Method and apparatus for encoding video using variable partitions for predictive encoding, and method and apparatus for decoding video using variable partitions for predictive encoding

An apparatus for encoding a video, the apparatus comprising:

• an encoder configured to split a picture into a plurality of maximum coding units, hierarchically split a maximum coding unit into one or more coding units, determine one or more prediction units in a coding unit among the one or more coding units, determine one or more transform units in the coding unit, perform prediction on a prediction unit among the one or more prediction units in the coding unit and inverse-transformation on the one or more transform units in the coding unit, and generate a reconstructed coding unit based on the prediction and the inverse-transformation;
• and
• an outputter configured to generate a bitstream including data of the picture, information about a size of the maximum coding unit, partition type information of the coding unit, and split information of the coding unit,
• wherein the partition type information is determined based on a size of the coding unit and indicates one of a symmetric type and an asymmetric type partitioning of the one or more prediction units, and
• wherein the partition type information indicates the one of the symmetric type and the asymmetric type when a size of the coding unit is larger than a predetermined size.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium for storing data associated with a video, comprising a bitstream stored in the non-transitory computer-readable medium, the bitstream including:

• split information of a coding unit for hierarchically splitting a maximum coding unit among a plurality of maximum coding units into one of more coding units, wherein the split information indicates whether a coding unit of depth k, where k is integer, is split into coding units of depth k+1,
• information about a size of a maximum coding unit for splitting a picture into the plurality of maximum coding units,
• a last significant coefficient flag indicating whether a non-zero effective transformation coefficient is a last non-zero effective transformation coefficient for a transformation residual block, and
• partition type information of the coding unit,
• wherein the partition type information is determined based on a size of the coding unit among the one or more coding units and indicates one of a symmetric type and an asymmetric type partitioning of one or more prediction units in the coding unit.