Moving picture prediction method, moving picture coding method and apparatus, and moving picture decoding method and apparatus

1. An image decoding method for generating a predictive pixel value of a current picture to be decoded, using pixel values of two reference pictures, and decoding the current picture using the predictive pixel value, said method comprising:

a time information determination step of determining time information of a current picture, a first reference picture referred to by the current picture and a second reference picture referred to by the current picture;

a scaling parameter calculation step of calculating a scaling parameter based on a time distance between the first reference picture and a second reference picture;

a weighting coefficient determination step of determining two weighting coefficients based on the scaling parameter;

a predictive pixel value generation step of generating a predictive pixel value of the current picture by scaling a pixel value of the first reference picture and a pixel value of the second reference picture using the two weighting coefficients determined in said weighting coefficient determination step; and

a decoding step of decoding the current picture using the predictive pixel value calculated in said predictive pixel value generation step,

wherein the weighting coefficient determination step includes

(i) determining the two weighting coefficients to be a predetermined value of ½ in a case that a generation of the predictive pixel value cannot be performed within a predetermined significant bit number in said predictive pixel value generation step, and

(ii) determining the two weighting coefficients to be a value calculated using the scaling parameter in a case that the generation of the predictive pixel value can be performed within the predetermined significant bit number in said predictive pixel value generation step.

2. An image decoding apparatus for generating a predictive pixel value of a current picture to be decoded, using pixel values of two reference pictures, and decoding the current picture using the predictive pixel value, said apparatus comprising:

a time information determination unit operable to determine time information of a current picture, a first reference picture referred to by the current picture and a second reference picture referred to by the current picture;

a scaling parameter calculation unit operable to calculate a scaling parameter based on a time distance between the first reference picture and the second reference picture;

a weighting coefficient determination unit operable to determine two weighting coefficients based on the scaling parameter;

a predictive pixel value generation unit operable to generate a predictive pixel value of the current picture by scaling a pixel value of the first reference picture and a pixel value of the second reference picture using the two weighting coefficients determined by said weighting coefficient determination unit; and

a decoding unit operable to decode the current picture using the predictive pixel value calculated by said predictive pixel value generation unit,

wherein the weighting coefficient determination unit is operable to

(i) determine the two weighting coefficients to be a predetermined value of ½ in a case that a generation of the predictive pixel value cannot be performed within a predetermined significant bit number by said predictive pixel value generation unit, and

(ii) determine the two weighting coefficients to be a value calculated using the scaling parameter in a case that the generation of the predictive pixel value can be performed within the predetermined significant bit number by said predictive pixel value generation unit.

3. A non-transitory data recording medium on which a program for decoding an image signal is stored,

wherein the program causes a computer to execute the decoding using the image decoding method according to claim 1 .