Method and apparatus for denoising video content

An apparatus for denoising video content, the apparatus comprising:

• a processor configured to:
• identify a first frame block associated with a first frame of the video content, wherein the video content includes two-dimensional images obtained by one or more image capture devices that are stitched together into a spherical video using at least one of a camera geometry of the one or more image capture devices or a planar map projection that represents the spherical video;
• responsive to determining that the at least one of the camera geometry or the planar map projection is unknown:
• estimate a first noise model that represents characteristics of the first frame block;
• identify at least one frame block adjacent to the first frame block;
• generate a second noise model that represents characteristics of the at least one frame block adjacent to the first frame block by adjusting the first noise model based on at least one characteristic of the at least one frame block adjacent to the first frame block;
• and
• denoise the at least one frame block adjacent to the first frame block using the second noise model;
• and
• responsive to determining that the at least one of the camera geometry or the planar map projection is known:
• convert an image of a frame of the spherical video to an original image of the two-dimensional images using a distortion or warping in the spherical video resulting from stitching together the two-dimensional images using the at least one of the camera geometry or the planar map projection;
• identify flat frame blocks of the original image, wherein the flat frame blocks are homogenous or have no spatial texture;
• estimate a single noise level using noise characteristics of the flat frame blocks;
• estimate noise for the image of the frame of the spherical video using the distortion or warping in the spherical video resulting from stitching together the two-dimensional images using the at least one of the camera geometry or the planar map projection;
• and
• denoise the frame of the spherical video using the estimated noise.

An apparatus for denoising video content, the apparatus comprising:

• a memory;
• and
• a processor, wherein the memory includes instructions executable by the processor to:
• identify a first frame block associated with a first frame of the video content;
• estimate a first noise model that represents first noise power spectral density of the first frame block;
• identify at least one frame block adjacent to the first frame block;
• generate a second noise model that represents a second noise power spectral density of the at least one frame block adjacent to the first frame block by adjusting the first noise model based an estimated spatial variance between the first noise power spectral density and the second noise power spectral density;
• and
• denoise the at least one frame block adjacent to the first frame block using the second noise model.