ENCODING SYSTEM CAPABLE OF ACCOMPLISHING A HIGH EFFICIENCY BY ANTERIOR AND/OR POSTERIOR PROCESSING TO QUANTIZATION

In an encoding system responsive to a sequence of coefficient signals which results from a predetermined linear transform and which is divided into a sequence of blocks, anterior processing is carried out prior to quantization about the coefficient signals in each block to determine a significant area of the coefficient signals by comparing each level of the coefficient signals with a threshold level. Only the coefficient signals within the significant area are judged to be valid and produced as a sequence of significant coefficient signals from a classifying circuit (20) to be quantized by a quantizer (15) into a sequence of quantized signals. The quantized signal sequence is subjected to posterior processing to produce a sequence of encoded signals. The significant area may be decided by the use of a selected one of zone detection, zigzag scanning, and adaptive scanning. In the posterior processing, the quantized signals may be encoded into the encoded signals by the use of a plurality of code sets or tables.