# Is the incoming sample in a standard DPCM already quantized?

I began learning about DPCM and i've got one issue I am not sure about:

Is the incoming sample m[k] (see image for reference) already quantizied or not? I think it is but with an (assumed) very fine quanitization. So the Quantiser block is doing a requantization with a more coarse quantization, right?

Yes, in a practical setting, all the discrete-time samples in the DPCM block diagram that you've provided are quantized, however with different bit depths. The input sample $m[k]$ to the DPCM block is finely quantized (with high bit depth) while the output of the quantizer (which is the re-quantization of the difference between current sample and predicted current sample) is coarsley quantized, resulting in a bit rate reduction while maintainig the SNR quality of a finely quantized $m[k]$ sample. The bit rate reduction depends on the dynamical characteristics of the input signal and the quality of the predictor.

Note however that, from a dsp theory point of view, the input samples $m[k]$ can be assumed to take on a continuous range of amplitudes, hence unquantized yet.

No it is assumed that m[k] is not quantized, as the main purpose of DPCM is to quantize the difference between samples rather than quantize the whole samples.

ofcourse if m[k] is an image it must been quantized as the video sensor in any digital camera is a digital sensor by definition so it is doing some means of quantization.

Yes, the incoming sample is already digital (perhaps a more generic term than quantized), due to the meaning of PCM or Pulse-code modulation

Pulse-code modulation (PCM) is a method used to digitally represent sampled analog signals. It is the standard form of digital audio in computers, compact discs, digital telephony and other digital audio applications. In a PCM stream, the amplitude of the analog signal is sampled regularly at uniform intervals, and each sample is quantized to the nearest value within a range of digital steps.

Samples are most often coded with integers, possibly with some form of companding, but apparently floating point versions exist.