Abstract

A method and system for encoding a stereoscopic image pair is disclosed. Groups of pixels are analyzed to determine the depth of each pixel group. The number of bits per pixel used to encode each pixel group is selected based on the depth of that pixel group. Therefore, images of objects closer to the camera pair, which appear closer to the viewer, are encoded with a larger number of bits per pixel than objects perceived to be farther from the viewer. The number of bits per pixel may also be increased based on a number of objects depicted or motion detected. The size of prediction blocks used to encode image portions may also be determined based on an angular distance of an image portion relative to the center of the frame. Therefore, smaller prediction blocks may be used to encode image portions closer to the center of the frame.

IPC Classes  ?

• H04N 13/161 - Encoding, multiplexing or demultiplexing different image signal components
• H04N 19/597 - Methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals using predictive coding specially adapted for multi-view video sequence encoding
• H04N 19/115 - Selection of the code volume for a coding unit prior to coding
• H04N 19/136 - Incoming video signal characteristics or properties
• H04N 19/176 - Methods or arrangements for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals using adaptive coding characterised by the coding unit, i.e. the structural portion or semantic portion of the video signal being the object or the subject of the adaptive coding the unit being an image region, e.g. an object the region being a block, e.g. a macroblock