Optimized filter selection for reference picture processing

A system for selecting a particular filter from among a plurality of filters, the particular filter adapted for use in a reference picture processing unit in a multi-layered video coding system, the multi-layered video coding system comprising a base layer and one or more enhancement layers, the system comprising:

• a) means for providing (i) an enhancement layer source picture, and (ii) a reference picture from the base layer or an inter-layer, the inter-layer being a layer from among the one or more enhancement layers that is processed prior to the enhancement layer of the enhancement layer source picture;
• b) means for dividing the reference picture into regions, wherein the region sizes and the region shapes are determined based on performing edge detection on the reference picture, and wherein each of the following means is configured to perform the respective action on the regions of the reference picture:
• c) means for filtering copies of the reference picture using at least one filter from the plurality of filters to obtain at least one filtered reference picture, wherein each filter is applied to a corresponding copy of the reference picture;
• d) means for performing disparity estimation based on the enhancement layer source picture, a full set or subset of the at least one filtered reference picture, temporal reference pictures from an enhancement layer reference picture buffer, and motion information from the base layer or an inter-layer, the inter-layer being a layer from among the one or more enhancement layers that is processed prior to the enhancement layer of the enhancement layer source picture, and wherein the disparity estimation is adapted to generate disparity information;
• e) means for selecting a set of temporal reference pictures from the enhancement layer reference picture buffer;
• f) means for obtaining distortion information based on the disparity information and the selected set of temporal reference pictures;
• and
• g) means for selecting the particular filter based on comparing the distortion information generated with the distortion information obtaining means f) and based on the divided regions of each filtered reference picture;
• wherein:
• the disparity information comprises a function of at least one of motion vectors, prediction distortion, intra prediction information, illumination parameters, luma components, chroma components, and tone mapping parameters,
• motion information of the enhancement layer is based on the motion information from the base layer or the inter-layer,
• differences between the motion information of the enhancement layer and the motion information from the base layer or the inter-layer are used to compute a confidence level,
• the distortion information is based on the differences between the motion information of the enhancement layer and the motion information from the base layer or the inter-layer, and
• the distortion information is weighted by the confidence level.