METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR ENCODING DATA

• US 20130084018A1
• Filed: 09/28/2012
• Published: 04/04/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Arm Ltd. (United Kingdom) (SoftBank Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Arm Ltd. (United Kingdom) (SoftBank Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Nystad, Jorn
• Granted Patent: US 8,891,886 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/232
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 9/00 Image coding bandwidth or redundancy reduction for static pictures H04N1/41; coding or decoding of static colour picture signals H04N1/64; methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals H04N19/00
• 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 19/136 Incoming video signal characteristics or properties
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/176 the region being a block, e.g. a macroblock

Abstract

A graphics texture data encoding arrangement in which the texels in a texel block 30 to be encoded are divided into different partitions within the block. A reference partitioning pattern for a texel block to be encoded is generated by using a partitioning function 32 to partition the data values for the texels into a number of data value partitions, and then sorting the individual texels in the texel block into respective partitions 33 based on their values. A set of predefined partitioning patterns 35 that the encoding scheme supports is then compared 36 to the generated reference partitioning pattern. The predefined partitioning pattern that best matches 39 the generated reference partitioning pattern is then used 42 to encode the block of texels.

Claims

1. A method of determining which one of a set of plural predefined partitioning patterns to use to divide data elements of a block of data elements to be encoded into separate partitions within the block for encoding purposes, the method comprising:

generating a reference partitioning pattern for the block of data elements using a partitioning function;

comparing some or all of the predefined partitioning patterns in the set of plural predefined partitioning patterns to the generated reference partitioning pattern; and

selecting one of the predefined partitioning patterns in the set of plural predefined partitioning patterns as the partitioning pattern to use when encoding the block of data elements on the basis of the comparison.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the partitioning function comprises a clustering function that partitions the data element values into a given number of partitions of data values;

and the step of generating a reference partitioning pattern for the block of data elements using a partitioning function comprises;

using the clustering function to partition the data element values into a given number of partitions of data values, and then allocating each data element in the block to a respective data value partition based on its value, to thereby give the reference partitioning pattern for the block.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the partitioning function comprises a k-means clustering-type function.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating plural reference partitioning patterns, each containing a different number of partitions.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of comparing some or all of the predefined partitioning patterns in the set of plural predefined partitioning patterns to the generated reference partitioning pattern comprises:

representing each partitioning pattern to be compared as an array of partition indices, one for each data element in the block, and, for each pair of partitioning patterns being compared, comparing the arrays representing the partitioning patterns to assess how closely they match.

6. The method claim 1, wherein the comparison is carried out for each possible permutation of the partition allocations in the reference partitioning pattern.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

using the comparison process to identify a set of candidate predefined partitioning patterns;

subjecting the so-identified candidate predefined partitioning patterns to further analysis; and

selecting the partitioning pattern to use from the set of identified candidate predefined partitioning patterns on the basis of the further analysis of those identified candidate predefined partitioning patterns.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

encoding the set of data elements as a block of data representing the data elements using the selected predefined partitioning pattern.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising including in the encoded data block information to allow a decoder to identify which of the predefined partitioning patterns has been used for the encoded data block.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising including in the encoded data block information to be used by a decoder to configure a partitioning pattern generation function so as to generate the predefined partitioning pattern that has been used for the encoded data block.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the data elements are texture data elements for use in a graphics processing system.

12. An apparatus for determining which one of a set of plural predefined partitioning patterns to use to divide data elements of a block of data elements to be encoded into separate partitions within the block for encoding purposes, the apparatus comprising:

processing circuitry configured to generate a reference partitioning pattern for the block of data elements using a partitioning function;

processing circuitry configured to compare some or all of the predefined partitioning patterns in the set of plural predefined partitioning patterns to the generated reference partitioning pattern; and

processing circuitry configured to select one of the predefined partitioning patterns in the set of plural predefined partitioning patterns as the partitioning pattern to use when encoding the block of data elements on the basis of the comparison.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein:

the partitioning function comprises a clustering function that partitions the data element values into a given number of partitions of data values;

and the processing circuitry configured to generate a reference partitioning pattern for the block of data elements using a partitioning function comprises;

processing circuitry configured to use the clustering function to partition the data element values into a given number of partitions of data values, and to then allocate each data element in the block to a respective data value partition based on its value, to thereby give the reference partitioning pattern for the block.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the partitioning function comprises a k-means clustering-type function.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, comprising processing circuitry configured to generate plural reference partitioning patterns, each containing a different number of partitions.

16. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the processing circuitry configured to compare some or all of the predefined partitioning patterns in the set of plural predefined partitioning patterns to the generated reference partitioning pattern comprises:

processing circuitry configured to represent each partitioning pattern to be compared as an array of partition indices, one for each data element in the block, and to, for each pair of partitioning patterns being compared, compare the arrays representing the partitioning patterns to assess how closely they match.

17. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the comparison is carried out for each possible permutation of the partition allocations in the reference partitioning pattern.

18. The apparatus of claim 12, comprising:

processing circuitry configured to use the comparison process to identify a set of candidate predefined partitioning patterns;

processing circuitry configured to subject the so-identified candidate predefined partitioning patterns to further analysis; and

processing circuitry configured to select the partitioning pattern to use from the set of identified candidate predefined partitioning patterns on the basis of the further analysis of those identified candidate predefined partitioning patterns.

19. The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising:

processing circuitry configured to encode the set of data elements as a block of data representing the data elements using the selected predefined partitioning pattern.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, comprising processing circuitry configured to include in the encoded data block information to allow a decoder to identify which of the predefined partitioning patterns has been used for the encoded data block.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, comprising processing circuitry configured to include in the encoded data block information to be used by a decoder to configure a partitioning pattern generation function so as to generate the predefined partitioning pattern that has been used for the encoded data block.

22. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the data elements are texture data elements for use in a graphics processing system.

23. A computer readable storage medium storing computer software code which when executing on one or more processors performs a method of determining which one of a set of plural predefined partitioning patterns to use to divide data elements of a block of data elements to be encoded into separate partitions within the block for encoding purposes, the method comprising:

generating a reference partitioning pattern for the block of data elements using a partitioning function;

comparing some or all of the predefined partitioning patterns in the set of plural predefined partitioning patterns to the generated reference partitioning pattern; and

selecting one of the predefined partitioning patterns in the set of plural predefined partitioning patterns as the partitioning pattern to use when encoding the block of data elements on the basis of the comparison.