Method and apparatus for encoding and decoding volumetric video data

A method comprising:

• evaluating one or more patches into which a point cloud representative of volumetric video data has been decomposed, wherein evaluating the one or more patches comprises identifying one or more areas within a respective patch in which a difference in depth values between corresponding pixels of at least two depth planes satisfies a predefined threshold;
• for an area within the respective patch that has been identified, generating a sub patch representative of the depth values of one of the depth planes;
• mapping patches including the one or more patches and the sub patch to a grid;
• and
• generating an image based upon the patches mapped to the grid.

An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code for one or more programs, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to:

• evaluate one or more patches into which a point cloud representative of volumetric video data has been decomposed by identifying one or more areas within a respective patch in which a difference in depth values between corresponding pixels of at least two depth planes satisfy a predefined threshold;
• for an area within the respective patch that has been identified, generate a sub patch representative of the depth values of one of the depth planes;
• map patches including the one or more patches and the sub patch to a grid;
• and
• generate an image based upon the patches mapped to the grid.

A method comprising:

• decoding one or more patches that fail to include parent patch information identifying a respective patch from which the one or more patches were generated;
• for each of a plurality of pixels of a sub patch that includes parent patch information and sub patch location information that identifies a location of the sub patch in relation to the respective patch from which the sub patch was generated, comparing depth values of the pixel of the sub patch and a corresponding pixel of the patch from which the sub patch was generated to determine a difference therebetween;
• in an instance in which the difference satisfies a predefined threshold indicative of a variation therebetween, decoding the pixel of the sub patch;
• and
• in an instance in which the difference fails to satisfy the predefined threshold, discarding the pixel of the sub patch without decoding.

An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code for one or more programs, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to:

• decode one or more patches that fail to include parent patch information identifying a respective patch from which the one or more patches were generated;
• for each of a plurality of pixels of a sub patch that includes parent patch information and sub patch location information that identifies a location of the sub patch in relation to the respective patch from which the sub patch was generated, compare depth values of the pixel of the sub patch and a corresponding pixel of the patch from which the sub patch was generated to determine a difference therebetween;
• in an instance in which the difference satisfies a predefined threshold indicative of a variation therebetween, decode the pixel of the sub patch;
• and
• in an instance in which the difference fails to satisfy the predefined threshold, discard the pixel of the sub patch without decoding.