VARIABLE RATE ENCODING METHOD, ENCODER AND DECODER

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To control the packet sending rate in response to the congestion of a network when performing communications using animation or audio on a packet network such as the Internet or Ethernet (R). SOLUTION: An information source is encoded by an encoding means 11, code words encoded by the encoding means 11 are temporarily stored by a buffer 12, and the code words are outputted at an applied service rate μ. The service rate μ is determined by a service speed determining means 16 while using either a target value λ of the service speed or a code word quantity (k) stored in the buffer 12, and an encoding parameter (v) required for determining an encoding rate in the case of encoding the information source by the encoding means 11 is determined by an encoding parameter determining means 15 while using any one of the target value λ of the service rate, the code word quantity (k) stored in the buffer and the service rate μ. COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO