Improved Sub-Block-Based Motion Vector Prediction (SBTMVP)

Abstract

Systems, methods, and means for using sub-block-based temporal motion vector prediction (SbTMVP) are disclosed. A plurality of sub-block temporal motion vector predictor (SbTMVP) candidates may be determined (e.g., by a video encoding device and / or a decoding device). Each of the plurality of SbTMVP candidates may be obtained using a motion shift associated with an input candidate, and the input candidate may include a neighboring block of a current block. The plurality of SbTMVP candidates may be sorted based on template matching costs of the plurality of SbTMVP candidates. The current block may be processed (e.g., encoded and / or decoded) using one of the sorted plurality of SbTMVP candidates.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] (CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS) This application claims the benefit of European Provisional Patent Application No. 22305510.4, filed April 8, 2022, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. [Background technology]

[0002] Video coding systems may be used to compress digital video signals to, for example, reduce the storage and / or transmission bandwidth required for such signals. Video coding systems may include, for example, block-based, wavelet-based, and / or object-based systems. Summary of the Invention

[0003] A system, method, and means for using subblock-based temporal motion vector prediction (SbTMVP) are disclosed. A plurality of subblock temporal motion vector predictor (SbTMVP) candidates may be determined (e.g., by a video decoding device). Each of the plurality of SbTMVP candidates may be obtained using a motion shift associated with an input candidate, and the input candidate may include a neighboring block of a current block. The plurality of SbTMVP candidates may be sorted based on template matching costs of the plurality of SbTMVP candidates. The current block may be decoded using one of the sorted plurality of SbTMVP candidates.

[0004] The template matching cost may indicate a degree of accuracy in predicting the motion of the video content, and the multiple SbTMVP candidates may be sorted based on the template matching costs of the multiple SbTMVP candidates. The multiple SbTMVP candidates may be sorted based on the lowest template matching cost.

[0005] The input candidates may include one or more of the spatial neighborhood of the current block, a merge list, history-based motion vector predictors (HMVP), bidirectional motion vectors, or a zero motion vector.

[0006] A subset of the reordered SbTMVP candidates may be selected. One of the selected subset of the reordered SbTMVP candidates may be used to decode the current block.

[0007] A maximum number of seeds may be determined to be used to determine the multiple SbTMVP candidates. The multiple seeds may be determined according to the determined maximum number of input candidates. The multiple SbTMVP candidates may be reordered using adaptive reordering of merge candidates (ARMC). Based on a threshold, an SbTMVP candidate may be selected from the multiple SbTMVP candidates.

[0008] A flag may be received indicating the number of seeds. Based on the flag, a number of SbTMVP candidates may be determined, possibly based on the number of seeds.

[0009] A flag may be received indicating the use of the SbTMVP ARMC process. Based on the flag, multiple SbTMVP candidates may be reordered using ARMC. Neighboring blocks of the current block may have motion vectors that use the co-located picture as a reference picture.

[0010] A system, method, and means for using sub-block-based temporal motion vector prediction (SbTMVP) are disclosed. A plurality of sub-block temporal motion vector predictor (SbTMVP) candidates may be determined (e.g., by a video encoding device). Each of the plurality of SbTMVP candidates may be obtained using a motion shift associated with an input candidate, and the input candidate may include a neighboring block of a current block. The plurality of SbTMVP candidates may be sorted based on template matching costs of the plurality of SbTMVP candidates. The current block may be encoded using one of the sorted plurality of SbTMVP candidates.

[0011] The template matching cost may indicate a degree of accuracy in predicting the motion of the video content, and the multiple SbTMVP candidates may be sorted based on the template matching costs of the multiple SbTMVP candidates. The multiple SbTMVP candidates may be sorted based on the lowest template matching cost.

[0012] The input candidates may include one or more of the spatial neighborhood of the current block, a merge list, a history-based motion vector predictor (HMVP), a bidirectional motion vector, or a zero motion vector.

[0013] A subset of the reordered SbTMVP candidates may be selected. One of the selected subset of the reordered SbTMVP candidates may be used to encode the current block.

[0014] A maximum number of seeds may be determined to be used to determine the multiple SbTMVP candidates. The multiple seeds may be determined according to the determined maximum number of input candidates. The multiple SbTMVP candidates may be sorted using adaptive sorting of merge candidates (ARMC). Based on a threshold, an SbTMVP candidate may be selected from the multiple SbTMVP candidates.

[0015] The multiple SbTMVP candidates may be determined based on the number of seeds. A flag indicating the number of seeds may be included in the video data. The multiple SbTMVP candidates may be sorted using the ARMC. A flag indicating the use of the SbTMVP ARMC process may be included in the video data.

[0016] Neighboring blocks of the current block may have motion vectors that use the co-located picture as a reference picture.

[0017] The systems, methods, and means described herein may involve a decoder. In some embodiments, the systems, methods, and means described herein may involve an encoder. In some embodiments, the systems, methods, and means described herein may involve a signal (e.g., from an encoder and / or received by a decoder). A computer-readable medium may include instructions for causing one or more processors to perform the methods described herein. A computer program product may include instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, may cause the one or more processors to perform the methods described herein. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0018] [Figure 1A] FIG. 1 is a system diagram illustrating an example communication system in which one or more disclosed embodiments may be implemented. [Figure 1B] 1 is a system diagram illustrating an example wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU) that may be used within the communications system illustrated in FIG. 1A, according to one embodiment. [Figure 1C] FIG. 1B is a system diagram illustrating an example radio access network (RAN) and an example core network (CN) that may be used within the communication system illustrated in FIG. 1A, according to one embodiment. [Figure 1D]FIG. 1B is a system diagram illustrating a further exemplary RAN and a further exemplary CN that may be used within the communication system illustrated in FIG. 1A, according to one embodiment. [Diagram 2] 1 illustrates an exemplary video encoder. [Diagram 3] 1 illustrates an exemplary video decoder. [Figure 4] 1 illustrates an example of a system in which various aspects and embodiments may be implemented. [Diagram 5] 1 illustrates an example spatial neighboring block (eg, A1) that may be used by sub-block-based motion vector prediction (SbTMVP). [Figure 6] Illustrates an example method and / or process for deriving a sub-coding unit (sub-CU) motion field by applying a motion shift from a spatial neighbor and scaling motion information from a corresponding co-located sub-CU. [Figure 7] 1 illustrates an example template and reference samples for the template in one or more reference pictures. [Figure 8] 1 illustrates an example template and reference samples of the template for a block with sub-block motion using sub-block motion information of a current block. [Figure 9] Illustrates a method and / or process of motion shift design. [Figure 10] For example, it illustrates a method and / or process that may be used to add a top spatial neighbor when the left spatial neighbor does not respect one or more parameters. [Figure 11] For example, this illustrates another method and / or process that may be used to add a top spatial neighbor when the left spatial neighbor does not respect one or more parameters. [Figure 12] Illustrates a method and / or process of motion shift design (eg, simplified motion shift design). [Figure 13] 1 illustrates an exemplary template that may correspond to SbTMVP. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0019] A more detailed understanding may be had from the following description, given by way of example in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0020] 1A is a diagram illustrating an example communications system 100 in which one or more disclosed embodiments may be implemented. Communications system 100 may be a multiple access system that provides content, such as voice, data, video, messaging, broadcasts, etc., to multiple wireless users. Communications system 100 may enable multiple wireless users to access such content through sharing of system resources, including wireless bandwidth. For example, the communications system 100 may use one or more channel access methods, such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA), zero-tail unique-word DFT-Spread OFDM (ZT UW DTS-s OFDM), unique word OFDM (UW-OFDM), resource block filtered OFDM, filter bank multicarrier (FBMC), etc.

[0021] 1A, communications system 100 may include wireless transmit / receive units (WTRUs) 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d, RAN 104 / 113, CN 106 / 115, public switched telephone network (PSTN) 108, Internet 110, and other networks 112, although it will be understood that the disclosed embodiments contemplate any number of WTRUs, base stations, networks, and / or network elements. Each of WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d may be any type of device configured to operate and / or communicate in a wireless environment. By way of example, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d, any of which may be referred to as a “station” and / or “STA,” may be configured to transmit and / or receive wireless signals and may include user equipment (UE), mobile stations, fixed or mobile subscriber units, subscription-based units, wireless paging, mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), smartphones, laptops, netbooks, personal computers, wireless sensors, hotspots or Mi-Fi devices, Internet of Things (loT) devices, watches or other wearable head-mounted displays (HMDs), vehicles, drones, medical devices and applications (e.g., for remote surgery), industrial devices and applications (e.g., robots and / or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and / or automated processing chain context), consumer electronics devices, devices operating in commercial and / or industrial wireless networks, and the like. Any of the UEs 102a, 102b, 102c, and 102d may be referred to interchangeably as a WTRU.

[0022] The communication system 100 may also include a base station 114a and / or a base station 114b. Each of the base stations 114a, 114b may be any type of device configured to wirelessly interface with at least one of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d to facilitate access to one or more communication networks, such as the CN 106 / 115, the Internet 110, and / or other networks 112. By way of example, the base stations 114a, 114b may be a base station transceiver station (BTS), a Node B, an eNode B, a Home Node B, a Home eNode B, a gNB, an NR Node B, a site controller, an access point (AP), a wireless router, etc. Although the base stations 114a, 114b are each depicted as a single element, it will be understood that the base stations 114a, 114b may include any number of interconnected base stations and / or network elements.

[0023] The base station 114a may be part of the RAN 104 / 113, which may also include other base stations and / or network elements (not shown), such as a base station controller (BSC), a radio network controller (RNC), a relay node, etc. The base station 114a and / or the base station 114b may be configured to transmit and / or receive wireless signals on one or more carrier frequencies, which may be referred to as cells (not shown). These frequencies may be licensed spectrum, unlicensed spectrum, or a combination of licensed and unlicensed spectrum. A cell may provide wireless service coverage for a specific geographic area, which may be relatively fixed or may change over time. A cell may be further divided into cell sectors. For example, the cell associated with the base station 114a may be divided into three sectors. Thus, in one embodiment, the base station 114a may include three transceivers, i.e., one transceiver for each sector of the cell. In one embodiment, the base station 114a may employ multiple-input multiple output (MIMO) technology and may utilize multiple transceivers for each sector of the cell, for example, using beamforming to transmit and / or receive signals in a desired spatial direction.

[0024] The base stations 114a, 114b may communicate with one or more of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d via an air interface 116, which may be any suitable wireless communication link (e.g., radio frequency (RF), microwave, centimeter wave, micrometer wave, infrared (IR), ultraviolet (UV), visible light, etc.). The air interface 116 may be established using any suitable radio access technology (RAT).

[0025] More specifically, as noted above, the communications system 100 may be a multiple access system, but may use one or more channel access schemes, such as CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA, etc. For example, the base stations 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c in the RAN 104 / 113 may implement a radio technology, such as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), which may establish the air interface 115 / 116 / 117 using wideband CDMA (WCDMA). WCDMA may include communications protocols, such as High-Speed ​​Packet Access (HSPA) and / or Evolved HSPA (HSPA+). HSPA may include High-Speed ​​Downlink (DL) Packet Access (HSDPA) and / or High-Speed ​​Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA).

[0026] In one embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA), which may establish the air interface 116 using Long Term Evolution (LTE) and / or LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) and / or LTE-Advanced Pro (LTE-A Pro).

[0027] In one embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology, such as New Radio (NR) radio access, which may establish the air interface 116 using NR technology.

[0028] In one embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement multiple radio access technologies. For example, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement LTE radio access and NR radio access together, e.g., using dual connectivity (DC) principles. Thus, the air interface utilized by the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may be characterized by multiple types of radio access technologies and / or transmissions transmitted to / from multiple types of base stations (e.g., eNBs and gNBs).

[0029] In other embodiments, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a wireless technology such as IEEE 802.11 (i.e., Wireless Fidelity, WiFi), IEEE 802.16 (i.e., Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, WiMAX), CDMA2000, CDMA2000 1X, CDMA2000 EV-DO, Interim Standard 2000 (IS-2000), Interim Standard 95 (IS-95), Interim Standard 856 (IS-856), Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), GSM EDGE (GERAN), or the like.

[0030] 1A may be, for example, a wireless router, a Home NodeB, a Home eNodeB, or an access point, and may utilize any suitable RAT to facilitate wireless connectivity in a localized area, such as an office, a home, a vehicle, a campus, an industrial facility, an air corridor (e.g., for use by drones), a road, etc. In one embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may implement a radio technology, such as IEEE 802.11, to establish a wireless local area network (WLAN). In one embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may implement a radio technology, such as IEEE 802.15, to establish a wireless personal area network (WPAN). In yet another embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may establish a picocell or a femtocell using a cellular-based RAT (e.g., WCDMA, CDMA2000, GSM, LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, NR, etc.). As shown in FIG. 1A, the base station 114b may have a direct connection to the Internet 110. Thus, the base station 114b may not need to access the Internet 110 via the CN 106 / 115.

[0031] The RAN 104 / 113 may communicate with the CN 106 / 115, which may be any type of network configured to provide voice, data, application, and / or voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services to one or more of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d. The data may have various quality of service (QoS) requirements, such as, for example, different throughput requirements, latency requirements, error tolerance requirements, reliability requirements, data throughput requirements, mobility requirements, etc. The CN 106 / 115 may provide call control, billing services, mobile location-based services, prepaid calling, Internet connectivity, video distribution, etc., and / or perform high level security functions such as user authentication. Although not shown in FIG. 1A, it will be understood that the RAN 104 / 113 and / or the CN 106 / 115 may communicate directly or indirectly with other RANs that use the same RAT as the RAN 104 / 113 or a different RAT. For example, in addition to being connected to the RAN 104 / 113, which may utilize NR radio technology, the CN 106 / 115 may also communicate with another RAN (not shown) using GSM, UMTS, CDMA2000, WiMAX, E-UTRA, or WiFi radio technology.

[0032] The CN 106 / 115 may also act as a gateway for the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d to access the PSTN 108, the Internet 110, and / or other networks 112. The PSTN 108 may include a circuit-switched telephone network providing plain old telephone service (POTS). The Internet 110 may include a global system of interconnected computer networks and devices that use common communication protocols, such as the transmission control protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP), and / or the internet protocol (IP) of the TCP / IP Internet protocol suite. The networks 112 may include wired and / or wireless communication networks owned and / or operated by other service providers. For example, the networks 112 may include another CN connected to one or more RANs, which may use the same RAT as the RANs 104 / 113 or a different RAT.

[0033] Some or all of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d in the communications system 100 may include multi-mode capabilities (e.g., the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d may include multiple transceivers for communicating with different wireless networks over different wireless links). For example, the WTRU 102c shown in FIG. 1A may be configured to communicate with a base station 114a, which may employ a cellular-based wireless technology, and a base station 114b, which may employ an IEEE 802 wireless technology.

[0034] Figure 1B is a system diagram illustrating an example WTRU 102. As shown in Figure 1B, the WTRU 102 may include, among other things, a processor 118, a transceiver 120, a transmit / receive element 122, a speaker / microphone 124, a keypad 126, a display / touchpad 128, non-removable memory 130, removable memory 132, a power source 134, a global positioning system (GPS) chipset 136, and / or other peripherals 138. It will be understood that the WTRU 102 may include any sub-combination of the foregoing elements while remaining consistent with an embodiment.

[0035] The processor 118 may be a general purpose processor, a special purpose processor, a conventional processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors associated with a DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) circuit, any other type of integrated circuit (IC), a state machine, etc. The processor 118 may perform signal coding, data processing, power control, input / output processing, and / or any other functionality that enables the WTRU 102 to operate in a wireless environment. The processor 118 may be coupled to the transceiver 120, which may be coupled to the transmit / receive element 122. Although FIG. 1B depicts the processor 118 and the transceiver 120 as separate components, it will be understood that the processor 118 and the transceiver 120 may be integrated together in an electronic package or chip.

[0036] The transmit / receive element 122 may be configured to transmit or receive signals to or from a base station (e.g., base station 114a) over the air interface 116. For example, in one embodiment, the transmit / receive element 122 may be an antenna configured to transmit and / or receive RF signals. In one embodiment, the transmit / receive element 122 may be an emitter / detector configured to transmit and / or receive IR, UV, or visible light signals, for example. In yet another embodiment, the transmit / receive element 122 may be configured to transmit and / or receive both RF and light signals. It will be appreciated that the transmit / receive element 122 may be configured to transmit and / or receive any combination of wireless signals.

[0037] 1B as a single element, the WTRU 102 may include any number of transmit / receive elements 122. More specifically, the WTRU 102 may employ MIMO technology. Thus, in one embodiment, the WTRU 102 may include two or more transmit / receive elements 122 (e.g., multiple antennas) for transmitting and receiving wireless signals over the air interface 116.

[0038] The transceiver 120 may be configured to modulate signals transmitted by the transmit / receive element 122 and demodulate signals received by the transmit / receive element 122. As mentioned above, the WTRU 102 may have multi-mode capabilities. Thus, the transceiver 120 may include multiple transceivers to enable the WTRU 102 to communicate via multiple RATs, such as, for example, NR and IEEE 802.11.

[0039] The processor 118 of the WTRU 102 may be coupled to and may receive user-entered data from a speaker / microphone 124, a keypad 126, and / or a display / touchpad 128 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) display unit or an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display unit). The processor 118 may also output user data to the speaker / microphone 124, the keypad 126, and / or the display / touchpad 128. In addition, the processor 118 may access information from and store data in any type of suitable memory, such as non-removable memory 130 and / or removable memory 132. The non-removable memory 130 may include random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), a hard disk, or any other type of memory storage device. The removable memory 132 may include a subscriber identity module (SIM) card, a memory stick, a secure digital (SD) memory card, etc. In other embodiments, the processor 118 may access information from and store data in memory that is not physically located on the WTRU 102, such as on a server or home computer (not shown).

[0040] The processor 118 may receive power from the power source 134 and may be configured to distribute and / or control the power to other components in the WTRU 102. The power source 134 may be any suitable device for providing power to the WTRU 102. For example, the power source 134 may include one or more dry batteries (e.g., nickel-cadmium (NiCd), nickel-zinc (NiZn), nickel metal hydride (NiMH), lithium-ion (Li-ion), etc.), solar cells, fuel cells, etc.

[0041] The processor 118 may also be coupled to a GPS chipset 136, which may be configured to provide location information (e.g., longitude and latitude) regarding the current location of the WTRU 102. In addition to, or in lieu of, information from the GPS chipset 136, the WTRU 102 may receive location information from a base station (e.g., base stations 114a, 114b) over the air interface 116 and / or determine its location based on the timing of signals received from two or more nearby base stations. It will be appreciated that the WTRU 102 may obtain location information by way of any suitable position determination method while remaining consistent with an embodiment.

[0042] The processor 118 may further be coupled to other peripherals 138, which may include one or more software and / or hardware modules that provide additional features, functionality, and / or wired or wireless connectivity. For example, the peripherals 138 may include an accelerometer, an electronic compass, a satellite transceiver, a digital camera (for photos and / or videos), a universal serial bus (USB) port, a vibration device, a television transceiver, a hands-free headset, a Bluetooth® module, a frequency modulated (FM) radio unit, a digital music player, a media player, a video game player module, an Internet browser, a virtual reality and / or augmented reality (VR / AR) device, an activity tracker, and the like. The peripherals 138 may include one or more sensors, which may be one or more of a gyroscope, an accelerometer, a Hall effect sensor, a magnetometer, an orientation sensor, a proximity sensor, a temperature sensor, a time sensor, a geolocation sensor, an altimeter, a light sensor, a touch sensor, a magnetometer, a barometer, a gesture sensor, a biometric sensor, and / or a humidity sensor.

[0043] The WTRU 102 may include a full-duplex radio where transmission and reception of some or all of the signals associated with a particular subframe (e.g., for both the UL (e.g., for transmission) and the downlink (e.g., for reception) may be parallel and / or simultaneous. The full-duplex radio may include an interference management unit to reduce and or substantially eliminate self-interference via either hardware (e.g., a choke) or signal processing via a processor (e.g., via a separate processor (not shown) or via the processor 118). In one embodiment, the WRTU 102 may include a half-duplex radio for transmission and reception of either some or all of the signals (e.g., associated with a particular subframe for either the UL (e.g., for transmission) or the downlink (e.g., for reception)).

[0044] 1C is a system diagram illustrating the RAN 104 and the CN 106, according to one embodiment. As mentioned above, the RAN 104 may employ E-UTRA radio technology to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. The RAN 104 may also communicate with the CN 106.

[0045] The RAN 104 may include eNodeBs 160a, 160b, 160c, although it will be understood that the RAN 104 may include any number of eNodeBs while remaining consistent with an embodiment. The eNodeBs 160a, 160b, 160c may each include one or more transceivers for communicating with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. In an embodiment, the eNodeBs 160a, 160b, 160c may implement MIMO technology. Thus, the eNodeB 160a may, for example, use multiple antennas to transmit wireless signals to and / or receive wireless signals from the WTRU 102a.

[0046] Each of the eNodeBs 160a, 160b, 160c may be associated with a particular cell (not shown) and may be configured to handle radio resource management decisions, handover decisions, scheduling of users in the UL and / or DL, etc. As shown in FIG 1C, the eNodeBs 160a, 160b, 160c may communicate with one another via an X2 interface.

[0047] 1C may include a mobility management entity (MME) 162, a serving gateway (SGW) 164, and a packet data network (PDN) gateway (or PGW) 166. Although each of the foregoing elements is depicted as part of the CN 106, it will be understood that any of these elements may be owned and / or operated by an entity other than the CN operator.

[0048] The MME 162 may be connected to each of the eNodeBs 162a, 162b, 162c in the RAN 104 via an S1 interface and may function as a control node. For example, the MME 162 may be responsible for authenticating users of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, activating / deactivating bearers, selecting a particular serving gateway during initial attachment of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, etc. The MME 162 may provide a control plane function for switching between the RAN 104 and other RANs (not shown) that employ other radio technologies, such as GSM and / or WCDMA.

[0049] The SGW 164 may be connected to each of the eNodeBs 160a, 160b, 160c in the RAN 104 via an S1 interface. The SGW 164 may generally route and forward user data packets to and from the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c. The SGW 164 may perform other functions, such as anchoring the user plane during inter-eNodeB handover, triggering paging when DL data is available to the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and managing and storing the context of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c.

[0050] The SGW 164 may be connected to a PGW 166, which may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to packet-switched networks, such as the Internet 110, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and IP-enabled devices.

[0051] The CN 106 may facilitate communications with other networks. For example, the CN 106 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to circuit-switched networks, such as the PSTN 108, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and traditional land-line communications devices. For example, the CN 106 may include or communicate with an IP gateway (e.g., an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) server) that serves as an interface between the CN 106 and the PSTN 108. In addition, the CN 106 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to other networks 112, which may include other wired and / or wireless networks owned and / or operated by other service providers.

[0052] Although the WTRU is illustrated in FIGS. 1A-1D as a wireless terminal, it is contemplated that in certain representative embodiments such a terminal may use a wired communications interface (e.g., temporarily or permanently) with the communications network.

[0053] In an exemplary embodiment, the other network 112 may be a WLAN.

[0054] A WLAN in infrastructure Basic Service Set (BSS) mode may have an Access Point (AP) of the BSS and one or more stations (STAs) associated with the AP. The AP may have access or interface to a Distribution System (DS) or another type of wired / wireless network that carries traffic into and / or out of the BSS. Traffic originating from outside the BSS to the STA may arrive through the AP and be delivered to the STA. Traffic originating from the STA to a destination outside the BSS may be sent to the AP to be delivered to the respective destination. Traffic between STAs within the BSS may be sent, for example, through the AP, where the source STA may send traffic to the AP, which may deliver the traffic to the destination STA. Traffic between STAs within the BSS may be considered and / or referred to as peer-to-peer traffic. Peer-to-peer traffic may be sent between (e.g., directly between) the source STA and the destination STA using a direct link setup (DLS). In certain representative embodiments, the DLS may use 802.11e DLS or 802.11z tunneled DLS (TDLS). A WLAN using an Independent BSS (IBSS) mode may not have an AP, and STAs (e.g., all of the STAs) within or using the IBSS may communicate directly with each other. The IBSS mode of communication may be referred to herein as an "ad-hoc" communication mode.

[0055] When using an 802.11ac infrastructure mode of operation or a similar mode of operation, an AP may transmit a beacon on a fixed channel, such as a primary channel. The primary channel may be a fixed width (e.g., a 20 MHz wide bandwidth) or a width that is dynamically set via signaling. The primary channel may be the operating channel of the BSS, but may be used by STAs to establish a connection with the AP. In certain representative embodiments, for example, in an 802.11 system, Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA / CA) may be implemented. With CSMA / CA, STAs (e.g., all STAs), including the AP, may sense the primary channel. If the primary channel is sensed / detected and / or determined to be busy by a particular STA, the particular STA may back off. One STA (e.g., only one station) may transmit at any given time in a given BSS.

[0056] A High Throughput (HT) STA may use a 40 MHz wide channel for communication, which may be formed, for example, through a combination of a primary 20 MHz channel and adjacent or non-adjacent 20 MHz channels.

[0057] A Very High Throughput (VHT) STA may support 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, and / or 160 MHz wide channels. A 40 MHz and / or 80 MHz channel may be formed by combining multiple contiguous 20 MHz channels. A 160 MHz channel may be formed by combining eight contiguous 20 MHz channels or by combining two non-contiguous 80 MHz channels, which may be referred to as an 80+80 configuration. For the 80+80 configuration, after channel encoding, the data may pass through a segment parser that may split the data into two streams. Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) processing and time domain processing may be performed separately on each stream. The streams may be mapped to two 80 MHz channels and the data may be transmitted by the transmitting STA. At the receiver of the receiving STA, the operations described above for the 80+80 configuration may be reversed and the combined data may be transmitted to the Medium Access Control (MAC).

[0058] Sub-1 GHz operating modes are supported by 802.11af and 802.11ah. Channel operating bandwidths and carriers are reduced in 802.11af and 802.11ah compared to those used in 802.11n and 802.11ac. 802.11af supports 5 MHz, 10 MHz, and 20 MHz bandwidths in TV White Space (TVWS) spectrum, and 802.11ah supports 1 MHz, 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 8 MHz, and 16 MHz bandwidths using non-TVWS spectrum. According to a representative embodiment, 802.11ah may support meter-type control / machine-type communication, such as MTC devices in macro coverage areas. MTC devices may have limited capabilities, including certain capabilities, for example, support for (e.g., support only for) certain and / or limited bandwidths. MTC devices may include batteries with above-threshold battery life (e.g., to maintain very long battery life).

[0059] WLAN systems that may support multiple channels and channel bandwidths, such as 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.11af, and 802.11ah, include a channel that may be designated as a primary channel. The primary channel may have a bandwidth equal to the maximum common operating bandwidth supported by all STAs in the BSS. The bandwidth of the primary channel may be configured and / or limited by the STAs among all STAs operating in the BSS that support the smallest bandwidth operating mode. In an 802.11ah embodiment, the primary channel may be 1 MHz wide for STAs (e.g., MTC-type devices) that support (e.g., only) the 1 MHz mode, even if the AP and other STAs in the BSS support 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 8 MHz, 16 MHz, and / or other channel bandwidth operating modes. Carrier sensing and / or Network Allocation Vector (NAV) configuration may depend on the status of the primary channel. For example, if the primary channel is active due to a STA (that only supports the 1 MHz mode of operation) transmitting to the AP, the entire available frequency band may be considered active even though most of the frequency band may remain dormant and available.

[0060] In the United States, the available frequency band that can be used by 802.11ah is 902MHz to 928MHz. In South Korea, the available frequency band is 917.5MHz to 923.5MHz. In Japan, the available frequency band is 916.5MHz to 927.5MHz. The total bandwidth available for 802.11ah is 6MHz to 26MHz depending on the country code.

[0061] 1D is a system diagram illustrating the RAN 113 and the CN 115, according to one embodiment. As mentioned above, the RAN 113 may employ NR radio technology and communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. The RAN 113 may also communicate with the CN 115.

[0062] The RAN 113 may include gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c, although it will be understood that the RAN 113 may include any number of gNBs while remaining consistent with an embodiment. The gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may each include one or more transceivers for communicating with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. In an embodiment, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement MIMO technology. For example, the gNBs 180a, 108b may utilize beamforming to transmit signals to and / or receive signals from the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c. Thus, the gNB 180a may transmit and / or receive wireless signals to and from the WTRU 102a, for example, using multiple antennas. In one embodiment, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement carrier aggregation technology. For example, the gNB 180a may transmit multiple component carriers to the WTRU 102a (not shown). A subset of these component carriers may be on an unlicensed spectrum, while the remaining component carriers may be on a licensed spectrum. In one embodiment, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement Coordinated Multi-Point (CoMP) technology. For example, the WTRU 102a may receive coordinated transmissions from the gNBs 180a and 180b (and / or gNB 180c).

[0063] The WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c using transmissions associated with scalable numerology. For example, the OFDM symbol spacing and / or OFDM subcarrier spacing may vary for different transmissions, different cells, and / or different portions of the wireless transmission spectrum. The WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c using subframes or transmission time intervals (TTIs) of different or scalable lengths (e.g., including different numbers of OFDM symbols and / or lasting different lengths of absolute time).

[0064] The gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may be configured to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c in a standalone configuration and / or a non-standalone configuration. In a standalone configuration, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c without accessing another RAN (e.g., eNodeBs 160a, 160b, 160c, etc.). In a standalone configuration, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may utilize one or more of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c as mobility anchor points. In a standalone configuration, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c using signals in unlicensed bands. In a non-standalone configuration, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with and connect to a gNB 180a, 180b, 180c while also communicating with and connecting to another RAN, such as an eNodeB 160a, 160b, 160c. For example, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement DC principles to communicate with one or more gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c and one or more eNodeBs 160a, 160b, 160c substantially simultaneously. In a non-standalone configuration, the eNodeBs 160a, 160b, 160c may act as mobility anchors for the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may provide additional coverage and / or throughput for serving the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c.

[0065] Each of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may be associated with a particular cell (not shown) and may be configured to handle radio resource management decisions, handover decisions, scheduling of users in the UL and / or DL, support for network slicing, dual connectivity, interworking between NR and E-UTRA, routing of user plane data to User Plane Functions (UPFs) 184a, 184b, routing of control plane information to Access and Mobility Management Functions (AMFs) 182a, 182b, etc. As shown in FIG. 1D, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may communicate with each other via an Xn interface.

[0066] 1D may include at least one AMF 182a, 182b, at least one UPF 184a, 184b, at least one Session Management Function (SMF) 183a, 183b, and possibly a Data Network (DN) 185a, 185b. Although each of the foregoing elements is depicted as part of the CN 115, it will be understood that any of these elements may be owned and / or operated by an entity other than the CN operator.

[0067] The AMF 182a, 182b may be connected to one or more of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c in the RAN 113 via an N2 interface and may function as a control node. For example, the AMF 182a, 182b may be responsible for authenticating users of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, supporting network slicing (e.g., handling different PDU sessions with different requirements), selecting a particular SMF 183a, 183b, managing registration areas, terminating NAS signaling, mobility management, etc. Network slicing may be used by the AMF 182a, 182b to customize the CN support of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c based on the type of service utilizing the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c. For example, different network slices may be established for different use cases such as services relying on ultra-reliable low latency (URLLC) access, services relying on enhanced massive mobile broadband (eMBB) access, services for machine type communication (MTC) access, etc. The AMF 162 may provide a control plane function for switching between the RAN 113 and other RANs (not shown) that employ other radio technologies such as LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, and / or non-3GPP access technologies such as WiFi.

[0068] The SMFs 183a, 183b may be connected to the AMFs 182a, 182b in the CN 115 via an N11 interface. The SMFs 183a, 183b may also be connected to the UPFs 184a, 184b in the CN 115 via an N4 interface. The SMFs 183a, 183b may select and control the UPFs 184a, 184b and configure the routing of traffic through the UPFs 184a, 184b. The SMFs 183a, 183b may perform other functions such as managing and allocating UE IP addresses, managing PDU sessions, controlling policy enforcement and QoS, providing downlink data notification, etc. The PDU session type may be IP-based, non-IP-based, Ethernet-based, etc.

[0069] The UPFs 184a, 184b may be connected to one or more of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c in the RAN 113 via an N3 interface, which may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to packet-switched networks, such as the Internet 110, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and IP-enabled devices. The UPFs 184, 184b may perform other functions, such as routing and forwarding packets, enforcing user plane policies, supporting multi-homed PDU sessions, handling user plane QoS, buffering downlink packets, providing mobility anchoring, etc.

[0070] The CN 115 may facilitate communication with other networks. For example, the CN 115 may include or communicate with an IP gateway (e.g., an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) server) that serves as an interface between the CN 115 and the PSTN 108. In addition, the CN 115 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to other networks 112, which may include other wired and / or wireless networks owned and / or operated by other service providers. In an embodiment, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may be connected to local data networks (DNs) 185a, 185b through the UPFs 184a, 184b via an N3 interface to the UPFs 184a, 184b and an N6 interface between the UPFs 184a, 184b and the DNs 185a, 185b.

[0071] 1A-1D and the corresponding description thereof, one or more or all of the functions described herein with respect to one or more of the WTRUs 102a-d, base stations 114a-b, eNodeBs 160a-c, MME 162, SGW 164, PGW 166, gNBs 180a-c, AMFs 182a-b, UPFs 184a-b, SMFs 183a-b, DNs 185a-b, and / or any other devices described herein may be performed by one or more emulation devices (not shown). The emulation devices may be one or more devices configured to emulate one or more or all of the functions described herein. For example, the emulation devices may be used to test other devices and / or to simulate network and / or WTRU functions.

[0072] The emulation device may be designed to perform one or more tests of other devices in a lab environment and / or an operator network environment. For example, one or more emulation devices may perform one or more or all functions while fully or partially implemented and / or deployed as part of a wired and / or wireless communication network to test other devices in the communication network. One or more emulation devices may perform one or more or all functions while temporarily implemented / deployed as part of a wired and / or wireless communication network. The emulation device may be directly coupled to another device for testing purposes and / or may perform the tests using terrestrial wireless communication.

[0073] The one or more emulation devices may perform one or more functions, inclusive, while not being implemented / deployed as part of a wired and / or wireless communication network. For example, the emulation devices may be utilized in test scenarios in a test lab and / or in an undeployed (e.g., test) wired and / or wireless communication network to perform testing of one or more components. The one or more emulation devices may be test equipment. Direct RF coupling and / or wireless communication via RF circuitry (which may include, for example, one or more antennas) may be used by the emulation devices to transmit and / or receive data.

[0074] This application describes various aspects, including tools, features, examples, models, techniques, and the like. Many of these aspects are specifically described and often described in a potentially limiting manner to at least illustrate their individual characteristics. However, this is for purposes of clarity of description and does not limit the applicability or scope of the aspects. In fact, all of the different aspects may be combined and interchanged to provide further aspects. Moreover, these aspects may likewise be combined and interchanged with aspects described in prior applications.

[0075] Aspects described and contemplated in this application may be implemented in many different forms. While Figures 5-13 described herein may provide some examples, other examples are contemplated. Discussion of Figures 5-13 is not intended to limit the scope of implementations. At least one of the above aspects generally relates to video encoding and decoding, and at least one other aspect generally relates to transmitting a generated or encoded bitstream. These and other aspects may be implemented as a method, an apparatus, a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions for encoding or decoding video data according to any of the described methods, and / or a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a bitstream generated according to any of the described methods.

[0076] In this application, the terms "reconstructed" and "decoded" may be used interchangeably, the terms "pixel" and "sample" may be used interchangeably, and the terms "image", "picture", and "frame" may be used interchangeably.

[0077] Various methods are described herein, each of which includes one or more steps or acts for achieving the described method. The order and / or use of specific steps and / or acts may be modified or combined, unless a specific order of steps or acts is required for proper operation of the method. Additionally, terms such as "first", "second", etc. may be used in various embodiments to modify elements, components, steps, operations, etc., such as, for example, "first decode" and "second decode". The use of such terms does not imply any ordering to the modified operations, unless specifically required. Thus, in this embodiment, the first decode need not be performed before the second decode, but may occur, for example, before, during, or during a period of overlap with the second decode.

[0078] Various methods and other aspects described in the present application may be used to modify modules, such as the decoding modules, of the video encoder 200 and the decoder 300, as shown in Figures 2 and 3. Moreover, the subject matter disclosed herein may apply to any type, format, or version of video coding, whether described in a standard or recommendation, whether existing or developed in the future, and to extensions of any such standards and recommendations, for example. Unless otherwise indicated or technically impossible, the aspects described in the present application may be used individually or in combination.

[0079] Various numerical values ​​are used in the embodiments described in this application to illustrate the embodiments, and the aspects described are not limited to these specific values.

[0080] 2 illustrates an exemplary video encoder. Although variations of the exemplary encoder 200 are contemplated, the encoder 200 is described below for purposes of clarity without describing all possible variations.

[0081] Before encoding, a video sequence may undergo pre-encoding processing (201), such as applying a color transformation to the input color picture (e.g., converting from RGB 4:4:4 to YCbCr 4:2:0) or performing a remapping of the input picture components to obtain a signal distribution that is more resilient to compression (e.g., using histogram equalization of one of the color components). Metadata may be associated with that pre-processing and attached to the bitstream.

[0082] In the encoder 200, a picture is coded by the encoder elements, as described below. The picture to be coded is divided (202) and processed, for example, in units of coding units (CUs). Each unit is coded, for example, using either intra mode or inter mode. When a unit is coded in intra mode, it performs intra prediction (260). In inter mode, motion estimation (275) and motion compensation (270) are performed. The encoder decides (205) whether to use intra mode or inter mode to code the unit, and indicates the intra / inter decision, for example, by a prediction mode flag. A prediction residual is calculated (210), for example, by subtracting the prediction block from the original image block.

[0083] The prediction residual is then transformed (225) and quantized (230). The quantized transform coefficients, as well as the motion vectors and other syntax elements, are entropy coded (245) to output a bitstream. The encoder can skip the transform and apply quantization directly to the untransformed residual signal. The encoder can bypass both the transform and quantization, i.e., the residual is coded directly without applying the transform or quantization processes.

[0084] The encoder decodes the coded block to provide a reference for further prediction. The quantized transform coefficients are inverse quantized (240) and inverse transformed (250) to decode the prediction residual. The decoded prediction residual is combined (255) with the predicted block to reconstruct an image block. An in-loop filter (265) is applied to the reconstructed picture to perform, for example, deblocking / Sample Adaptive Offset (SAO) or Active Loop Filter (ALF) filtering to reduce coding artifacts. The filtered image is stored in a reference picture buffer (280).

[0085] 3 illustrates an example of a video decoder. In the exemplary decoder 300, the bitstream is decoded by a decoder element as described below. The video decoder 300 generally performs a decoding path that is the inverse of the encoding path described in FIG. 2. The encoder 200 also generally performs video decoding as part of the video data encoding.

[0086] In particular, the decoder input includes a video bitstream, which may be generated by the video encoder 200. The bitstream is first entropy decoded (330) to obtain transform coefficients, motion vectors, and other coded information. Picture partition information indicates how the picture is partitioned. Thus, the decoder may partition the picture according to the decoded picture partition information (335). To decode the prediction residual, the transform coefficients are dequantized (340) and inverse transformed (350). The decoded prediction residual and the predicted block are combined (355) to reconstruct an image block. The predicted block may be obtained from intra prediction (360) or from motion compensated prediction (i.e., inter prediction) (375) (370). An in-loop filter (365) is applied to the reconstructed image. The filtered image is stored in a reference picture buffer (380). It should be noted that for a given picture, the contents of the reference picture buffer 380 on the decoder 300 side may be similar (eg, identical) to the contents of the reference picture buffer 280 on the encoder 200 side for the same picture.

[0087] The decoded picture may further undergo post-decoding processing (385), such as an inverse color conversion (e.g., from YCbCr 4:2:0 to RGB 4:4:4) or inverse remapping that performs the inverse of the remapping process performed in the pre-encoding processing (201). The post-decoding processing may use metadata derived in the pre-encoding processing and signaled in the bitstream. In an embodiment, the decoded image (e.g., after application of an in-loop filter (365) and / or after post-decoding processing (385), if post-decoding processing is used) may be sent to a display device for rendering to a user.

[0088] FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a system in which various aspects and embodiments described herein may be implemented. System 400 may be embodied as a device including various components described below and configured to implement one or more of the aspects described herein. Examples of such devices include various electronic devices, such as, but not limited to, personal computers, laptop computers, smartphones, tablet computers, digital multimedia set-top boxes, digital television receivers, personal video recording systems, connected appliances, and servers. The elements of system 400, singly or in combination, may be embodied in a single integrated circuit (IC), multiple ICs, and / or separate components. For example, in at least one embodiment, the processing and encoder / decoder elements of system 400 are distributed across multiple ICs and / or separate components. In various embodiments, system 400 is communicatively coupled to one or more other systems or other electronic devices, for example, via a communication bus or through dedicated input and / or output ports. In various embodiments, system 400 is configured to implement one or more of the aspects described herein.

[0089] The system 400 includes at least one processor 410 configured to execute instructions loaded therein, for example to implement various aspects described herein. The processor 410 can include embedded memory, input / output interfaces, and various other circuits known in the art. The system 400 includes at least one memory 420 (e.g., a volatile memory device and / or a non-volatile memory device). The system 400 includes a storage device 440, which can include non-volatile memory and / or volatile memory, including, but not limited to, Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM), Read-Only Memory (ROM), Programmable Read-Only Memory (PROM), Random Access Memory (RAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), Flash, magnetic disk drives, and / or optical disk drives. Storage devices 440 may include, by way of non-limiting example, internal storage devices, attached storage devices (including removable and non-removable storage devices), and / or network-accessible storage devices.

[0090] The system 400 includes an encoder / decoder module 430 configured to process data to provide, for example, encoded or decoded video, and the encoder / decoder module 430 may include its own processor and memory. The encoder / decoder module 430 represents a module that may be included within a device to perform encoding and / or decoding functions. As is known, a device may include one or both of an encoding module and a decoding module. Additionally, the encoder / decoder module 430 may be implemented as a separate element of the system 400 or may be incorporated within the processor 410 as a combination of hardware and software known to those skilled in the art.

[0091] Program code to be loaded into the processor 410 or the encoder / decoder 430 to implement various aspects described herein may be stored in the storage device 440 and then loaded into the memory 420 for execution by the processor 410. According to various embodiments, one or more of the processor 410, the memory 420, the storage device 440, and the encoder / decoder module 430 may store one or more of various items during performance of the processes described herein. Such stored items may include, but are not limited to, input video, decoded video or portions of decoded video, bitstreams, matrices, variables, and intermediate or final results from the processing of equations, expressions, operations, and computational logic.

[0092] In some embodiments, memory internal to the processor 410 and / or the encoder / decoder module 430 is used to store instructions and provide working memory for processing required during encoding or decoding. However, in other embodiments, memory external to the processing device (e.g., the processing device can be either the processor 410 or the encoder / decoder module 430) is used for one or more of these functions. The external memory can be the memory 420 and / or the storage device 440, e.g., dynamic volatile memory and / or non-volatile flash memory. In some embodiments, an external non-volatile flash memory is used, for example, to store the television's operating system. In at least one embodiment, a high-speed external dynamic volatile memory, such as a RAM, is used as working memory for video encoding and decoding operations.

[0093] Inputs to the elements of system 400 may be provided through a variety of input devices, as shown in block 445. Such input devices may include, but are not limited to, (i) a radio frequency (RF) section that receives, for example, RF signals transmitted over the air by a broadcast station, (ii) a component (COMP) input terminal (or set of COMP input terminals), (iii) a universal serial bus (USB) input terminal, and / or (iv) a High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) input terminal. Other examples include composite video, although not shown in FIG. 4.

[0094] In various embodiments, the input devices of block 445 have associated respective input processing elements, as known in the art. For example, the RF section may be associated with elements suitable for (i) selecting a desired frequency (also referred to as selecting a signal or band-limiting a signal to a band of frequencies), (ii) down-converting the selected signal, (iii) band-limiting again to a narrower frequency band to select a signal frequency band, which in certain embodiments may be referred to as a channel (for example), (iv) demodulating the down-converted band-limited signal, (v) performing error correction, and / or (vi) demultiplexing to select a desired data packet stream. The RF section of various embodiments includes one or more elements for performing these functions, such as a frequency selector, a signal selector, a band limiter, a channel selector, a filter, a down-converter, a demodulator, an error corrector, and a demultiplexer. The RF section may include a tuner to perform various of these functions, including, for example, down-converting a received signal to a lower frequency (e.g., an intermediate frequency or a near-baseband frequency) or to baseband. In one set-top box embodiment, the RF section and its associated input processing elements receive RF signals transmitted over a wired (e.g., cable) medium and perform frequency selection by filtering, down-converting, and filtering again to a desired frequency band. Various embodiments rearrange the order of the above-described (and other) elements, remove some of these elements, and / or add other elements to perform similar or different functions. Adding elements can include inserting elements between existing elements, such as, for example, inserting amplifiers and analog-to-digital converters. In various embodiments, the RF section includes an antenna.

[0095] The USB and / or HDMI terminals may include respective interface processors for connecting the system 400 to other electronic devices via USB and / or HDMI connections. It should be appreciated that various aspects of the input processing, e.g., Reed-Solomon error correction, may be implemented, for example, in a separate input processing IC or in the processor 410, as desired. Similarly, aspects of the USB or HDMI interface processing may be implemented, for example, in a separate interface IC or in the processor 410, as desired. The demodulated, error corrected, and demultiplexed streams are provided to various processing elements, including, for example, the processor 410 and an encoder / decoder 430 operating in combination with memory and storage elements, to process the data streams necessary for presentation to an output device.

[0096] The various elements of system 400 may be provided within an integrated housing in which the various elements may be interconnected and transmit data between them using a suitable connection arrangement 425, such as an internal bus as is known in the art, including an Inter-IC (I2C) bus, hardwired, and printed circuit boards.

[0097] System 400 includes a communication interface 450 that enables communication with other devices over a communication channel 460. Communication interface 450 may include, but is not limited to, a transceiver configured to transmit and receive data over communication channel 460. Communication interface 450 may include, but is not limited to, a modem or a network card, and communication channel 460 may be implemented in a wired and / or wireless medium, for example.

[0098] Data is streamed or otherwise provided to system 400 in various embodiments using a wireless network such as a Wi-Fi network, e.g., IEEE 802.11 (IEEE refers to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). The Wi-Fi signal in these embodiments is received via communication channel 460 and communication interface 450 adapted for Wi-Fi communication. Communication channel 460 in these embodiments is typically connected to an access point or router that provides access to external networks, including the Internet, to enable streaming applications and other over-the-top communications. Other embodiments provide streamed data to system 400 using a set-top box that delivers data via an HDMI connection in input block 445. Still other embodiments provide streamed data to system 400 using an RF connection in input block 445. As indicated above, various embodiments provide data in a non-streaming manner. Additionally, various embodiments use wireless networks other than Wi-Fi, e.g., cellular networks or Bluetooth networks.

[0099] System 400 can provide output signals to various output devices, including a display 475, speakers 485, and other peripheral devices 495. Display 475 in various embodiments includes one or more of a touch screen display, an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display, a curved display, and / or a foldable display, for example. Display 475 can be for a television, a tablet, a laptop, a mobile phone, or other device. Display 475 can be integrated with other components (e.g., like a smartphone) or can be separate (e.g., an external monitor for a laptop). Other peripheral devices 495 in various embodiments include one or more of a stand-alone digital video disc (or digital versatile disc) (DVD for both terms), a disc player, a stereo system, and / or a lighting system. Various embodiments use one or more peripheral devices 495 that provide functionality based on the output of system 400. For example, a disc player performs the functionality of playing the output of system 400.

[0100] In various embodiments, control signals are communicated between system 400 and display 475, speaker 485, or other peripheral devices 495 using signaling such as AV.Link, Consumer Electronics Control (CEC), or other communication protocols that allow control between devices with or without user intervention. Output devices may be communicatively coupled to system 400 via dedicated connections through respective interfaces 470, 480, and 490. Alternatively, output devices may be connected to system 400 via communication interface 450 using communication channel 460. Display 475 and speaker 485 may be integrated into a single unit with other components of system 400 in an electronic device such as, for example, a television. In various embodiments, display interface 470 includes a display driver, such as, for example, a timing controller (TCon) chip.

[0101] Display 475 and speakers 485 may alternatively be separate from one or more of the other components, for example, if the RF portion of input 445 is part of a separate set-top box. In various embodiments in which display 475 and speakers 485 are external components, output signals may be provided via dedicated output connections including, for example, an HDMI port, a USB port, or a COMP output.

[0102] These embodiments may be performed by the processor 410, or by computer software implemented by hardware, or by a combination of hardware and software. As a non-limiting example, these embodiments may be implemented by one or more integrated circuits. The memory 420 may be of any type suitable for the technology environment, and may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as, as non-limiting examples, optical memory devices, magnetic memory devices, semiconductor-based memory devices, fixed memories, and removable memories. The processor 410 may be of any type suitable for the technology environment, and may include, as non-limiting examples, one or more of a microprocessor, a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, and a processor based on a multi-core architecture.

[0103] Various implementations involve decoding. As used herein, "decoding" can encompass all or part of the processes performed on a received encoded sequence to provide a final output suitable for, for example, a display. In various embodiments, such processes include processes typically performed by a decoder, such as one or more of entropy decoding, inverse quantization, inverse transform, and differential decoding. In various embodiments, such processes also or alternatively include processes performed by a decoder of various implementations described in this application, such as determining a plurality of sub-block temporal motion vector predictor (SbTMVP) candidates, each of the plurality of SbTMVP candidates being obtained using a motion shift associated with an input candidate, the input candidate including a neighboring block of a current block, sorting the plurality of SbTMVP candidates based on template matching costs of the plurality of SbTMVP candidates, and decoding the current block using one of the sorted plurality of SbTMVP candidates.

[0104] As a further example, in one embodiment, "decoding" refers to entropy decoding only, in another embodiment, "decoding" refers to differential decoding only, and in another embodiment, "decoding" refers to a combination of entropy decoding and differential decoding. Whether the phrase "decoding process" is intended to refer specifically to a subset of operations or to the broader decoding process as a whole will be clear based on the context of the specific description and will be well understood by one of ordinary skill in the art.

[0105] Various implementations involve encoding. Similar to the above discussion regarding "decoding," "encoding" as used herein can encompass, for example, all or part of the processes performed on an input video sequence to produce an encoded bitstream. In various embodiments, such processes include one or more of processes typically performed by an encoder, such as partitioning, differential encoding, transforming, quantizing, and entropy encoding. In various embodiments, such processes also or alternatively include processes performed by an encoder of various implementations described herein, such as determining a plurality of sub-block temporal motion vector predictor (SbTMVP) candidates, each of the plurality of SbTMVP candidates being obtained using a motion shift associated with an input candidate, the input candidate including a neighboring block of a current block, sorting the plurality of SbTMVP candidates based on template matching costs of the plurality of SbTMVP candidates, and decoding the current block using one of the sorted plurality of SbTMVP candidates.

[0106] As a further example, in one embodiment, "encoding" refers to only entropy encoding, while in another embodiment, "encoding" refers to only differential encoding, while in another embodiment, "encoding" refers to a combination of differential and entropy encoding. Whether the phrase "encoding process" is intended to refer specifically to a subset of operations or to the broader encoding process as a whole will be clear based on the context of the specific description and will be well understood by one of ordinary skill in the art.

[0107] It should be noted that coding syntax for syntax elements used herein, e.g., motion information, motion vector, motion shift, seed, precision factor, shift, input candidate, SbTMVP candidate, ARMC, fractional bit count, etc., are descriptive terms and therefore do not exclude the use of other syntax element names.

[0108] Where a figure is presented as a flow diagram, it should be understood that the figure also provides a block diagram of the corresponding apparatus. Similarly, where a figure is presented as a block diagram, it should be understood that the figure also provides a flow diagram of the corresponding method / process.

[0109] The implementations and aspects described herein may be implemented, for example, in a method or process, an apparatus, a software program, a data stream, or a signal. Even if discussed in the context of only a single implementation form (e.g., discussed only as a method), the implementation of the discussed features may also be implemented in other forms (e.g., an apparatus or a program). An apparatus may be implemented, for example, in appropriate hardware, software, and firmware. A method may be implemented, for example, in a processor, which generally refers to a processing device and includes, for example, a computer, a microprocessor, an integrated circuit, or a programmable logic device. Processors also include communication devices, such as, for example, computers, cellular phones, portable / personal digital assistants ("PDAs"), and other devices that facilitate communication of information between end users.

[0110] References to "one example" or "an example" or "one implementation" or "an implementation," as well as other variations thereof, mean that a particular feature, structure, characteristic, etc. described in connection with an embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. Thus, the appearances of the phrases "in one example" or "in an example" or "in one implementation" or "in an implementation" in various places throughout this application, as well as any other variations, are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.

[0111] Additionally, the application may refer to "determining" various information. Determining information may include, for example, one or more of estimating information, calculating information, predicting information, or retrieving information from a memory. Obtaining may include receiving, retrieving, constructing, generating, and / or determining.

[0112] Additionally, the application may refer to "accessing" various information. Accessing information may include, for example, one or more of receiving information, retrieving information (e.g., from a memory), storing information, moving information, copying information, calculating information, determining information, predicting information, or estimating information.

[0113] Additionally, the application may refer to "receiving" various information. Receiving, like "accessing," is intended to be a broad term. Receiving information may include, for example, one or more of accessing information or retrieving information (e.g., from a memory). Furthermore, "receiving" generally involves in some manner, an operation such as, for example, storing information, processing information, transmitting information, moving information, copying information, erasing information, calculating information, determining information, predicting information, or estimating information.

[0114] For example, in the case of "A / B," "A and / or B," and "at least one of A and B," it should be understood that the use of any of the following " / ," "and / or," and "at least one of" is intended to encompass the selection of only the first enumerated alternative (A), or the selection of only the second enumerated alternative (B), or the selection of both alternatives (A and B). As a further example, in the case of "A, B, and / or C" and "at least one of A, B, and C," such language is intended to encompass the selection of only the first enumerated alternative (A), or the selection of only the second enumerated alternative (B), or the selection of only the third enumerated alternative (C), or the selection of only the first and second enumerated alternatives (A and B), or the selection of only the first and third enumerated alternatives (A and C), or the selection of only the second and third enumerated alternatives (B and C), or the selection of all three alternatives (A and B and C). This can be expanded as many times as the items listed, as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in this and related arts.

[0115] Also, as used herein, the term "signaling" means to indicate something, especially to a corresponding decoder. The encoder signal may include, for example, an indication that SbTMVP may be enabled. In this way, in one embodiment, the same parameters are used on both the encoder and decoder sides. Thus, for example, the encoder may transmit a specific parameter to the decoder so that the decoder can use the same specific parameter (explicit signaling). Conversely, if the decoder already has the specific parameter as well as other parameters, it may use signaling without transmitting, simply to allow the decoder to know and select the specific parameter (implicit signaling). By avoiding transmitting any actual functionality, bit savings are realized in various embodiments. It should be understood that signaling may be achieved in various ways. For example, in various embodiments, one or more syntax elements, flags, etc. are used to signal information to the corresponding decoder. Although the above relates to the verb form of the term "signal", the term "signal" may also be used as a noun in this specification.

[0116] As will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art, implementations may generate a variety of signals formatted to carry information that may be, for example, stored or transmitted. Information may include, for example, instructions for performing a method or data generated by one of the described implementations. For example, a signal may be formatted to carry a bit stream of the described embodiments. Such a signal may be formatted, for example, as an electromagnetic wave (e.g., using a radio frequency portion of the spectrum) or as a baseband signal. Formatting may include, for example, encoding a data stream and modulating a carrier wave with the encoded data stream. The information that the signal carries may be, for example, analog information or digital information. The signal may be transmitted by a variety of different wired or wireless links, as is well known. The signal may be stored in, accessed from, or received from a processor-readable medium.

[0117] Many examples are described herein. The features of the examples may be provided alone or in any combination across various claim categories and types. Furthermore, the examples may include one or more of the features, devices, or aspects described herein, alone or in any combination across various claim categories and types. For example, the features described herein may be implemented in a bitstream or signal including information generated as described herein. The information may enable a decoder to decode the bitstream, encoder, bitstream, and / or decoder according to any of the described embodiments. For example, the features described herein may be implemented by generating and / or transmitting and / or receiving and / or decoding a bitstream or signal. For example, the features described herein may be implemented as a method, a process, an apparatus, a medium storing instructions, a medium storing data, or a signal. For example, the features described herein may be implemented by a TV, a set-top box, a mobile phone, a tablet, or other electronic device performing the decoding. A TV, set-top box, mobile phone, tablet, or other electronic device may display the resulting images (e.g., images from the residual reconstruction of the video C ECM) (e.g., using a monitor, screen, or other type of display), which may be configured in a number of ways.

[0118] In one embodiment, SbTMVP may be constructed by using the displacement observed in the left spatial neighborhood when considering one or more parameters. In one embodiment, SbTMVP may be constructed by using the collocated position. In some video codecs, such as ECM, tools that may be based on templates around a block (e.g., the current block) may be used to reduce the signaling cost of motion information candidates. In an embodiment, adaptive reordering of merge candidates (ARMC) may be used to evaluate one or more SbTMVP candidates.

[0119] Embodiments disclosed herein may provide one or more methods for constructing SbTMVP candidates, and may provide one or more methods for constructing several SbTMVP candidates before evaluating them using the ARMC process.

[0120] In SbTMVP (which may be referred to as ATMVP mode), sub-block-based motion vector prediction may be made. SbTMVP may be similar to temporal motion vector prediction (TMVP) in that it uses motion fields in co-located pictures to improve the motion vector prediction and merge mode of CUs in the current picture. In an embodiment, the co-located pictures used by TMVP may be used for SbTMVP.

[0121] In an embodiment, TMVP may predict motion at the CU level, and SbTMVP may predict motion at the sub-CU level. In an embodiment, TMVP may fetch a temporal motion vector from a co-located block in a co-located picture (e.g., the co-located block may be a bottom-right or center block with respect to the current CU), and SbTMVP may apply a motion shift before fetching temporal motion information from the co-located picture. The motion shift may be obtained from a motion vector from one of the spatial neighboring blocks of the current CU.

[0122] FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a spatial neighboring block (e.g., A1) that may be used by sub-block-based motion vector prediction (SbTMVP). For example, FIG. 5 may be used to illustrate the SbTMVP process. SbTMVP may predict motion vectors of sub-CUs within a CU (e.g., current CU). In one embodiment, the left spatial neighborhood A1 in FIG. 5 may be examined. If a spatial neighboring block with a motion vector that uses a co-located picture as its reference picture is identified, the motion vector may be selected as the motion shift to be applied. If no such motion is identified from the spatial neighborhood, the motion shift may be set to (0,0).

[0123] FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment for deriving a sub-coding unit (sub-CU) motion field by applying a motion shift from spatial neighbors and scaling motion information from a corresponding co-located sub-CU.

[0124] In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, a motion shift that may have been previously identified may be applied (e.g., added to the coordinates of the current block) to obtain sub-CU level motion information (e.g., motion vectors and reference indexes) from the co-located picture. For each sub-CU (e.g., each sub-CU), the motion information of the corresponding block (e.g., the smallest motion grid covering the center sample) in the co-located picture may be used to derive the motion information at the transformed position of the sub-CU. The motion information of the co-located sub-CU may be identified and transformed to the motion vectors and reference indexes of the current sub-CU in a manner similar to the TMVP process (e.g., temporal motion scaling is applied to align the reference picture of the temporal motion vector to the reference picture of the current CU).

[0125] In embodiments that may use VVC, a combined sub-block-based merge list containing both SbTMVP and affine merge candidates may be used for signaling the sub-block-based merge mode. The SbTMVP mode may be enabled / disabled by using a sequence parameter set (SPS) flag. If the SbTMVP mode is enabled, the SbTMVP predictor may be added as the first entry in the list of sub-block-based merge candidates, followed by the affine merge candidates. The size of the sub-block-based merge list may be signaled in the SPS, and the maximum allowed size of the sub-block-based merge list may be set to 5.

[0126] In one embodiment, the sub-CU size used in SbTMVP may be fixed to be 8x8, and as can be done for the affine merge mode, the SbTMVP mode may only be applicable to CUs with width and height greater than or equal to 8.

[0127] The coding logic for the SbTMVP merge candidate (e.g., additional SbTMVP merge candidate) may be the same as for other merge candidates. For example, for a CU in a P or B slice, an additional rate distortion (RD) check may be performed to determine whether the SbTMVP candidate should be used.

[0128] Adaptive reordering of merge candidates using template matching (TM) (ARMC) may be provided. Merge candidates may be adaptively reordered using template matching (TM). Reordering may be applied to candidates from normal merge mode, template matching (TM) merge mode, and / or affine merge mode (e.g., excluding SbTMVP candidates). In the case of TM merge mode, merge candidates may be reordered before the refinement process.

[0129] When the merge candidate list is constructed, the merge candidates may be divided into subgroups (e.g., several subgroups). The subgroups may be of a certain size. The subgroup size may be set to 5 for normal merge mode and / or TM merge mode. In one embodiment, the subgroup size may be set to 3 for affine merge mode. The merge candidates in a subgroup may be sorted in ascending order according to cost values ​​based on template matching. For simplicity, the merge candidates in the last subgroup but not the first subgroup may not be sorted.

[0130] The template matching cost of a merge candidate may be measured by the sum of differences (e.g., sum of absolute differences (SAD)) between the template's samples of the current block and their corresponding reference samples. The template may include a set of reconstructed samples that are neighbors of the current block. The template's reference samples may be located by the motion information of the merge candidate.

[0131] 7 illustrates an example template and reference samples of the template in one or more reference pictures. If a merge candidate utilizes bi-prediction, the reference samples of the template of the merge candidate may also be generated by bi-prediction, as shown in FIG.

[0132] For a subblock-based merging candidate with a subblock size equal to W×H, the template shown in FIG. 7 may include a subtemplate (e.g., several subtemplates) with a size of W×1. The left template may include a subtemplate (e.g., several subtemplates) with a size of 1×H. As shown in FIG. 8, the motion information of the subblocks in the first row and first column of the current block may be used to derive a reference sample for each subtemplate.

[0133] FIG. 8 illustrates an example template and reference samples of the template for a block having sub-block motion determined using motion information of the sub-blocks of a current block.

[0134] As disclosed herein, one or more SbTMVP candidates may be improved. To ensure that motion shifts can be found, one or more spatially nearby motions and / or other motions (e.g., seeds) may be used in the first SbTMVP step. One or more SbTMVP candidates may be derived based on multiple seeds. The SbTMVP candidates (e.g., the best SbTMVP candidates) may be separated based on a dedicated ARMC process.

[0135] FIG. 9 illustrates a method and / or process of motion shift design. The SbTMVP candidate configuration may define a motion shift based on motion information of a left spatial neighborhood A1, which may be referred to as a seed. A seed may have one or more parameters, and as illustrated in FIG. 9, a spatial neighborhood, e.g., a left spatial neighborhood, may be considered at 902. At 904, it may be determined whether a seed exists and is inter-coded (e.g., retains motion information). Assuming that a seed exists and is inter-coded, it may be determined whether the seed uses a co-located picture as a reference picture (e.g., in one direction, if bidirectional). At 906, it may be determined whether a list L0 of the seed uses a co-located picture as a reference picture. If the list L0 of pictures uses a co-located picture as a reference picture, at 910, a motion vector (Mv L0) associated with the list L0 may be used for motion shifting. At 908, it may be determined whether a list L1 of the seed uses a co-located picture as a reference picture. If the list of pictures L1 uses a co-located picture as a reference picture, then at 912, the motion vector (Mv L1) associated with the list L1 may be used for motion shifting. If the seed does not respect these parameters and / or conditions (e.g., does not use either L0 or L1 as a co-located picture), then at 914, the motion shift may be set to (0,0). The motion shift (e.g., coming from the left spatial neighborhood or (0,0)) may also respect the rules for being able to define an SbTMVP candidate. At 916, it may be determined whether the seed at the CU-center position points to an inter-coded part. At 918, the seed may be designated as an SbTMVP candidate. If not, the SbTMVP candidate may not be selected.

[0136] 10 illustrates a method and / or process that can be used to add an upper spatial neighbor, for example, when the left spatial neighbor does not respect one or more parameters. In a motion shift design, if the left spatial neighbor is bidirectional, one of its motion information can be considered as a motion shift. In a motion shift design, using a motion shift (0,0) may not result in a SbTMVP candidate.

[0137] In an embodiment, when the left spatial neighborhood may not respect the seed parameters (e.g., constraints), it may be possible to consider other (e.g., some other) seeds as other spatial neighborhoods (e.g., top B1, top right B0, bottom left A0, top left B2), HMVP candidates, and / or non-adjacent spatial neighborhoods. In an embodiment, candidates from a merge list (e.g., a normal merge list) may be used as seeds. In an embodiment, bidirectional motion vectors and / or zero motion vectors may be used as seeds. In an embodiment, the input seeds may be reordered by using an ARMC process (e.g., a normal ARMC process). As illustrated in FIG. 10, at 1002, a spatial neighborhood, e.g., a left spatial neighborhood, may be considered. At 1004, it may be determined whether a seed exists and is inter-coded (e.g., holds motion information). Assuming that a seed exists and is inter-coded, at 1006, it may be determined whether the list of seeds L0 uses co-located pictures as reference pictures. If the list of pictures L0 uses a co-located picture as a reference picture, then at 1012, a motion vector (Mv L0) associated with the list L0 may be used for motion shifting. At 1008, it may be determined whether the list of seeds L1 uses a co-located picture as a reference picture. If the list of pictures L1 uses a co-located picture as a reference picture, then at 1014, a motion vector (Mv L1) associated with the list L1 may be used for motion shifting. If the seed does not respect these parameters and / or conditions (e.g., does not use either L0 or L1 as a co-located picture), then at 1010, the motion shift may be set to (0,0). If the left spatial neighborhood does not respect some seed constraints (e.g., the seed does not exist or the seed is not inter-coded), then at 1020, another seed associated with a different neighborhood, e.g., the top spatial neighborhood, may be used. In such a case, at 1022, it may be determined that an additional seed exists and is inter-coded.Assuming there are different neighborhoods and using an inter-coded picture as a reference picture, it may be determined whether an L0 or L1 co-located picture is used, as illustrated in Figure 10. At 1016, it may be determined whether a seed at a CU-centered position points to an inter-coded portion. At 1018, the seed may be designated as an SbTMVP candidate. If not, the SbTMVP candidate may not be selected.

[0138] Figure 11 illustrates an example that may be used to add a top spatial neighbor, for example, when the left spatial neighbor does not respect one or more parameters. For example, Figure 11 may show how to overcome the constraints that a seed may exist, that the seed may be inter-coded, and that the seed may use a co-located picture as a reference picture (e.g., in one direction, if bidirectional).

[0139] In one embodiment, instead of using a motion shift (e.g., only one motion shift) to overcome the motion shift parameters, one or more unique motion shifts (e.g., all unique motion shifts) that satisfy the parameters that a seed may exist, that the seed may be inter-coded, and that the seed may use a co-located picture as a reference picture (e.g., in one direction, if bidirectional) may be collected. The set may be examined to find one that respects the motion shift parameters.

[0140] In one embodiment, a constructed motion shift (e.g., another constructed motion shift) can be added to the (0,0) motion shift. By combining these two features, a SbTMVP candidate (e.g., in either case) can be defined.

[0141] As illustrated in FIG. 11, at 1102, a spatial neighborhood, e.g., a left spatial neighborhood, may be considered. At 1104, it may be determined whether a seed exists and is inter-coded (e.g., holds motion information). Assuming that a seed exists and is inter-coded, at 1106, it may be determined whether a list L0 of the seed uses a co-located picture as a reference picture. If the list L0 of pictures uses a co-located picture as a reference picture, at 1112, a motion vector (Mv L0) associated with the list L0 may be used for motion shifting. At 1108, it may be determined whether a list L1 of the seed uses a co-located picture as a reference picture. If the list L1 of pictures uses a co-located picture as a reference picture, at 1114, a motion vector (Mv L1) associated with the list L1 may be used for motion shifting. If the seed does not respect these parameters and / or conditions (e.g., does not use either L0 or L1 as a co-located picture), then it may be determined whether another spatial neighborhood, e.g., the top spatial neighborhood, has been tested, at 1110. If the top spatial neighborhood has already been tested, then the motion shift may be set to (0,0), at 1116.

[0142] If the left spatial neighborhood does not respect some seed constraint (e.g., the seed does not exist, or the seed is not inter-coded, or the seed does not use a co-located picture as a reference picture (e.g., in one direction of bi-prediction) and the top spatial neighborhood has not yet been tested), then the top spatial neighborhood may be used and / or tested at 1122. In such a case, the conditions of 1104-1110 may be tested. At 1118, it may be determined that an additional seed exists and is inter-coded. Assuming that a different neighborhood exists and uses an inter-coded picture as a reference picture, it may be determined whether an L0 or L1 co-located picture is used, as illustrated in FIG. 11.

[0143] At 1118, it may be determined whether the seed at the CU-center position points to an inter-coded portion. At 1120, the seed may be designated as an SbTMVP candidate. If not, the SbTMVP candidate may not be selected.

[0144] FIG. 12 illustrates a process of motion shift design (e.g., simplified motion shift design). An ARMC process for SbTMVP may be provided. In an embodiment, several seeds may be used to ensure that motion shifts can be defined and used to derive SbTMVP candidates. These motion shifts may be valid and may allow for SbTMVP candidates (e.g., different SbTMVP candidates) to be derived. To use multiple candidates, an ARMC process may be designed that may be dedicated to the SbTMVP candidates. This process may allow for sorting of different candidates and allow an acceptable candidate (e.g., the best candidate) to be found.

[0145] In an embodiment, SbTMVP candidates (e.g., several SbTMVP candidates) may be collected using motion shifts coming from (e.g., several) input candidates (spatial neighborhood, HMVP, and motion shift (0,0)) associated with the co-located picture according to the design shown in FIG. 12. As illustrated in FIG. 12, at 1202, spatial neighborhood, e.g., left spatial neighborhood, may be considered. At 1204, it may be determined whether a seed exists and is inter-coded (e.g., retains motion information). Assuming that a seed exists and is inter-coded, at 1206, it may be determined whether a list L0 of the seed uses the co-located picture as a reference picture. If the list L0 of pictures uses the co-located picture as a reference picture, at 1210, a motion vector (Mv L0) associated with list L0 may be used for motion shifting.

[0146] At 1208, it may be determined whether the list L1 of the seed uses a co-located picture as a reference picture. If the list L1 of pictures uses a co-located picture as a reference picture, then at 1212, a motion vector (Mv L1) associated with the list L1 may be used for motion shifting. If the seed does not respect these parameters and / or conditions (e.g., does not use either L0 or L1 as a co-located picture), then the SbTVMP is not collected.

[0147] At 1214, it may be determined whether the seed at the CU-center position points to an inter-coded portion. At 1216, the seed may be designated as an SbTMVP candidate. If not, the SbTMVP candidate may not be selected.

[0148] In an embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 10, FIG. 11, or FIG. 12, when an input candidate is bidirectional, each of its motion information lists (L0 and L1) may be used as a motion shift to define an SbTMVP candidate. When more than one SbTMVP candidate is collected, an ARMC process may be provided to sort the SbTMVP candidates. The SbTMVP candidates may be sorted based on template matching cost, and the first SbTMVP candidate may have a lower cost (e.g., the smallest cost) and may be selected (e.g., may be considered as the best). A subset of the sorted SbTMVP candidates may be selected, and one of the selected subset of SbTMVP candidates may be used to decode the current block. Based on the template matching cost with the SbTMVP candidate having the lowest template matching cost, the preferred one SbTMVP subblock may be 8×8 (e.g., in VVC) and 4×4 (e.g., in ECM). Each subblock (e.g., each) may have its own motion information, which may be unidirectional or bidirectional.

[0149] FIG. 13 illustrates an example template that may correspond to SbTMVP. For example, the reference template of FIG. 13 may correspond to the example of SbTMVP of FIG. 6. In the example affine case, when the motion information is unidirectional, the sub-block portions of the reference template may be calculated (e.g., independently) by using the affine motion field and by applying LIC, as described herein. The sub-block portions may be aggregated to compose the reference template. When the motion information is bidirectional, the sub-block portions of the reference template may be calculated (e.g., independently) by using the affine motion field, as described herein, and aggregated for (e.g., each) reference frame. The reference templates from L0 and L1 may be averaged by considering bi-prediction with CU-level weights (BCW).

[0150] Subblocks may be treated independently. If motion information is not available for a subblock, predefined motion information (e.g., default motion information) may be used. The motion information may be motion information chosen (e.g., checked in the motion shift constraint) at the center position. When the motion information is unidirectional, e.g., subblock B in FIG. 13, a reference template may be calculated using the corresponding reference frame. When the motion information is bidirectional, e.g., subblock A in FIG. 13, a reference template may be calculated for each reference frame, and the subblock portions of the reference template for both reference frames (e.g., reference frame L0 and reference frame L1) may be averaged. When one or more (e.g., all) subblock reference templates are calculated, they may be aggregated to compose an SbTMVP reference template.

[0151] With respect to an ARMC process (e.g., a normal ARMC process), when a reference template is composed for an SbTMVP candidate, the difference (e.g., the sum of absolute differences (SAD)) between the reference template and the current template may define a template matching cost for the SbTMVP candidate.

[0152] One or more (e.g., all) SbTMVP candidates may be sorted according to their template matching costs, and the first one, which may be the one with the lower cost (e.g., the smallest cost), may be selected (e.g., may be the best candidate).

[0153] In an embodiment, one SbTMVP candidate may be considered and the first one in the sorted list may be retained.

[0154] In one embodiment, one or more (e.g., multiple) of the SbTMVP candidates may be considered, and the first n candidates in the sorted list may be used for the purpose. For example, the first two SbTMVP candidates may be used. In one embodiment, the first n SbTMVP candidates may be selected from the multiple SbTMVP candidates based on a threshold. Two SbTMVP candidates may be selected if they are different (e.g., have different motions for a subblock (e.g., some subblocks)) and if their template matching costs are close (e.g., the second <th * First, if the difference is below a threshold th, then both may be considered.

[0155] Associated signaling may be provided. A flag may be received indicating the number of seeds. Based on the flag, a number of SbTMVP candidates may be determined, possibly based on the number of seeds.

[0156] In an embodiment, the number of seeds that may be used to derive SbTMVP candidates may be signaled in high level syntax (HLS) (e.g., at the SPS level or picture header level) when it is greater than one as sps_max_num_sbtmvp_seed_minus_one. A maximum number of seeds may be determined to be used to determine the multiple SbTMVP candidates. The multiple seeds may be determined according to the determined maximum number of input candidates. The multiple SbTMVP candidates may be reordered using adaptive reordering of merge candidates (ARMC). The maximum number of seeds (e.g., input candidates) may be predefined as, for example, six, and the difference may be signaled as sps_six_minus_max_num_sbtmvp_seed.

[0157] A flag (sps_sbtmvp_seed_armc_enabled_flag) may also be signaled in the HLS (e.g., at the SPS level) to indicate whether the seed is reordered by using the ARMC process.

[0158] A flag may be received indicating the use of the SbTMVP ARMC process. Based on the flag, multiple SbTMVP candidates may be sorted using ARMC. The use of the SbTMVP ARMC process may be signaled at the HLS (e.g., SPS level). (sps_sbtmvp_armc_enabled_flag). If the number of SbTMVP candidates considered is 2 or more, it may also be signaled as sps_max_num_sbtmvp_cand_minus_one. When the number of SbTMVP candidates considered is 2 or more and the SbTMVP ARMC process is used, a threshold th, or an index into a look-up table (LUT) of predefined thresholds, may be signaled as needed. sps_max_num_sbtmvp_cand_minus_one may be in the range of 0 sps_max_num_sbtmvp_seed_minus_one+1. As described herein, th* The best cost (e.g., the cost of the first reordered SbTMVP candidate) may provide a maximum cost allowed for retaining other SbTMVP candidates. For example, if each of the other candidates has a cost greater than this maximum cost, then the best SbTMVP candidate is considered. Also, if the second SbTMVP candidate and the third SbTMVP candidate (of the reordered SbTMVP candidates) have costs less than this maximum cost, then the first three SbTMVP candidates are considered.

[0159] [Table 1]

[0160] Although the features and elements are described above in certain combinations, one skilled in the art will understand that each feature or element may be used alone or in any combination with the other features and elements. In addition, the methods described herein may be implemented in a computer program, software, or firmware embodied in a computer-readable medium for execution by a computer or processor. Examples of computer-readable media include electronic signals (transmitted over wired or wireless connections) and computer-readable storage media. Examples of computer-readable storage media include, but are not limited to, read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), registers, cache memory, semiconductor memory devices, magnetic media such as internal hard disks and removable disks, magneto-optical media, and optical media such as CD-ROM disks and digital versatile disks (DVDs). A processor in association with software may be used to implement a radio frequency transceiver for use in a WTRU, UE, terminal, base station, RNC, or any host computer.

Claims

1. 1. A video decoding device, comprising: a processor, the processor comprising: determining a plurality of sub-block temporal motion vector predictor (SbTMVP) candidates, each of the plurality of SbTMVP candidates being obtained using a motion shift associated with an input candidate, the input candidate including a neighboring block of a current block; Reordering the plurality of SbTMVP candidates based on template matching costs of the plurality of SbTMVP candidates; and decoding the current block using one of the reordered SbTMVP candidates.

2. The template matching cost indicates an accuracy in predicting the motion of video content, and the processor is configured to sort the plurality of SbTMVP candidates based on the template matching costs of the plurality of SbTMVP candidates, the processor comprising: The device of claim 1 , further configured to sort the plurality of SbTMVP candidates based on a lowest template matching cost.

3. The device of claim 1 , wherein the input candidates include one or more of a spatial neighborhood of a current block, a merge list, a history-based motion vector predictor (HMVP), a bidirectional motion vector, or a zero motion vector.

4. The processor, selecting a subset of the sorted plurality of SbTMVP candidates; 2. The device of claim 1, further configured to use one of the selected subset of the reordered SbTMVP candidates to decode the current block.

5. The processor, determining a maximum number of seeds to be used to determine the plurality of SbTMVP candidates; The device of claim 1 , configured to determine a number of seeds according to the determined maximum number of input candidates.

6. 10. The device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to reorder the plurality of SbTMVP candidates using Adaptive Reordering of Merge Candidates (ARMC).

7. The processor, The device of claim 1 , further configured to select an SbTMVP candidate from the plurality of SbTMVP candidates based on a threshold.

8. The processor, receiving a flag indicating the number of seeds; The device of claim 1 , further configured to determine the plurality of SbTMVP candidates based on the flag and based on a number of the seeds.

9. The processor, Receive a flag indicating the use of the SbTMVP ARMC process; The device of claim 1 , further configured to reorder the plurality of SbTMVP candidates using ARMC based on the flags.

10. The device of claim 1 , wherein the neighboring blocks of the current block have motion vectors that use a co-located picture as a reference picture.

11. 1. A video encoding device, comprising: a processor, the processor comprising: determining a plurality of sub-block temporal motion vector predictor (SbTMVP) candidates, each of the plurality of SbTMVP candidates being obtained using a motion shift associated with an input candidate, the input candidate including a neighboring block of a current block; Reordering the plurality of SbTMVP candidates based on template matching costs of the plurality of SbTMVP candidates; and encoding the current block using one of the reordered SbTMVP candidates.

12. The template matching cost indicates an accuracy in predicting the motion of video content, and the processor is configured to sort the plurality of SbTMVP candidates based on the template matching costs of the plurality of SbTMVP candidates, the processor comprising: The device of claim 11 , further configured to sort the plurality of SbTMVP candidates based on a lowest template matching cost.

13. The device of claim 11 , wherein the input candidates include one or more of a spatial neighborhood of a current block, a merge list, a history-based motion vector predictor (HMVP), a bidirectional motion vector, or a zero motion vector.

14. The processor, selecting a subset of the sorted plurality of SbTMVP candidates; 12. The device of claim 11, further configured to use one of the selected subset of the reordered SbTMVP candidates to decode the current block.

15. The processor, determining a maximum number of seeds to be used to determine the plurality of SbTMVP candidates; The device of claim 11 , configured to determine a number of seeds according to the determined maximum number of input candidates.

16. 12. The device of claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to reorder the plurality of SbTMVP candidates using Adaptive Reordering of Merge Candidates (ARMC).

17. The processor, The device of claim 11 , further configured to select an SbTMVP candidate from the plurality of SbTMVP candidates based on a threshold.

18. The processor, determining the plurality of SbTMVP candidates based on a number of seeds; The device of claim 11 , further configured to include a flag in the video data indicating the number of seeds.

19. The processor, reordering the plurality of SbTMVP candidates using ARMC; The device of claim 11 , further configured to include a flag in the video data indicating use of an SbTMVP ARMC process.

20. The device of claim 11 , wherein the neighboring blocks of the current block have motion vectors that use a co-located picture as a reference picture.

21. The device of any one of claims 1 to 18, further comprising a memory operatively connected to the processor.

22. 1. A method for a video decoding device, comprising: determining a plurality of sub-block temporal motion vector predictor (SbTMVP) candidates, each of the plurality of SbTMVP candidates being obtained using a motion shift associated with an input candidate, the input candidates including neighboring blocks of a current block; Sorting the plurality of SbTMVP candidates based on template matching costs of the plurality of SbTMVP candidates; and decrypting the current block using one of the reordered SbTMVP candidates.

23. The template matching cost indicates an accuracy in predicting the motion of video content, and when sorting the plurality of SbTMVP candidates based on the template matching costs of the plurality of SbTMVP candidates, the method comprises:

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising sorting the plurality of SbTMVP candidates based on lowest template matching cost.

24. 23. The method of claim 22, wherein the input candidates include one or more of a spatial neighborhood of a current block, a merge list, a history-based motion vector predictor (HMVP), a bidirectional motion vector, or a zero motion vector.

25. The method further comprising: selecting a subset of the sorted plurality of SbTMVP candidates; 23. The method of claim 22, further comprising: using one of the selected subset of the reordered SbTMVP candidates to decode the current block.

26. The method further comprising: determining a maximum number of seeds to be used to determine the plurality of SbTMVP candidates; 23. The method of claim 22, further comprising: determining a number of seeds according to the determined maximum number of input candidates.

27. 23. The method of claim 22, further comprising reordering the plurality of SbTMVP candidates using Adaptive Reordering of Merge Candidates (ARMC).

28. The method further comprising:

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising selecting a SbTMVP candidate from the plurality of SbTMVP candidates based on a threshold value.

29. The method further comprising: receiving a flag indicating a number of seeds; 23. The method of claim 22, further comprising: determining the plurality of SbTMVP candidates based on the flag and based on a number of the seeds.

30. The method is: receiving a flag indicating use of an SbTMVP ARMC process; 23. The method of claim 22, further comprising: reordering the plurality of SbTMVP candidates using ARMC based on the flags.

31. The method of claim 22 , wherein the neighboring blocks of the current block have motion vectors that use a co-located picture as a reference picture.

32. 1. A method for a video encoding device, comprising: determining a plurality of sub-block temporal motion vector predictor (SbTMVP) candidates, each of the plurality of SbTMVP candidates being obtained using a motion shift associated with an input candidate, the input candidates including neighboring blocks of a current block; Sorting the plurality of SbTMVP candidates based on template matching costs of the plurality of SbTMVP candidates; encoding the current block using one of the reordered SbTMVP candidates.

33. The template matching cost indicates an accuracy in predicting the motion of video content, and when sorting the plurality of SbTMVP candidates based on the template matching costs of the plurality of SbTMVP candidates, the method comprises:

33. The method of claim 32, further comprising sorting the plurality of SbTMVP candidates based on lowest template matching cost.

34. 33. The method of claim 32, wherein the input candidates include one or more of a spatial neighborhood of a current block, a merge list, a history-based motion vector predictor (HMVP), a bidirectional motion vector, or a zero motion vector.

35. The method further comprising: selecting a subset of the sorted plurality of SbTMVP candidates; 33. The method of claim 32, further comprising: using one of the selected subset of the reordered SbTMVP candidates to decode the current block.

36. The method further comprising: determining a maximum number of seeds to be used to determine the plurality of SbTMVP candidates; 33. The method of claim 32, further comprising: determining a number of seeds according to the determined maximum number of input candidates.

37. 33. The method of claim 32, further comprising reordering the plurality of SbTMVP candidates using Adaptive Reordering of Merge Candidates (ARMC).

38. The method further comprising:

33. The method of claim 32, further comprising selecting an SbTMVP candidate from the plurality of SbTMVP candidates based on a threshold value.

39. The method further comprising: determining the plurality of SbTMVP candidates based on a number of seeds; 33. The method of claim 32, further comprising: including a flag in the video data indicating the number of seeds.

40. The method further comprising: reordering the plurality of SbTMVP candidates using ARMC; and 33. The method of claim 32, further comprising including a flag in the video data indicating use of the SbTMVP ARMC process.

41. The method of claim 32 , wherein the neighboring blocks of the current block have motion vectors that use a co-located picture as a reference picture.

42. A computer program product stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium and comprising program code instructions for implementing the steps of the method according to at least one of claims 22 to 41 when executed by a processor.

43. A computer program comprising program code instructions for implementing the steps of the method according to at least one of claims 22 to 41, when the computer program is executed by a processor.

44. Video data comprising information representative of the current block encoded according to one of the methods of any one of claims 32 to 41.

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