Method and Apparatus of Inter Coding for VR Video Using Virtual Reference Frames

An apparatus for video encoding or decoding for a video encoding or decoding system applied to a 360-degree virtual reality sequence, the apparatus comprising one or more electronics or processors arranged to:

• receive input data associated with the 360-degree virtual reality sequence;
• derive one or more multi-face sequences representing the 360-degree virtual reality sequence;
• if Inter prediction is selected for a current block in a current face of said one or more multi-face sequences:
• derive one virtual reference frame for each face of said one or more multi-face sequences by assigning one target reference face to a center of said one virtual reference frame and connecting neighboring faces of said one target reference face to said one target reference face at boundaries of said one target reference face;
• and
• encode or decode the current block in the current face using a current virtual reference frame derived for the current face to derive an Inter predictor for the current block.