Processing Spherical Video Data

A method of processing spherical video data, the method comprising:

• a data processor processing modified projected video frames, a modified projected video frame including one or more pixel regions, the one or more pixel regions representing pixels of spherical video data projected onto one or more 2D projection surfaces of a projection model, the modified projected video frame being generated by applying one or more pixel shifts and/or pixel rotation operations to pixels of one or more pixel regions of a projected video frame prior to encoding, wherein the processing includes:
• the data processor receiving one or more modified projected video frames from a decoding apparatus;
• the data processor receiving rendering information associated with the one or more received modified projected video frames, the rendering information including information for reversing one or more pixel region shift and/or pixel region rotation operations that were applied to pixels of one or more pixel regions of projected video frames before encoding;
• and
• the data processor using the rendering information on the modified projected video frames to reverse the one or more pixel region shift and/or pixel region rotation operations that were applied to pixels of one or more pixel regions of the projected video frames before encoding.

A data processing apparatus for a video encoding apparatus, the data processing apparatus comprising:

• a processor and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the data processing apparatus to carry out operations including:
• processing a projected video frame for input to an encoding process, the projected video frame including one or more pixel regions, the one or more pixel regions representing pixels of spherical video data projected onto one or more 2D projection surfaces of a projection model, wherein the processing includes:
• generating a plurality of different modified projected video frames on the basis of the projected video frame, the generating including, for each of the plurality of different modified projected video frames, applying different one or more pixel region shift and/or pixel region rotation operations to one or more pixels regions of the projected video frame;
• applying an image analysis algorithm to each one of the plurality of modified projected video frames, the image analysis algorithm determining an image analysis parameter for each modified projected video frame, the image analysis parameter being at least one of predictive of a level of encoding efficiency associated with encoding a modified projected video frame, or indicative of an image quality of a modified projected video frame;
• selecting from the plurality, for input to the encoding process, a modified projected video frame that is at least one of associated with a particular image analysis parameter being predictive of the highest level of encoding efficiency, or associated with a particular image analysis parameter being indicative of the highest image quality, the selected modified projected video frame being associated with a selected one or more pixel region shift and/or pixel region rotation operations;
• and
• determining rendering information for a data processor of a video rendering apparatus, the rendering information including information for reversing the selected one or more pixel shift and/or pixel rotation operations.

A processing apparatus for a video rendering apparatus, the processing apparatus comprising:

• a processor and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the data processing apparatus to carry out operations including:
• processing projected video frames, a projected video frame including one or more pixel regions, the one or more pixel regions representing pixels of spherical video data projected onto one or more 2D projection surfaces of a projection model, wherein the processing includes:
• receiving one or more projected video frames from a decoding apparatus;
• receiving rendering information associated with the one or more received projected video frames, the rendering information including information for reversing one or more pixel region shift and/or pixel region rotation operations that were applied to pixels of one or more pixel regions of the one or more received projected video frames before encoding;
• and
• using the rendering information to reverse the one or more pixel region shift and/or pixel region rotation operations that were applied to pixels of one or more pixel regions of the one or more received projected video frames before encoding.

A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon for processing spherical video data, wherein the instructions, when executed by a data processor, cause the data processor to carry out operations including:

• processing a projected video frame for input to an encoding process, the projected video frame including one or more pixel regions, the one or more pixel regions representing pixels of spherical video data projected onto one or more 2D projection surfaces of a projection model, wherein the processing comprises:
• generating a plurality of different modified projected video frames on the basis of the projected video frame, the generating including, for each of the plurality of different modified projected video frames, applying different one or more pixel region shift and/or pixel region rotation operations to one or more pixels regions of the projected video frame;
• applying an image analysis algorithm to each one of the plurality of modified projected video frames, the image analysis algorithm determining an image analysis parameter for each modified projected video frame, the image analysis parameter being at least one of predictive of a level of encoding efficiency associated with encoding a modified projected video frame, or indicative of an image quality of a modified projected video frame;
• selecting from the plurality, for input to the encoding process, a modified projected video frame that is at least one of associated with a particular image analysis parameter being predictive of the highest level of encoding efficiency, or associated with a particular image analysis parameter being indicative of the highest image quality, the selected modified projected video frame being associated with a selected one or more pixel region shift and/or pixel region rotation operations;
• and
• determining rendering information for a data processor of a video rendering apparatus, the rendering information including information for reversing the selected one or more pixel shift and/or pixel rotation operations.