System and method for streaming visible portions of volumetric video

A non-transitory, machine-readable medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system including a processor, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:

• segmenting a point cloud of a volumetric video into three-dimensional cells;
• generating a cell occupancy bitmap for a frame of the volumetric video to be used at a future time;
• transmitting the cell occupancy bitmap for the frame, responsive to a first request received from a video player;
• and
• responsive to a second request received from the video player, transmitting cells to the video player for use at the future time, wherein the second request is based on at least some of the cells being visible to a viewer of the video player at a predicted viewpoint.

A method, comprising:

• predicting, by a processing system including a processor, a viewpoint within a volumetric video based on movement input by a viewer, resulting in a predicted viewpoint at a future time, wherein a point cloud of the volumetric video is segmented into three-dimensional cells;
• retrieving, by the processing system, a cell occupancy bitmap of the point cloud of the volumetric video for the future time;
• determining, by the processing system, visible cells based on the cell occupancy bitmap and the predicted viewpoint;
• and
• fetching, by the processing system, the visible cells prior to the future time.