Television transmission system with differential encoding of transform coefficients

In a television transmission system for digital picture signals each picture is divided into sub-pictures of N×N picture elements for the purpose of limiting the bit rate. Each sub-picture is subjected to a two-dimensional forward transform to determine coefficients. These coefficients are converted into a series of serially occurring coefficients in which the AC coefficients in this series are arranged in such a way that the magnitude variation of these AC coefficients in the series is monotonous. The magnitudes of the AC coefficients thus arranged are subjected to a differential encoding so that the difference between the magnitudes of two successive AC coefficients is transmitted instead of the magnitude of the AC coefficients themselves.