IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD, ENCODER AND DECODER

An image processing method, an encoder, and a decoder are provided to allow an encoder to determine the processing order according to a predetermined rule and directly the order information to a decoder. A context generating unit(17) generates context information of each sub-block from an original image, which includes a plurality of sub-blocks before being coded, stored in a frame memory(11). A context encoding unit(12) encodes the context information and outputs a context bit string. An estimating unit(14) generates a predicted image with reference to the context information based on a reference image including sub-blocks after being coded, which are stored in the frame memory. A difference processing unit(15) generates certain coefficient information based on the difference between the original image and the predicted image. A coefficient encoding unit(16) encodes the coefficient information and outputs a coefficient bit string.