Abstract: In an image communication apparatus for communicating a color image with a distant apparatus according to the ITU-T recommendations upon line connection, an original image is read by a scanner unit, and the size of the read original image is identified. If the identified size of the original image is smaller than the page size defined by the ITU-U recommendation, image data is generated by reading the original image upon adding invalid data to the original image to make it have a main scanning length equal to the main scanning length of the minimum page size defined by the ITU-T recommendation in reading the original image through the scanner unit, and the image data is compressed by a JPEG compressing unit and transmitted. In this case, the valid image area of the compressed data is set in accordance with the size of the original image. This allows the receiving side to read only the valid image area, decode the valid image area, and reproduce the image.

Abstract: In video conference system terminals, the conventional difficulty in high-quality display of facial expressions of a plurality of participants is solved. In a multipoint connection device connecting a plurality of video conference terminals, image data transmitted from a terminal is decoded, and a face area in the image data is recognized. Then, quantization coefficients for the face area are set to be greater coefficients than those for other areas than the face area, then the image data is compressed, and delivered to the respective terminals. By this arrangement, in image data, a face area with great significance can be re-compressed without degradation of image quality, while an area with less significance such as background can be compressed with high efficiency. Thus, the total code amount can be reduced. Accordingly, even if the system uses a narrow band communication channel, the significant face area can be clearly displayed at the respective terminals.