Region merging and coding parameter reuse via merging

• US 10,621,614 B2
• Filed: 10/12/2012
• Issued: 04/14/2020
• 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:
  US13/650,635
• Publication Number:
  US 20130039423A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,741 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 a data stream comprising an array of information samples representing a picture at a resolution level, the decoder comprising:

an extractor configured for

extracting, from the data stream, a merge indicator with respect to a region currently being decoded within the 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 coding parameter associated with a selected candidate region of the resolution level,

identifying a set of candidate regions of the resolution level with respect to the region currently being decoded,

if a number of candidate regions in the set is greater than one, extracting a candidate identifier from the data stream, the candidate identifier identifying a specific one of the set of candidate regions, and

selecting the specific one of the set of candidate regions as the selected candidate region in accordance with the candidate identifier;

an entropy decoder configured for entropy decoding the candidate identifier using context modeling based on a single probability model; and

a reconstructor configured for

determining whether the region currently being decoded is to be reconstructed by copying or computing the at least one coding parameter based on one or more coding parameters associated with the selected candidate region,

copying, if a determination is to copy, the at least one coding parameter from the one or more coding parameters,

computing, if the determination is to compute, the at least one coding parameter based on a prediction of the at least one coding parameter using the one or more coding parameters and a prediction residual of the at least one coding parameter, and

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

2. The decoder of claim 1, wherein the extractor is further configured for determining the at least one coding parameter when the set of candidate regions have at least one identical coding parameter.

3. The decoder of claim 1, wherein the extractor is further configured to extract, from the data stream, the candidate identifier when the set of candidate regions do not have an identical coding parameter.

4. 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.

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

6. The decoder of claim 1, wherein the array of information samples comprises an array of luma samples along with two arrays of chroma samples per frame, 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, wherein the array of information samples is one of samples arrays related to different color components which form color planes of a picture, and the decoder is configured to decode the different color planes of the picture independently.

8. A method of decoding a data stream comprising an array of information samples representing a picture at a resolution level, the method comprising:

extracting, from the data stream, a merge indicator with respect to a region currently being decoded within the 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 coding parameters associated with a selected candidate region of the resolution level;

identifying a set of candidate regions of the resolution level with respect to the region currently being decoded;

if a number of candidate regions in the set is greater than one, extracting a candidate identifier from the data stream, the candidate identifier identifying a specific one of the set of candidate regions;

selecting the specific one of the set of candidate regions as the selected candidate region in accordance with the candidate identifier;

entropy decoding the candidate identifier using context modeling based on a single probability model;

determining whether the region currently being decoded is to be reconstructed by copying or computing the at least one coding parameter based on one or more coding parameters associated with the selected candidate region;

copying, if a determination is to copy, the at least one coding parameter from the one or more coding parameters;

computing, if the determination is to compute, the at least one coding parameter based on a prediction of the at least one coding parameter using the one or more coding parameters and a prediction residual of the at least one coding parameter; and

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

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising determining the at least one coding parameter when the set of candidate regions have at least one identical coding parameter.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the extracting, from the data stream, the candidate identifier is performed when the set of candidate regions do not have an identical coding parameter.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising 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.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the array of information samples includes depth information.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the array of information samples comprises an array of luma samples along with two arrays of chroma samples per frame, 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.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the array of information samples is one of samples arrays related to different color components which form color planes of a picture, and wherein the different color planes of the picture are decoded independently.

15. A non-transitory machine readable digital storage medium having computer instructions stored thereon for decoding a data stream comprising an array of information samples representing a picture at a resolution level, wherein the computer instructions, when read by the machine, causes the machine to at least perform:

extracting, from the data stream, a merge indicator with respect to a region currently being decoded within the 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 coding parameter associated with a selected candidate region of the resolution level;

identifying a set of candidate regions of the resolution level with respect to the region currently being decoded;

if a number of candidate regions in the set is greater than one, extracting a candidate identifier from the data stream, the candidate identifier identifying a specific one of the set of candidate regions;

selecting the specific one of the set of candidate regions as the selected candidate region in accordance with the candidate identifier;

entropy decoding the candidate identifier using context modeling based on a single probability model;

determining whether the region currently being decoded is to be reconstructed by copying or computing the at least one coding parameter based on one or more coding parameters associated with the selected candidate region;

copying, if a determination is to copy, the at least one coding parameter from the one or more coding parameters;

computing, if the determination is to compute, the at least one coding parameter based on a prediction of the at least one coding parameter using the one or more coding parameters and a prediction residual of the at least one coding parameter; and

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

16. The non-transitory machine readable digital storage medium of claim 15, wherein the computer instructions, when read by the machine, further causes the machine to perform determining the at least one coding parameter when the set of candidate regions have at least one identical coding parameter.

17. The non-transitory machine readable digital storage medium of claim 15, wherein the computer instructions, when read by the machine, further causes the machine to perform the extracting, from the data stream, of the candidate identifier when the set of candidate regions do not have an identical coding parameter.

18. The non-transitory machine readable digital storage medium of claim 15, wherein the computer instructions, when read by the machine, further causes the machine to perform 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.

19. The non-transitory machine readable digital storage medium of claim 15, wherein the array of information samples includes depth information.

20. The non-transitory machine readable digital storage medium of claim 15, wherein the array of information samples comprises an array of luma samples along with two arrays of chroma samples per frame, 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.

21. The non-transitory machine readable digital storage medium of claim 15, wherein the array of information samples is one of samples arrays related to different color components which form color planes of a picture, and wherein the different color planes of the picture are decoded independently.

22. An encoder for encoding an array of information samples representing a picture at a resolution level into a data stream, the encoder comprising:

a sub-divider configured for dividing the 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 one of the plurality of regions that is currently being coded, wherein the merge indicator is indicative of whether the region currently being coded is to be reconstructed based on at least one coding parameter associated with a selected candidate region selected from a set of candidate regions of the resolution level, identified with respect to the region currently being coded,

encoding, into the data stream, a candidate identifier that identifies a specific one of the set of candidate regions as the selected candidate region, if a number of candidate regions in the set is greater than one, the encoding of the candidate identifier including entropy encoding the candidate identifier using context modeling based on a single probability model,

determining whether the region currently being coded is to be reconstructed by copying or computing the at least one coding parameter based on one or more coding parameters associated with the selected candidate region,

copying, if a determination is to copy, the at least one coding parameter from the one or more coding parameters,

computing, if the determination is to compute, the at least one coding parameter based on a prediction of the at least one coding parameter using the one or more coding parameters and a prediction residual of the at least one coding parameter, and

encoding, into the data stream, the one or more coding parameters associated with the selected candidate region.

23. The encoder of claim 22, wherein the data stream generator is further configured for encoding, into the data stream, the candidate identifier when the set of candidate regions do not have an identical coding parameter.

24. The encoder of claim 22, wherein the sub-divider is further configured for dividing the array of information samples into the plurality of regions by

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

and

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

25. The encoder of claim 22, wherein the array of information samples includes depth information.

26. The encoder of claim 22, wherein the array of information samples comprises an array of luma samples along with two arrays of chroma samples per frame, 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.

27. The encoder of claim 22, wherein the array of information samples is one of samples arrays related to different color components which form color planes of a picture, and the encoder is configured to encode the different color planes of the picture independently.

28. A method of encoding an array of information samples representing a picture at a resolution level into a data stream, comprising:

dividing the array of information samples into a plurality of regions;

encoding, into the data stream, a merge indicator with respect to one of the plurality of regions currently being coded, wherein the merge indicator is indicative of whether the region currently being coded is to be reconstructed based on at least one coding parameter associated with a selected candidate region selected from a set of candidate regions of the resolution level, identified with respect to the region currently being coded;

encoding, into the data stream, a candidate identifier that identifies a specific one of the set of candidate regions as the selected candidate region, if a number of candidate regions in the set is greater than one, the encoding of the candidate identifier including entropy encoding the candidate identifier using context modeling based on a single probability model;

determining whether the region currently being coded is to be reconstructed by copying or computing the at least one coding parameter based on one or more coding parameters associated with the selected candidate region;

copying, if a determination is to copy, the at least one coding parameter from the one or more coding parameters;

computing, if the determination is to compute, the at least one coding parameter based on a prediction of the at least one coding parameter using the one or more coding parameters and a prediction residual of the at least one coding parameter; and

encoding, into the data stream, the one or more coding parameters associated with the selected candidate region.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the encoding, into the data stream, the candidate identifier is performed when the set of candidate regions do not have an identical coding parameter.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein said dividing the array of information samples into the plurality of regions comprises

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

and

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

31. The method of claim 28, wherein the array of information samples includes depth information.

32. The method of claim 28, wherein the array of information samples comprises an array of luma samples along with two arrays of chroma samples per frame, 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.

33. The method of claim 28, wherein the array of information samples is one of samples arrays related to different color components which form color planes of a picture, and wherein the different color planes of the picture are encoded independently.

34. A non-transitory machine readable digital storage medium having computer instructions stored thereon for encoding an array of information samples representing a picture at a resolution level into a data stream, wherein the computer instructions, when read by the machine, causing the machine to at least perform:

dividing the array of information samples into a plurality of regions;

encoding, into the data stream, a merge indicator with respect to one of the plurality of regions currently being coded, wherein the merge indicator is indicative of whether the region currently being coded is to be reconstructed based on at least one coding parameter associated with a selected candidate region selected from a set of candidate regions of the resolution level, identified with respect to the region currently being coded;

encoding, into the data stream, a candidate identifier that identifies a specific one of the set of candidate regions as the selected candidate region, if a number of candidate regions in the set is greater than one, the encoding of the candidate identifier including entropy encoding the candidate identifier using context modeling based on a single probability model;

determining whether the region currently being coded is to be reconstructed by copying or computing the at least one coding parameter based on one or more coding parameters associated with the selected candidate region;

copying, if a determination is to copy, the at least one coding parameter from the one or more coding parameters;

computing, if the determination is to compute, the at least one coding parameter based on a prediction of the at least one coding parameter using the one or more coding parameters and a prediction residual of the at least one coding parameter; and

encoding, into the data stream, the one or more coding parameters associated with the selected candidate region.

35. The non-transitory machine readable digital storage medium of claim 34, wherein the computer instructions, when read by the machine, further causing the machine to at least perform the encoding, into the data stream, of the candidate identifier when the set of candidate regions do not have an identical coding parameter.

36. The non-transitory machine readable digital storage medium of claim 34, wherein, for dividing the array of information samples into the plurality of regions, the computer instructions, when read by the machine, further causing the machine to at least perform

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

and

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

37. The non-transitory machine readable digital storage medium of claim 34, wherein the array of information samples includes depth information.

38. The non-transitory machine readable digital storage medium of claim 34, wherein the array of information samples comprises an array of luma samples along with two arrays of chroma samples per frame, 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.

39. The non-transitory machine readable digital storage medium of claim 34, wherein the array of information samples is one of samples arrays related to different color components which form color planes of a picture, and wherein the different color planes of the picture are encoded independently.

40. A data stream stored in a non-transitory storage medium, the data stream comprising encoded information including an array of information samples representing a picture at a resolution level which is divided into a plurality of regions, the data stream further comprising,

a merge indicator with respect to one of the plurality of regions, wherein the merge indicator is indicative of whether the region is to be reconstructed based on at least one coding parameter associated with a selected candidate region selected from a set of candidate regions of the resolution level, identified with respect to the region;

a candidate identifier that identifies a specific one of the set of candidate regions as the selected candidate region, if a number of candidate regions in the set is greater than one, wherein the candidate identifier is entropy encoded into the data stream using context modeling based on a single probability model; and

one or more coding parameters associated with the selected candidate region, from which the at least one coding parameter is copied or computed, and used to reconstruct the region, wherein computing the at least one coding parameter is based on a prediction of the at least one coding parameter using the one or more coding parameters and a prediction residual of the at least one coding parameter.

41. The data stream of claim 40, wherein the candidate identifier is encoded into the data stream when the set of candidate regions do not have an identical coding parameter.

42. The data stream of claim 40, further comprising a maximum region size and multi-tree subdivision information, wherein the array of information samples is divided into the plurality of regions 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.

43. The data stream of claim 40, wherein the array of information samples includes depth information.

44. The data stream of claim 40, wherein the array of information samples comprises an array of luma samples along with two arrays of chroma samples per frame, 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.

45. The data stream of claim 40, wherein the array of information samples is one of samples arrays related to different color components and forming color planes of a picture, and wherein the different color planes of the picture are encoded independently.