Picture coding and decoding

• US 10,456,635 B2
• Filed: 11/06/2017
• Issued: 10/29/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/21/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Velos Media, LLC (Inception Holdings, LLC)
• Inventors: Sjoberg, Rickard, Priddle, Clinton
• Primary Examiner(s): Messmore, Jonathan R
• Application Number:
  US15/803,992
• Publication Number:
  US 20180056149A1
• Time in Patent Office: 722 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2053/0491 with added weights, e.g. changeable, replaceable
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/04 Heads
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0408 characterised by specific dimensions, e.g. thickness
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0433 with special sole configurations
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0454 Strengthening ribs on the rear surface of the impact face plate
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0458 with non-uniform thickness of the impact face plate
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/047 iron-type
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0475 with one or more enclosed cavities
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 60/02 Ballast means for adjusting the centre of mass A63B60/24, A63B60/54 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 60/54 with means for damping vibrations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/119 Adaptive subdivision aspects, e.g. subdivision of a picture into rectangular or non-rectangular coding blocks
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/174 the region being a slice, e.g. a line of blocks or a group of blocks
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/182 the unit being a pixel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/196 being specially adapted for the computation of encoding parameters, e.g. by averaging previously computed encoding parameters processing of motion vectors H04N19/513
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/30 using hierarchical techniques, e.g. scalability H04N19/63 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/31 in the temporal domain
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/33 in the spatial domain
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/436 using parallelised computational arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/46 Embedding additional information in the video signal during the compression process H04N19/517, H04N19/68, H04N19/70 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/70 characterised by syntax aspects related to video coding, e.g. related to compression standards
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/91 : Entropy coding, e.g. variable length coding [VLC] or arithmetic coding

Abstract

A picture with multiple slices is encoded by generating a coded slice representation for each of the slices. A slice flag is set to a first value for the first slice in the picture and corresponding slice flags of the remaining slices are set to a second defined value. A respective slice address is generated for each remaining slice to enable identification of the slice start position within the picture for the slice. A coded picture representation of the picture comprises the coded slice representations, the slice addresses and the slice flags. The slice flags enable differentiation between slices for which slice addresses are required and the slice per picture for which no slice address is needed to identify its slice start position.

Claims

1. A method of coding a picture comprising N≥

2 slices, said method comprising;

generating, for each slice of said N slices, a coded slice representation based on pixel values of pixels in said slice;

setting a slice flag associated with each of the said N slices, wherein

for a first slice of said N slices, setting the slice flag associated with the first slice to a first defined value to indicate that the first slice is the initial slice in the picture;

for each slice of N−

1 remaining slices of said N slices, setting the slice flag associated with each said slice to a second defined value;

generating, for each slice of said N−

1 remaining slices, a slice address allowing identification of a position of a first coding unit of each said slice within said picture, wherein each of said N−

1 slice addresses is signaled with a fixed length code; and

generating a coded picture representation of said picture comprising said N coded slice representations, said N−

1 slice addresses and said N slice flags.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising determining a length of each of said N−

1 slice addresses in terms of number of bits as one of ceil(log₂(P)) and ceil(log₂ (P−

1)), wherein ceil( ) denotes the ceiling function defined as ceil(x)=┌

x┐ and

outputs the smallest integer not less than x, and P denotes a total number of possible slice addresses in said picture.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said picture comprises multiple largest coding units, which have a selected size in terms of number of pixels and can be hierarchically split into multiple coding units having respective sizes that are smaller than said selected size, said method further comprising determining a length of each of said N−

1 slice addresses in terms of number of bits based on a hierarchical granularity selected for said picture, said hierarchical granularity defines a hierarchical level for slice border alignment within said picture, where said hierarchical level defines a size of a smallest possible addressable coding unit at which a start of a slice in said picture can be aligned.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein determining said length of each of said N−

1 slice addresses comprises determining said length of each of said N−

1 slice addresses based on said hierarchical granularity and based on a total number of largest coding units in said picture.

5. An apparatus for coding a picture comprising N≥

2 slices, said device comprising;

a processor; and

at least one memory, including computer program code configured to, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to perform operations including;

generate, for each slice of said N slices, a coded slice representation based on pixel values of pixels in said slice;

set a slice flag associated with each of the said N slices, wherein

for a first slice of said N slices, set the slice flag associated with the first slice to a first defined value to indicate that the first slice is the initial slice in the picture;

for each slice of N−

1 remaining slices of said N slices, set the slice flag associated with each said slice to a second defined value;

generate, for each slice of said N−

1 remaining slices, a slice address allowing identification of a position of a first coding unit of each said slice within said picture, wherein each of said N−

1 slice addresses is signaled with a fixed length code; and

generate a coded picture representation of said picture comprising said N coded slice representations, said N−

1 slice addresses and said N slice flags.

6. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the computer program code is further configured to, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to determine a length of each of said N−

1 slice addresses in terms of number of bits as one of ceil(log₂(P)) and ceil(log₂ (P−

1)), wherein ceil( ) denotes the ceiling function defined as ceil(x)=┌

x┐ and

outputs the smallest integer not less than x, and P denotes a total number of possible slice addresses in said picture.

7. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said picture comprises multiple largest coding units, which have a selected size in terms of number of pixels and can be hierarchically split into multiple coding units having respective sizes that are smaller than said selected size, and wherein the computer program code is further configured to, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to determine a length of each of said N−

1 slice addresses in terms of number of bits based on a hierarchical granularity selected for said picture, said hierarchical granularity defines a hierarchical level for slice border alignment within said picture, where said hierarchical level defines a size of a smallest possible addressable coding unit at which a start of a slice in said picture can be aligned.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein determining said length of each of said N−

1 slice addresses comprises determining said length of each of said N−

1 slice addresses based on said hierarchical granularity and based on a total number of largest coding units in said picture.