Region merging and coding parameter reuse via merging

• US 10,460,344 B2
• Filed: 11/20/2018
• Issued: 10/29/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GE Video Compression, LLC (General Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: GE Video Compression, LLC (General Electric Company)
• Inventors: Helle, Philipp, Oudin, Simon, Winken, Martin, Marpe, Detlev, Wiegand, Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): Retallick, Kaitlin A
• Application Number:
  US16/197,210
• Publication Number:
  US 20190087857A1
• Time in Patent Office: 343 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/105 Selection of the reference unit for prediction within a chosen coding or prediction mode, e.g. adaptive choice of position and number of pixels used for prediction
• 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 19/139 Analysis of motion vectors, e.g. their magnitude, direction, variance or reliability
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/14 Coding unit complexity, e.g. amount of activity or edge presence estimation H04N19/146 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/147 according to rate distortion criteria rate-distortion as a criterion for motion estimation H04N19/567
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/176 the region being a block, e.g. a macroblock
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/186 the unit being a colour or a chrominance component
• 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 19/197 including determination of the initial value of an encoding parameter H04N19/56 takes precedence
• 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 19/463 by compressing encoding parameters before transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/52 by predictive encoding
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/61 in combination with predictive coding
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/96 Tree coding, e.g. quad-tree coding

Abstract

A favorable merging or grouping of simply connected regions into which the array of information samples is sub-divided, is coded with a reduced amount of data. To this end, a predetermined relative locational relationship is defined enabling an identifying, for a predetermined simply connected region, of simply connected regions within the plurality of simply connected regions which have the predetermined relative locational relationship to the predetermined simply connected region. Namely, if the number is zero, a merge indicator for the predetermined simply connected region may be absent within the data stream. In other embodiments, spatial sub-division is performed depending on a first subset of syntax elements, followed by combining spatially neighboring simply connected regions depending on a second subset of syntax elements, to obtain an intermediate sub-division.

Claims

1. A decoder for decoding arrays of information samples encoded in a data stream each representing a picture, the decoder comprising:

an extractor configured for;

extracting, from the data stream, a merge indicator with respect to a region currently being decoded within an array of information samples, wherein the region currently being decoded is one of a plurality of regions obtained by dividing the array of information samples and the merge indicator is indicative of whether the region currently being decoded is to be reconstructed based on at least one motion coding parameter determined based on a candidate motion coding parameter,

identifying a set of candidate motion coding parameters,

extracting information related to a candidate identifier from the data stream, and

selecting the candidate motion coding parameter from the set of candidate motion coding parameters in accordance with the candidate identifier; and

a reconstructor configured for;

copying, if an indication is to copy, a motion vector of the candidate motion coding parameter as a motion vector of the at least one motion coding parameter,

computing, if the indication is to compute, the at least one motion coding parameter based on the candidate motion coding parameter, the computing including;

determining a prediction of a motion vector of the at least one motion coding parameter based on a motion vector of the candidate motion coding parameter,

extracting, from the data stream, a prediction residual of the motion vector of the at least one motion coding parameter, and

combining the prediction and the prediction residual of the motion vector of the at least one motion coding parameter to obtain the motion vector of the at least one motion coding parameter, and

reconstructing the region currently being decoded based on the motion vector of the at least one motion coding parameter.

2. The decoder of claim 1, wherein the extractor is configured for determining the at least one motion coding parameter when at least some of the set of candidate motion coding parameters are identical.

3. The decoder of claim 1, wherein the extractor is configured for extracting the candidate identifier from the data stream when none of the set of candidate motion coding parameters are identical.

4. The decoder of claim 1, wherein the array of information samples includes depth information.

5. The decoder of claim 1, wherein the picture includes arrays of information samples related to different color planes and the decoder is configured to decode the different color planes of the picture independently.

6. The decoder of claim 5, wherein the different color planes comprise an array of luma samples along with two arrays of chroma samples, wherein a first scaling factor for a spatial resolution of the arrays of chroma samples relative to the array of luma samples in the horizontal direction differs from a second scaling factor for a spatial resolution of the arrays of chroma samples relative to the array of luma samples in the vertical direction.

7. The decoder of claim 1, further comprising an entropy decoder configured to entropy decode the merge indicator using a context based on a first plurality of contexts.

8. The decoder of claim 1, wherein the entropy decoder is configured to entropy decode the candidate identifier using a context based on a second plurality of contexts.

29. The decoder of claim 1, further comprising a sub-divider configured for obtaining the plurality of regions by:

partitioning the array of information samples into a first set of regions in accordance with a maximum region size extracted from the data stream; and

sub-partitioning at least a subset of the first set of regions into a set of sub-regions based on multi-tree subdivision information associated therewith.

30. The decoder of claim 29, wherein the extractor is configured for processing the plurality of regions in a depth-first traversal order.

9. A method of decoding arrays of information samples encoded in a data stream each representing a picture, the method comprising:

extracting, from the data stream, a merge indicator with respect to a region currently being decoded within an array of information samples, wherein the region currently being decoded is one of a plurality of regions obtained by dividing the array of information samples and the merge indicator is indicative of whether the region currently being decoded is to be reconstructed based on at least one motion coding parameter determined based on a candidate motion coding parameter;

identifying a set of candidate motion coding parameters;

extracting information related to a candidate identifier from the data stream;

selecting the candidate motion coding parameter from the set of candidate motion coding parameters in accordance with the candidate identifier;

copying, if an indication is to copy, a motion vector of the candidate motion coding parameter as a motion vector of the at least one motion coding parameter;

computing, if the indication is to compute, the at least one motion coding parameter based on the candidate motion coding parameter, the computing including;

determining a prediction of a motion vector of the at least one motion coding parameter based on a motion vector of the candidate motion coding parameter,

extracting, from the data stream, a prediction residual of the motion vector of the at least one motion coding parameter, and

combining the prediction and the prediction residual of the motion vector of the at least one motion coding parameter to obtain the motion vector of the at least one motion coding parameter; and

reconstructing the region currently being decoded based on the motion vector of the at least one motion coding parameter.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the extracting the merge indicator includes determining the at least one motion coding parameter when at least some of the set of candidate motion coding parameters are identical.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the extracting the candidate identifier from the data stream is performed when none of the set of candidate motion coding parameters are identical.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the array of information samples includes depth information.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the picture includes arrays of information samples related to different color planes and the different color planes of the picture are decoded independently.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the different color planes comprise an array of luma samples along with two arrays of chroma samples, wherein a first scaling factor for a spatial resolution of the arrays of chroma samples relative to the array of luma samples in the horizontal direction differs from a second scaling factor for a spatial resolution of the arrays of chroma samples relative to the array of luma samples in the vertical direction.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising entropy decoding the merge indicator using a context based on a first plurality of contexts.

16. The method of claim 9, further comprising entropy decoding the candidate identifier using a context based on a second plurality of contexts.

17. An encoder for encoding arrays of information samples into a data stream, each array representing a picture into a data stream, the encoder comprising:

a sub-divider configured for dividing an array of information samples into a plurality of regions; and

a data stream generator configured for;

encoding, into the data stream, a merge indicator with respect to a region currently being encoded within an array of information samples, wherein the region currently being encoded is one of a plurality of regions obtained by dividing the array of information samples and the merge indicator is indicative of whether the region currently being encoded is to be reconstructed based on at least one motion coding parameter determined based on a candidate motion coding parameter,

encoding, into the data stream, a candidate identifier that identifies a candidate motion coding parameter from a set of candidate motion coding parameters,

wherein if an indication is to copy, a motion vector of the candidate motion coding parameter is copied as a motion vector of the at least one motion coding parameter, and

if the indication is to compute, the at least one motion coding parameter is computed based on the candidate motion coding parameter, which includes;

determining a prediction of a motion vector of the at least one motion coding parameter based on a motion vector of the candidate motion coding parameter, and

combining the prediction and a prediction residual of the motion vector of the at least one motion coding parameter to obtain the motion vector of the at least one motion coding parameter, and

encoding, into the data stream, the motion vector of the at least one motion coding parameter and the prediction residual of the motion vector of the at least one motion coding parameter.

18. The encoder of claim 17, wherein the data stream generator is further configured for encoding, into the data stream, the candidate identifier when the set of candidate motion coding parameters do not share an identical motion coding parameter.

19. The encoder of claim 17, wherein the array of information samples includes depth information.

20. The encoder of claim 17, wherein the picture includes arrays of information samples related to different color planes and the encoder is configured to encode the different color planes of the picture independently.

21. The encoder of claim 20, wherein the different color planes comprise an array of luma samples along with two arrays of chroma samples, wherein a first scaling factor for a spatial resolution of the arrays of chroma samples relative to the array of luma samples in the horizontal direction differs from a second scaling factor for a spatial resolution of the arrays of chroma samples relative to the array of luma samples in the vertical direction.

22. The encoder of claim 17, wherein the data stream generator is further configured for determining the at least one motion coding parameter when at least some of the set of candidate motion coding parameters share at least one identical motion coding parameter.

23. The encoder of claim 17, further comprising an entropy encoder configured for entropy encoding the merge indicator using a context based on a first plurality of contexts.

24. The encoder of claim 17, further comprising an entropy encoder configured for entropy encoding the candidate identifier using a context based on a second plurality of contexts.

25. The encoder of claim 17, wherein the sub-divider is configured for obtaining the plurality of regions by:

partitioning the array of information samples into a first set of regions in accordance with a maximum region size encoded into the data stream; and

sub-partitioning at least a subset of the first set of regions into a set of sub-regions based on multi-tree subdivision information associated therewith.

26. A non-transitory computer-readable medium for storing data associated with a video, comprising:

a data stream stored in the non-transitory computer-readable medium, the data stream comprising encoded information related to an array of information samples representing a picture, the data stream further comprising,

a merge indicator with respect to a region currently being encoded within an array of information samples, wherein the region currently being encoded is one of a plurality of regions obtained by dividing the array of information samples and the merge indicator is indicative of whether the region currently being encoded is to be encoded based on at least one motion coding parameter determined based on a candidate motion coding parameter;

a candidate identifier that identifies a candidate motion coding parameter from a set of candidate motion coding parameters;

a prediction residual of a motion vector of the at least one motion coding parameter; and

the set of candidate motion coding parameters associated with the candidate motion coding parameter is selected, wherein;

if an indication is to copy, a motion vector of the candidate motion coding parameter is copied as a motion vector of the at least one motion coding parameter, and

if the indication is to compute, the at least one motion coding parameter is computed based on the candidate motion coding parameter, which includes;

determining a prediction of a motion vector of the at least one motion coding parameter based on a motion vector of the candidate motion coding parameter, and

combining the prediction and the prediction residual of the motion vector of the at least one motion coding parameter to obtain the motion vector of the at least one motion coding parameter, wherein the region currently being encoded is encoded based on the motion vector of the at least one motion coding parameter.

27. The computer-readable medium of claim 26, wherein the picture includes arrays of information samples related to different color planes and the different color planes of the picture are encoded independently.

28. The computer-readable medium of claim 26, the data stream further comprising a maximum region size, wherein the plurality of regions is obtained by:

partitioning the array of information samples into a first set of regions in accordance with the maximum region size, and

sub-partitioning at least a subset of the first set of regions into a set of sub-regions based on multi-tree subdivision information associated therewith.