Method and apparatus for point cloud compression using hybrid deep entropy coding

A decoding device for decoding point cloud data organized in a tree structure, the decoding device comprising a processor configured to:

• access the point cloud data from an encoded bitstream by traversing the tree structure, wherein the tree structure comprises a root node and a plurality of child nodes;
• fetch, from the accessed point cloud data, points in a spatial neighborhood associated with one of the plurality of child nodes;
• compute a first feature, using a point-based neural network module, based from three-dimensional (3D) locations of the fetched points;
• compute a second feature, using a convolution-based neural network module, from voxelized point data representing the fetched points;
• concatenate the first feature and the second feature with one or more known features of the one of the plurality of child nodes to compose a comprehensive feature;
• predict, using a neural network module, an occupancy symbol distribution for the one of the plurality of child nodes based on the computed feature;
• and
• determine, from the encoded bitstream, an occupancy for the one of the plurality of child nodes based on the predicted occupancy symbol distribution.