Method and apparatus for signaling and construction of video coding reference picture lists

A method of generating a reference picture list, the method comprising:

• generating a temporary ordered list of reference pictures from a decoded picture buffer (DPB), in which the temporary ordered list is ordered with any reference pictures for a current picture that is currently being decoded that are in the DPB and that are temporally before the current picture listed in order by temporal distance from the current picture, followed by any reference pictures for the current picture that are in the DPB and that are temporally later than the current picture listed in order by temporal distance from the current picture, followed by any long term reference pictures for the current picture that are in the DPB;
• and
• generating a reference picture list by selecting reference pictures from the temporary ordered list of reference pictures wherein, when the reference picture list is to be a modified list, generating the reference picture list by, at least, for each entry in the reference picture list, reading an index into the temporary ordered list of reference pictures and selecting, for the entry in the reference picture list, a reference picture from the temporary ordered list of reference pictures that is identified by the index.

A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions, which when executed by a computer, enable a method of generating a reference picture list, the method comprising:

• generating a temporary ordered list of reference pictures from a decoded picture buffer (DPB), in which the temporary ordered list is ordered with any reference pictures for a current picture that is currently being decoded that are in the DPB and that are temporally before the current picture listed in order by temporal distance from the current picture, followed by any reference pictures for the current picture that are in the DPB and that are temporally later than the current picture listed in order by temporal distance from the current picture, followed by any long term reference pictures for the current picture that are in the DPB;
• and
• generating a reference picture list by selecting reference pictures from the temporary ordered list of reference pictures, wherein, when the reference picture list is to be a modified list, generating the reference picture list by, at least, for each entry in the reference picture list, reading an index into the temporary ordered list of reference pictures and selecting, for the entry in the reference picture list, a reference picture from the temporary ordered list of reference pictures that is identified by the index.