Layered scene decomposition CODEC system and methods

A computer-implemented system, comprising:

• a source for providing a data set, the data set comprising light field data or a 3D description of a scene;
• an encoder in communication with said source, comprising one or more processors configured to:
• i. partition the data set received from said source into a plurality of data layers, wherein each data layer is associated with a sub volume of space having a corresponding depth range defined by two planar bounding regions, wherein the partitioning of the data set comprises partitioning each layer according to a layering scheme to facilitate encoding of the plurality of data layers to represent a distribution of a plurality of light field layers arranged such that the depth range of at least one data layer differs from the depth range of at least one other of the plurality of data layers;
• and
• ii. sample and render of the plurality of data layers representing the plurality of light field layers to encode the light field layer corresponding to each data layer and produce a set of compressed data encoding a subset of the plurality of light field layers;
• a means for transmitting the set of compressed data from the encoder to a decoder;
• and
• a decoder comprising one or more processors configured to decode the set of compressed data to construct a set of light fields.

A computer-implemented system comprising one or more processors and one or more memory components comprising instructions configured to cause the one or more processors to perform a method comprising the steps of:

• i. receiving from a source a data set comprising light field data or a 3D description of a scene;
• ii. partitioning said data set into a plurality of data layers, wherein each data layer is associated with a sub volume of space having a corresponding depth range defined by two planar bounding regions, wherein the partitioning of the data set comprises partitioning each layer according to a layering scheme to facilitate encoding of the plurality of data layers to represent a distribution of a plurality of light field layers arranged such that the depth range of at least one data layer differs from the depth range of at least one other of the plurality of data layers;
• and
• iii. sampling and rendering each of the plurality of data layers representing the plurality of light field layers to encode the light field layer corresponding to each data layer and produce a set of compressed data encoding a subset of the plurality of light field layers.

A non-transitory, computer readable medium comprising instructions configured to cause one or more processors to perform a method comprising the steps of:

• i. receiving from a source a data set comprising light field data or a 3D description of a scene;
• ii. partitioning said data set into a plurality of data layers, wherein each data layer is associated with a sub volume of space having a corresponding depth range defined by two planar bounding regions, wherein the partitioning of the data set comprises partitioning each layer according to a layering scheme to facilitate encoding of the plurality of data layers to represent a distribution of a plurality of light field layers arranged such that the depth range of at least one data layer differs from the depth range of at least one other of the plurality of data layers;
• and
• iii. sampling and rendering each of the plurality of data layers representing the plurality of light field layers to encode the light field corresponding to each data layer and produce a set of compressed data encoding a subset of the plurality of light field layers.