Method and apparatus for processing picture having picture height not evenly divisible by slice height and/or slice width not evenly divisible by pixel group width

An image processing method, comprising:

• using a first padding rule for setting first padding pixels beyond a right edge of a picture;
• using a second padding rule for setting second padding pixels beyond a bottom edge of the picture, wherein the second padding rule is different from the first padding rule;
• and
• encoding the picture having the first padding pixels and the second padding pixels combined therewith.

An image processing method, comprising:

• using a first padding rule for setting first padding pixels beyond a right edge of a picture;
• generating a bitstream from encoding the picture having the first padding pixels combined therewith;
• and
• using a second padding rule for setting a first predetermined bit pattern and padding the first predetermined bit pattern to the bitstream, wherein the first predetermined bit pattern stands for an encoding result of at least a portion of second padding pixels beyond a bottom edge of the picture, and the second padding rule is different from the first padding rule.

An image processing method, comprising:

• receiving a bitstream that is generated from encoding the picture having at least a first padding region combined therewith, wherein any padding pixel included in the first padding region is assigned with a predetermined pixel value, and the bitstream includes at least a first bitstream of encoded data of the picture and a second bitstream of encoded data of the first padding region;
• identifying the second bitstream from the bitstream;
• and
• ignoring decoding of at least a portion of the second bitstream.

An image processing method, comprising:

• determining an initial slice width by evenly dividing a picture width of a picture by a target number of slices in a slice row;
• when the initial slice width has a first value which is not an integer multiple of a pixel group width, determining a final slice width by extending the initial slice width to a second value which is an integer multiple of the pixel group width;
• and
• encoding the picture based at least partly on the final slice width.

An image processing apparatus, comprising:

• a padding circuit, configured to use a first padding rule for setting first padding pixels beyond a right edge of a picture;
• and
• an encoding circuit, configured to generate a bitstream from encoding the picture having the first padding pixels combined therewith;
• wherein the padding circuit is further configured to use a second padding rule for setting a first predetermined bit pattern and pad the first predetermined bit pattern to the bitstream;
• the first predetermined bit pattern stands for an encoding result of at least a portion of second padding pixels beyond a bottom edge of the picture;
• and the second padding rule is different from the first padding rule.

An image processing apparatus, comprising:

• a slice width determination circuit, configured to evenly divide a picture width of a picture by a target number of slices in a slice row to generate an initial slice width;
• and when the initial slice width has a first value which is not an integer multiple of a pixel group width, determine a final slice width by extending the initial slice width to a second value which is an integer multiple of the pixel group width;
• and
• an encoding circuit, configured to encode the picture based at least partly on the final slice width.