3-D video coding using depth transition data

The objective of this work is to develop a new 3-D video coding system which can provide better coding efficiency with improved subjective quality as compared to existing 3-D video systems. We have analyzed the distortions that occur in rendered views generated using depth image based rendering (DIBR) and classified them in order to evaluate their impact on subjective quality. As a result, we found that depth map coding distortion leads to “erosion artifacts” at object boundaries, which lead to significant degradation in perceptual quality. To solve this problem, we propose a solution in which depth transition data is encoded and transmitted to the decoder. Depth transition data for a given pixel indicates the camera position for which this pixel's depth will change. A main reason to consider transmitting explicitly this information is that it can be used to improve view interpolation at many different intermediate camera positions. Simulation results show that the subjective quality can be significantly improved by reducing the effect of erosion artifacts, using our proposed depth transition data. Maximum PSNR gains of about 0.5 dB can also be observed.