Adaptive Partition Coding for Texture-Guided Depth Blocks
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing coding schemes for sample arrays, including depth maps, face inefficiencies due to the need for additional side information to adapt block shapes to content, particularly with wedgelet-type partitioning leading to significant overhead.
Innovation Solution
A decoder and encoder that segment a reference block of a texture picture into bi-partitions based on texture features, transferring this segmentation to a depth/disparity map block for decoding/encoding, with adaptive coding options based on texture dispersion thresholds.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If wedgelet-type partitioning is used to adapt block shapes to content, then coding flexibility is improved, but side information overhead increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent copies the binary segmentation mask from the reference texture block directly to the depth block, eliminating the need to recompute or re-signals the partitioning. This copying approach maintains coding flexibility while avoiding the overhead of transmitting partitioning parameters for each block independently
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a binary segmentation mask as an intermediary representation that captures the essential partitioning information. Instead of transmitting complex wedgelet parameters, the system uses this intermediate binary mask to convey segmentation information efficiently from reference to current blocks
2Productivity
If block partitioning is adapted to content, then coding efficiency is improved, but signaling overhead increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses the reference texture block's segmentation information to automatically determine the partitioning for the depth block without requiring explicit signaling. The reference block essentially serves itself by providing the segmentation mask that is then reused for the current depth block
Solution Approach 2:
The segmentation mask is computed and available in advance for the reference texture block. This preliminary computation allows the system to reuse the segmentation information for the current depth block without performing the complex partitioning analysis again, reducing both computational complexity and signaling requirements
Data Source
AI summary
Although wedgelet-based partitioning seems to represent a better tradeoff between side information rate on the one hand and achievable variety in partitioning possibilities on the other hand, compared to contour partitioning, the ability to alleviate the constraints of the partitioning to the extent that the partitions have to be wedgelet partitions, enables applying relatively uncomplex statistical analysis onto overlaid spatially sampled texture information in order to derive a good predictor for the bi-segmentation in a depth/disparity map. Thus, in accordance with a first aspect it is exactly the increase of the freedom which alleviates the signaling overhead provided that co-located texture information in form of a picture is present. Another aspect pertains the possibility to save side information rate involved with signaling a respective coding mode supporting irregular partitioning.