Picture coding and decoding

• US 8,861,615 B2
• Filed: 06/29/2011
• Issued: 10/14/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/21/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Sjoberg, Rickard, Priddle, Clinton
• Primary Examiner(s): Ortiz Criado, Jorge L
• Assistant Examiner(s): MYERS III, PAUL W
• Application Number:
  US13/144,359
• Publication Number:
  US 20120140832A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,203 Days
• Field of Search: 375/240.12, 375/E7.243, 375/E7.027, 375/240.26, 375/240.02
• US Class Current: 375/240.26
• 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 (1) with multiple slices (2-5) is encoded by determining a hierarchical granularity for the picture (1) defining a hierarchical level for slice border alignments. Address information allowing identification for a respective slice start is determined for at least a portion of the slices (2-5) based on the hierarchical granularity. The pixel values of the slices are encoded to generate coded slice representations (56). These coded slice representations (56) are included together with the address information into a coded picture representation (50) to which information of the hierarchical granularity is associated. The hierarchical granularity provides a flexible way of defining at which coding unit level slice borders can be present in the picture (1).

Claims

1. A method of coding a picture comprising multiple slices and being composed of multiple largest coding units having a selected size in terms of number of pixels, said method comprises:

determining a hierarchical granularity for said picture defining a hierarchical level for slice border alignment, said hierarchical level defining a size of a smallest possible addressable coding unit at which a start of a slice in said picture can be aligned, said multiple largest coding units can be hierarchically split into multiple coding units having respective sizes that are smaller than said selected size;

generating, for at least a portion of said multiple slices and based on said hierarchical granularity, address information identifying a respective first coding unit of said at least a portion of said multiple slices within said picture, wherein generating said address information comprises generating, for each slice of said multiple slices except a first slice in said picture and based on said hierarchical granularity, said address information identifying a respective first coding unit of said each slice of said multiple slices except said first slice;

generating a respective coded slice representation of each slice of said multiple slices;

including said respective coded slice representation and said address information in a coded picture representation of said picture; and

associating said information of said hierarchical granularity to said coded picture representation.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein associating said information of said hierarchical granularity comprising including said information of said hierarchical granularity in said coded picture representation.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein including said information of said hierarchical granularity in said coded picture representation comprises including said information of said hierarchical granularity in a picture parameter set associated with said coded picture representation applicable to said multiple slices.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising determining, for said at least a portion of said multiple slices, the length of said address information based on said hierarchical granularity, wherein generating said address information comprises generating, for said at least a portion of said multiple slices, said address information based on said length of said address information.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

determining, for said at least a portion of said multiple slices, the coordinates of a position of a largest coding unit within said picture; and

determining, for said at least a portion of said multiple slices, the coordinates of a position of said first coding unit within said largest coding unit, wherein generating said address information comprises generating said address information based on said coordinates of said position of said largest coding unit, said coordinates of said position of said first coding unit and said hierarchical granularity.

6. A method of decoding a coded picture representation of a picture comprising multiple slices and being composed of multiple largest coding units having a selected size in terms of number of pixels, said method comprises:

retrieving information of a hierarchical granularity associated said coded picture presentation, said hierarchical granularity defining a hierarchical level for slice border alignment, said hierarchical level defining a size of a smallest possible addressable coding unit at which a start of a slice in said picture can be aligned, said multiple largest coding units can be hierarchically split into multiple coding units having respective sizes that are smaller than said selected size;

retrieving address information from said coded picture representation based on said information of said hierarchical granularity, said address information identifying a first coding unit of each slice of said multiple slices except a first slice in said picture;

identifying, based on said address information, a position of a first coding unit of a slice within said picture except for said first slice in said picture; and

generating a decoded representation of pixel values of the pixels in said first coding unit based on said coded picture representation.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein retrieving information of said hierarchical granularity comprises retrieving said information of said hierarchical granularity from said coded picture presentation.

8. The method according to claim 6, further comprising determining a length of said address information based on said hierarchical granularity, wherein retrieving said address information comprises retrieving said address information from said coded picture representation based on said length of said address information.

9. The method according to claim 6, wherein identifying said position of said first coding unit comprises:

identifying a position of a largest coding unit within said picture based on said address information; and

identifying a position of said first coding unit within said largest coding unit based on said address information.

10. A device for coding a picture comprising multiple slices and being composed of multiple largest coding units having a selected size in terms of number of pixels, said device comprises:

a granularity determiner configured to determine a hierarchical granularity for said picture defining a hierarchical level for slice border alignment, said hierarchical level defining a size of a smallest possible addressable coding unit at which a start of a slice in said picture can be aligned, said multiple largest coding units can be hierarchically split into multiple coding units having respective sizes that are smaller than said selected size;

a representation generator configured to generate a respective coded slice representation of each slice of said multiple slices;

an address information generator configured to generate, for at least a portion of said multiple slices and based on said hierarchical granularity, address information identifying a respective first coding unit of said at least a portion of said multiple slices within said picture, wherein said address information generator is configured to generate, for each slice of said multiple slices except a first slice in said picture and based on said hierarchical granularity, address information identifying a respective first coding unit of said each slice of said multiple slices except said first slice; and

a representation manager configured to include said respective coded slice representation and said address information in a coded picture representation of said picture and associate information of said hierarchical granularity to said coded picture representation.

11. The device according to claim 10, wherein said representation manager is configured to include said information of said hierarchical granularity in said coded picture representation.

12. The device according to claim 10, wherein said representation manager is configured to include said information of said hierarchical granularity in a picture parameter set associated with said coded picture representation applicable to said multiple slices.

13. The device according to claim 10, wherein said address information generator is configured to determine, for said at least a portion of said multiple slices, the length of said address information based on said hierarchical granularity.

14. The device according to claim 10, wherein said address information generator is configured to:

i) determine, for said at least a portion of said multiple slices, the coordinates of a position of a largest coding unit within said picture,

ii) determine, for said at least a portion of said multiple slices, the coordinates of a position of said first coding unit within said largest coding unit, and

iii) generate said address information based on said coordinates of said position of said largest coding unit, said coordinates of said position of said first coding unit and said hierarchical granularity.

15. A device for decoding a coded picture representation of a picture comprising multiple slices and being composed of multiple largest coding units having a selected size in terms of number of pixels, said device comprises:

a granularity information retriever configured to retrieve information of a hierarchical granularity associated with said coded picture presentation, said hierarchical granularity defining a hierarchical level for slice border alignment, said hierarchical level defining a size of a smallest possible addressable coding unit at which a start of a slice in said picture can be aligned, said multiple largest coding units can be hierarchically split into multiple coding units having respective sizes that are smaller than said selected size;

an address information retriever configured to retrieve address information from said coded picture representation based on said information of said hierarchical granularity, said address information identifying a first coding unit of each slice of said multiple slices except a first slice in said picture;

a coding unit identifier configured to identify, based on said address information, a position of a first coding unit of a slice within said picture except for said first slice in said picture; and

a representation generator configured to generate a decoded representation of pixel values of the pixels in said first coding unit based on said coded picture representation.

16. The device according to claim 15, wherein said granularity information retriever is configured to retrieve said information of said hierarchical granularity from said coded picture representation.

17. The device according to claim 15, further comprising a length determiner configured to determine a length of said address information based on said hierarchical granularity, wherein said address information retriever is configured to retrieve said address information from said coded picture representation based on said length of said address information.

18. The device according to claim 15, wherein said coding unit identifier is configured to i) identify a position of a largest coding unit within said picture based on said address information, and ii) identify a position of said first coding unit within said largest coding unit based on said address information.

19. A media terminal comprising:

a memory storing a coded representation of a picture comprising multiple slices and being composed of multiple largest coding units having a selected size in terms of number of pixels; and

a device for decoding said coded representation according to claim 15.