| CPC H04N 19/11 (2014.11) [H04N 19/119 (2014.11); H04N 19/176 (2014.11); H04N 19/593 (2014.11)] | 7 Claims |

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1. A video coding method for coding an image in units of blocks obtained by dividing the image, the method comprising a computer performing processing including:
dividing the image into blocks;
derives a target cost value that is a Rate-Distortion (RD) cost value of a target block that is a target block to be encoded, and a combined cost value obtained by dividing the target block into blocks having a predetermined size and adding a RD cost value of the divided blocks;
acquiring an intra-image prediction mode predicted for each of the blocks;
determining whether or not to combine a plurality of blocks with a combination pattern based on the intra-image prediction mode of a plurality of blocks adjacent to at least any one of the blocks;
when it is determined that the plurality of blocks is to be combined, performing prediction for each combined block;
outputs a size of the target block and the target cost value when the target cost value is equal to or less than the combined cost value;
when the target cost value exceeds the combined cost value, combines blocks of a target coding unit (CU); and
outputs a size of the combined block and a RD cost value for each of the combined blocks.
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