# US 10,771,793 B2 · Effective prediction using partition coding > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,771,793 B2 - Document ID: US10771793B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 16/703,918 - Filed: 2019-12-05 - Published: 2020-04-09 - Granted: 2020-09-08 - Earliest claimed: 2011-11-11 - Assignees: Ge Video Compression, LLC - Applicants: Ge Video Compression, LLC - Inventors: Philipp Merkle; Christian Bartnik; Haricharan Lakshman; Detlev Marpe; Karsten Mueller; Thomas Wiegand; Gerhard Tech - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10771793B2 ## CPC - H04N 19/176: the region being a block, e.g. a macroblock - H04N 19/105: Selection of the reference unit for prediction within a chosen coding or prediction mode, e.g. adaptive choice of position and number of pixels used for prediction - H04N 19/119: Adaptive subdivision aspects, e.g. subdivision of a picture into rectangular or non-rectangular coding blocks - H04N 19/126: Details of normalisation or weighting functions, e.g. normalisation matrices or variable uniform quantisers - H04N 19/157: Assigned coding mode, i.e. the coding mode being predefined or preselected to be further used for selection of another element or parameter - H04N 19/196: being specially adapted for the computation of encoding parameters, e.g. by averaging previously computed encoding parameters (processing of motion vectors H04N19/513) - H04N 19/46: Embedding additional information in the video signal during the compression process (H04N19/517, H04N19/68, H04N19/70 take precedence) - H04N 19/593: involving spatial prediction techniques - H04N 19/597: specially adapted for multi-view video sequence encoding - H04N 19/61: in combination with predictive coding - H04N 19/70: characterised by syntax aspects related to video coding, e.g. related to compression standards - H04N 19/82: involving filtering within a prediction loop - H04N 19/96: Tree coding, e.g. quad-tree coding - H04N 19/14: Coding unit complexity, e.g. amount of activity or edge presence estimation (H04N19/146 takes precedence) - H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION ## Abstract The way of predicting a current block by assigning constant partition values to the partitions of a bi-partitioning of a block is quite effective, especially in case of coding sample arrays such as depth/disparity maps where the content of these sample arrays is mostly composed of plateaus or simple connected regions of similar value separated from each other by steep edges. The transmission of such constant partition values would, however, still need a considerable amount of side information which should be avoided. This side information rate may be further reduced if mean values of values of neighboring samples associated or adjoining the respective partitions are used as predictors for the constant partition values. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A decoder for reconstructing a depth map of a video signal using encoded information from a data stream, the decoder configured to: derive a bi-partition of a block of the depth map into first and second portions; associate each of neighboring samples of the depth map with a respective one of the first and second portions, the neighboring samples adjoining the block of the depth map; predict the block of the depth map by determining a first predicted value for the first portion based on values of a first set of the neighboring samples, or determining a second predicted value for the second portion based on values of a second set of the neighboring samples; determine, from the data stream, one or more refinement values for the first or second predicted value, wherein the one or more refinement values include an absolute value of a first or second refinement value; and refine the prediction of the block by applying the first refinement value to the first predicted value for the first portion or applying the second refinement value to the second predicted value for the second portion. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The decoder according to claim 1, wherein the first predicted value includes a mean of values of the first set of neighboring samples and the second predicted value includes a mean of values of the second set of neighboring samples. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The decoder according to claim 1, configured to, in applying the first or second refinement value, scale the first or second refinement value using a quantization step size depending on a reference quantization step size at which a predetermined spatially sampled component associated with the depth map is transmitted within the data stream. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The decoder according to claim 3, wherein the decoder is configured to use the reference quantization step size in order to reconstruct a texture sample array corresponding to the depth map. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The decoder according to claim 1, wherein the decoder is configured to, in deriving the bi-partition of the block of the depth map, predict a position of a wedgelet separation line within the block of the depth map depending on a wedgelet separation line of a neighboring block such that the wedgelet separation line at the predicted position forms an extension of the wedgelet separation line of the neighboring block into the block of the depth map, and refine the predicted position of the wedgelet separation line using line refinement information obtained from the data stream, the wedgelet separation line dividing the block of the depth map into the first and second portions. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The decoder according to claim 1, further configured to use the block of the depth map as a reference in a prediction loop of the decoder. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The decoder according to claim 1, wherein the one or more refinement values further include a sign value of the first refinement value or a sign value of the second refinement value. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The decoder according to claim 1, further configured to, in applying the first or second refinement value, linearly combine the first or second refinement value with the first or second predicted value, respectively. ### Claim 9 An encoder for encoding into a data stream a depth map of a video signal, the encoder configured to: derive a bi-partition of a block of the depth map into first and second portions; associate each of neighboring samples of the depth map with a respective one of the first and second portions, the neighboring samples adjoining the block of the depth map; predict the block of the depth map by determining a first predicted value for the first portion based on values of a first set of the neighboring samples, or determining a second predicted value for the second portion based on values of a second set of the neighboring samples; determine a first refinement value associated with the first portion based on a first original value associated with the first portion and the first predicted value, or determining the second refinement value associated with the second portion based on a second original value associated with the second portion and the second predicted value, wherein the first or second refinement value is applied to the first or second predicted value, respectively, for refining the prediction of the block of the depth map, and encode, into the data stream, one or more refinement values including the first or second refinement value, wherein the one or more refinement values include an absolute value of the first or second refinement value. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The encoder according to claim 9, wherein the first predicted value includes a mean of values of the first set of neighboring samples and the second predicted value includes a mean of values of the second set of neighboring samples. ### Claim 11 (depends on 9) The encoder according to claim 9, wherein, to refine the prediction of the block of the depth map, the first or second refinement value is linearly combined with the first or second predicted value, respectively. ### Claim 12 (depends on 9) The encoder according to claim 9, further configured to quantize the first or second refinement value using a quantization step size depending on a reference quantization step size at which a predetermined spatially sampled component associated with the depth map is transmitted within the data stream. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The encoder according to claim 12, wherein the encoder is configured to use the reference quantization step size in order to encode a texture sample array corresponding to the depth map. ### Claim 14 (depends on 9) The encoder according to claim 9, wherein the encoder is configured to, in deriving the bi-partition of the block of the depth map, predict a position of a wedgelet separation line within the block of the depth map depending on a wedgelet separation line of a neighboring block such that the wedgelet separation line at the predicted position forms an extension of the wedgelet separation line of the neighboring block into the block of the depth map, refine the predicted position of the wedgelet separation line using line refinement information, the wedgelet separation line dividing the block of the depth map into the first and second portions, and encode the line refinement information into the data stream. ### Claim 15 (depends on 9) The encoder according to claim 9, further configured to use the block of the depth map as a reference in a prediction loop of the encoder. ### Claim 16 (depends on 9) The encoder according to claim 9, wherein the one or more refinement values include a sign value of the first refinement value or a sign value of the second refinement value. ### Claim 17 A non-transitory computer-readable medium for storing data associated with a video, comprising: a data stream stored in the non-transitory computer-readable medium, the data stream comprising one or more refinement values including a first or second refinement value associated with a respective first or second portion of a block of a depth map associated with the video, wherein the one or more refinement values are encoded using a plurality of operations including: deriving a bi-partition of a block of the depth map into the first and second portions; associating each of neighboring samples of the depth map with a respective one of the first and second portions, the neighboring samples adjoining the block of the depth map; predicting the block of the depth map by determining a first predicted value for the first portion based on values of a first set of the neighboring samples, or determining a second predicted value for the second portion based on values of a second set of the neighboring samples; determining the first refinement value associated with the first portion based on a first original value associated with the first portion and the first predicted value, or determining the second refinement value associated with the second portion based on a second original value associated with the second portion and the second predicted value, wherein the first or second refinement value is applied to the first or second predicted value, respectively, for refining the prediction of the block of the depth map, and encoding, into the data stream, the one or more refinement values including an absolute value of the first or second refinement value. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The computer-readable medium according to claim 17, wherein the first predicted value includes a mean of values of the first set of neighboring samples and the second predicted value includes a mean of values of the second set of neighboring samples. ### Claim 19 (depends on 17) The computer-readable medium according to claim 17, wherein the one or more refinement syntax elements include a first syntax element indicating a sign value of the first refinement value, and a second syntax element indicating a sign value of the second refinement value. ### Claim 20 (depends on 17) The computer-readable medium according to claim 17, wherein, to refine the prediction of the block of the depth map, the first or second refinement value is linearly combined with the first or second predicted value, respectively.