Methods of encoding and decoding video data are provided. In an encoding method, source video data comprising one or more source views is encoded into a video bitstream. Depth data of at least one of the source views is nonlinearly filtered and downsampled prior to encoding. After decoding, the decoded depth data is up-sampled and nonlinearly filtered.

Two-dimensional (2D) color information and 3D-depth information are concurrently obtained from a 2D pixel array. The 2D pixel array is arranged in a first group of a plurality of rows. A second group of rows of the array are operable to generate 2D-color information and pixels of a third group of the array are operable to generate 3D-depth information. The first group of rows comprises a first number of rows, the second group of rows comprises a second number of rows that is equal to or less than the first number of rows, and the third group of rows comprises a third number of rows that is equal to or less than the second number of rows. In an alternating manner, 2D-color information is received from a row selected from the second group of rows and 3D-depth information is received from a row selected from the third group of rows.

Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture for video coding using object metadata are disclosed. An example apparatus includes an object separator to separate input views into layers associated with respective objects to generate object layers for geometry data and texture data of the input views, a pruner to project the first object layer of a first basic view of the at least one basic views against the first object layer of a first additional view of the at least one additional views to generate a first pruned view and a first pruning mask, a patch packer to tag a patch with an object identifier of the first object, the patch corresponding to the first pruning mask, and an atlas generator to generate at least one atlas to include in encoded video data, the atlas including the patch.

This disclosure is directed to coding a multi-view signal, which includes processing a list of plurality of motion vector candidates associated with a coding block of a current picture in a dependent view of the multi-view signal. Such processing includes estimating a first motion vector based on a second motion vector associated with a reference block in a current picture of a reference view of the multi-view signal, the reference block corresponding to the coding block of the current picture in the dependent view. The first motion vector is added into the list, and an index is used that specifies at least one candidate from the list to be used for motion-compensated prediction. The coding block in the current picture is coded by performing the motion-compensated prediction based on the at least one candidate indicated by the index.

There is provided an encoding apparatus, an encoding method, a decoding apparatus, and a decoding method that make it possible to acquire two-dimensional image data of a viewpoint corresponding to a predetermined display image generation method and depth image data without depending upon the viewpoint upon image pickup. A conversion unit generates, from three-dimensional data of an image pickup object, two-dimensional image data of a plurality of viewpoints corresponding to a predetermined display image generation method and depth image data indicative of a position of each of pixels in a depthwise direction of the image pickup object. An encoding unit encodes the two-dimensional image data and the depth image data generated by the conversion unit. A transmission unit transmits the two-dimensional image data and the depth image data encoded by the encoding unit. The present disclosure can be applied, for example, to an encoding apparatus and so forth.

The present disclosure relates to a method for sensing the depth of an object by considering external light and a device implementing the same, and a method for sensing the depth of an object by considering external light according to an embodiment of the present disclosure comprises the steps of: storing, in a storage unit, first depth information of an object, which is sensed at a first time point by a depth camera unit of a depth sensing module; storing, in the storage unit, second depth information of the object, which is sensed at a second time point by the depth camera unit; comparing, by a sensing data filtering unit of the depth sensing module, the generated first and second depth information to identify a filtering target region from the second depth information; and adjusting, by a control unit of the depth sensing module, the depth value of the region filtered from the second depth information.

In a depth image compressing section of an image processing device, a depth image operation section generates a depth image by operation using photographed stereo images. A difference image obtaining section generates a difference image between an actually measured depth image and the computed depth image. In a depth image decompressing section of a content processing device, a depth image operation section generates a depth image by operation using the transmitted stereo images. A difference image adding section restores a depth image by adding the computed depth image to the transmitted difference image.

Methods of encoding and decoding immersive video are provided. In an encoding method, source video data comprising a plurality of source views is encoded into a video bitstream. At least one of the source views is down-sampled prior to encoding. A metadata bitstream associated with the video stream comprises metadata describing a configuration of the down-sampling, to assist a decoder to decode the video bitstream. It is believed that the use of down-sampled views may help to reduce coding artifacts, compared with a patch-based encoding approach. Also provided are an encoder and a decoder for immersive video, and an immersive video bitstream.

A method of encoding a video data signal (15) is provided, together with a method for decoding. The encoding comprises providing color information (51) for pixels in an image, providing a depth map with depth information (52) for the pixels, providing transition information (56, 57, 60, 70, 71) being representative of a width (63, 73) of a transition region (61, 72) in the image, the transition region (61, 72) comprising a depth transition (62) and blended pixels in which colors of a foreground object and a background object are blended, and generating (24) the video data signal (15) comprising encoded data representing the color information (51), the depth map (52) and the transition information (56, 57, 60, 70, 71). The decoding comprises using the transition information (56, 57, 60, 70, 71) for determining the width (63, 73) of the transition regions (61, 72) and for determining alpha values (53) for pixels inside the transition regions (61, 72). The determined alpha values (53) are used for determining the color of a blended pixel at the transition of a foreground object and a background object.

The present disclosure provides a virtual viewpoint synthesis method, including: pre-processing a depth image with zero parallax corresponding to an original image to obtain a processed depth image; generating virtual viewpoint images corresponding to a plurality of virtual viewpoints respectively according to the processed depth image and the original image; and filling holes in the virtual viewpoint image to generate a plurality of filled virtual viewpoint images. The present disclosure further provides an electronic apparatus and a computer-readable medium.