MH codings, the drawback (i.
e.
, the necessity to read data twice) of arithmetic codings, and the drawback (i.
e.
, the inability to compress multi-color image data) of the flag-bit-attached run-length coding method (U.
S.
Pat.
No.
4,811,113) at a practical level.
It is the second object of the present invention to provide a decoding method of decoding data encoded in accordance with the first object.
It is the third object of the present invention to provide a compression/expansion system based on a combination of the encoding (compression) method and the decoding (expansion) method according to the first and second objects.
It is the fourth object of the present invention to provide a recording medium (e.
g.
, a two-sided high-density optical disk) on which information is recorded by the encoding method according to the first object.
It is the fifth object of the present invention to provide a device (e.
g.
, an integrated circuit) for performing signal processing based on the encoding method according to the first object.
It is the sixth object of the present invention to provide a device (e.
g.
, an integrated circuit) for performing signal processing based on the decoding method according to the second object.
It is the seventh object of the present invention to provide a recording apparatus for recording various pieces of information on a recording medium (e.
g.
, a two-sided high-density optical disk) by the encoding method according to the first object.
It is the eight object of the present invention to provide a playing back apparatus for playing back information recorded on the above recording medium by the decoding method according to the second object.
It is the ninth object of the present invention to provide a broadcasting/distributing system for broadcasting/distributing various pieces of information, which are compressed/encoded by the encoding method according to the first object, by radio or wire