Patent ID: 9497484
Filing Date: 2016-11-15
CPC Classification: H04N

Claim Text:
1. An apparatus for base color merging for multi-stage base color and index map (MBCIM) video coding of screen content, comprising: (a) a computer processor configured for video and image processing; and (b) programming in a non-transitory computer readable medium and executable on the computer processor with steps including: (i) performing multi-stage base color and index map (MBCIM) coding of screen content based on an intra coding framework; (ii) setting a first direction merge flag when a first neighbor of the current coding unit (CU) is determined to be available and coded with colors equal to the current coding unit (CU); (iii) setting a second direction merge flag when a second neighbor of the current coding unit (CU) is determined to be available and coded with colors equal to the current coding unit (CU); (iv) establishing a color for the current CU, by copying base color from the first neighbor to the current CU in response to detecting a first state of said first direction merge flag, or copying base color from the second neighbor to the current CU in response to detecting a first state of said second direction merge flag; and (v) coding the base color of the current CU when neither said first direction merge flag, or said second direction merge flag, is set.