Patent ID: 12238294

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

FIG.3illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a communication system (300). The communication system (300) includes a plurality of terminal devices that can communicate with each other, via, for example, a network (350). For example, the communication system (300) includes a first pair of terminal devices (310) and (320) interconnected via the network (350). In theFIG.3example, the first pair of terminal devices (310) and (320) performs unidirectional transmission of data. For example, the terminal device (310) may code video data (e.g., a stream of video pictures that are captured by the terminal device (310)) for transmission to the other terminal device (320) via the network (350). The encoded video data can be transmitted in the form of one or more coded video bitstreams. The terminal device (320) may receive the coded video data from the network (350), decode the coded video data to recover the video pictures and display video pictures according to the recovered video data. Unidirectional data transmission may be common in media serving applications and the like.

In another example, the communication system (300) includes a second pair of terminal devices (330) and (340) that perform bidirectional transmission of coded video data, for example, during videoconferencing. For bidirectional transmission of data, in an example, each terminal device of the terminal devices (330) and (340) may code video data (e.g., a stream of video pictures that are captured by the terminal device) for transmission to the other terminal device of the terminal devices (330) and (340) via the network (350). Each terminal device of the terminal devices (330) and (340) also may receive the coded video data transmitted by the other terminal device of the terminal devices (330) and (340), and may decode the coded video data to recover the video pictures and may display video pictures at an accessible display device according to the recovered video data.

In the example ofFIG.3, the terminal devices (310), (320), (330) and (340) are respectively illustrated as servers, personal computers and smart phones but the principles of the present disclosure may be not so limited. Embodiments of the present disclosure find application with laptop computers, tablet computers, media players, and/or dedicated video conferencing equipment. The network (350) represents any number of networks that convey coded video data among the terminal devices (310), (320), (330) and (340), including for example wireline (wired) and/or wireless communication networks. The communication network (350) may exchange data in circuit-switched and/or packet-switched channels. Representative networks include telecommunications networks, local area networks, wide area networks and/or the Internet. For the purposes of the present discussion, the architecture and topology of the network (350) may be immaterial to the operation of the present disclosure unless explained herein below.

FIG.4illustrates, as an example of an application for the disclosed subject matter, a video encoder and a video decoder in a streaming environment. The disclosed subject matter can be equally applicable to other video enabled applications, including, for example, video conferencing, digital TV, streaming services, storing of compressed video on digital media including CD, DVD, memory stick and the like, and so on.

A streaming system may include a capture subsystem (413), that can include a video source (401), for example a digital camera, creating for example a stream of video pictures (402) that are uncompressed. In an example, the stream of video pictures (402) includes samples that are taken by the digital camera. The stream of video pictures (402), depicted as a bold line to emphasize a high data volume when compared to encoded video data (404) (or coded video bitstreams), can be processed by an electronic device (420) that includes a video encoder (403) coupled to the video source (401). The video encoder (403) can include hardware, software, or a combination thereof to enable or implement aspects of the disclosed subject matter as described in more detail below. The encoded video data (404) (or encoded video bitstream), depicted as a thin line to emphasize the lower data volume when compared to the stream of video pictures (402), can be stored on a streaming server (405) for future use. One or more streaming client subsystems, such as client subsystems (406) and (408) inFIG.4can access the streaming server (405) to retrieve copies (407) and (409) of the encoded video data (404). A client subsystem (406) can include a video decoder (410), for example, in an electronic device (430). The video decoder (410) decodes the incoming copy (407) of the encoded video data and creates an outgoing stream of video pictures (411) that can be rendered on a display (412) (e.g., display screen) or other rendering device (not depicted). In some streaming systems, the encoded video data (404), (407), and (409) (e.g., video bitstreams) can be encoded according to certain video coding/compression standards. Examples of those standards include ITU-T Recommendation H.265. In an example, a video coding standard under development is informally known as Versatile Video Coding (VVC). The disclosed subject matter may be used in the context of VVC.

It is noted that the electronic devices (420) and (430) can include other components (not shown). For example, the electronic device (420) can include a video decoder (not shown) and the electronic device (430) can include a video encoder (not shown) as well.

FIG.5shows an exemplary block diagram of a video decoder (510). The video decoder (510) can be included in an electronic device (530). The electronic device (530) can include a receiver (531) (e.g., receiving circuitry). The video decoder (510) can be used in the place of the video decoder (410) in theFIG.4example.

The receiver (531) may receive one or more coded video sequences to be decoded by the video decoder (510). In an embodiment, one coded video sequence is received at a time, where the decoding of each coded video sequence is independent from the decoding of other coded video sequences. The coded video sequence may be received from a channel (501), which may be a hardware/software link to a storage device which stores the encoded video data. The receiver (531) may receive the encoded video data with other data, for example, coded audio data and/or ancillary data streams, that may be forwarded to their respective using entities (not depicted). The receiver (531) may separate the coded video sequence from the other data. To combat network jitter, a buffer memory (515) may be coupled in between the receiver (531) and an entropy decoder/parser (520) (“parser (520)” henceforth). In certain applications, the buffer memory (515) is part of the video decoder (510). In others, it can be outside of the video decoder (510) (not depicted). In still others, there can be a buffer memory (not depicted) outside of the video decoder (510), for example to combat network jitter, and in addition another buffer memory (515) inside the video decoder (510), for example to handle playout timing. When the receiver (531) is receiving data from a store/forward device of sufficient bandwidth and controllability, or from an isosynchronous network, the buffer memory (515) may not be needed, or can be small. For use on best effort packet networks such as the Internet, the buffer memory (515) may be required, can be comparatively large and can be advantageously of adaptive size, and may at least partially be implemented in an operating system or similar elements (not depicted) outside of the video decoder (510).

The video decoder (510) may include the parser (520) to reconstruct symbols (521) from the coded video sequence. Categories of those symbols include information used to manage operation of the video decoder (510), and potentially information to control a rendering device such as a render device (512) (e.g., a display screen) that is not an integral part of the electronic device (530) but can be coupled to the electronic device (530), as shown inFIG.5. The control information for the rendering device(s) may be in the form of Supplemental Enhancement Information (SEI) messages or Video Usability Information (VUI) parameter set fragments (not depicted). The parser (520) may parse/entropy-decode the coded video sequence that is received. The coding of the coded video sequence can be in accordance with a video coding technology or standard, and can follow various principles, including variable length coding, Huffman coding, arithmetic coding with or without context sensitivity, and so forth. The parser (520) may extract from the coded video sequence, a set of subgroup parameters for at least one of the subgroups of pixels in the video decoder, based upon at least one parameter corresponding to the group. Subgroups can include Groups of Pictures (GOPs), pictures, tiles, slices, macroblocks, Coding Units (CUs), blocks, Transform Units (TUs), Prediction Units (PUs) and so forth. The parser (520) may also extract from the coded video sequence information such as transform coefficients, quantizer parameter values, motion vectors, and so forth.

The parser (520) may perform an entropy decoding/parsing operation on the video sequence received from the buffer memory (515), so as to create symbols (521).

Reconstruction of the symbols (521) can involve multiple different units depending on the type of the coded video picture or parts thereof (such as: inter and intra picture, inter and intra block), and other factors. Which units are involved, and how, can be controlled by subgroup control information parsed from the coded video sequence by the parser (520). The flow of such subgroup control information between the parser (520) and the multiple units below is not depicted for clarity.

Beyond the functional blocks already mentioned, the video decoder (510) can be conceptually subdivided into a number of functional units as described below. In a practical implementation operating under commercial constraints, many of these units interact closely with each other and can, at least partly, be integrated into each other. However, for the purpose of describing the disclosed subject matter, the conceptual subdivision into the functional units below is appropriate.

A first unit is the scaler/inverse transform unit (551). The scaler/inverse transform unit (551) receives a quantized transform coefficient as well as control information, including which transform to use, block size, quantization factor, quantization scaling matrices, etc. as symbol(s) (521) from the parser (520). The scaler/inverse transform unit (551) can output blocks comprising sample values, that can be input into aggregator (555).

In some cases, the output samples of the scaler/inverse transform unit (551) can pertain to an intra coded block. The intra coded block is a block that is not using predictive information from previously reconstructed pictures, but can use predictive information from previously reconstructed parts of the current picture. Such predictive information can be provided by an intra picture prediction unit (552). In some cases, the intra picture prediction unit (552) generates a block of the same size and shape of the block under reconstruction, using surrounding already reconstructed information fetched from the current picture buffer (558). The current picture buffer (558) buffers, for example, partly reconstructed current picture and/or fully reconstructed current picture. The aggregator (555), in some cases, adds, on a per sample basis, the prediction information the intra prediction unit (552) has generated to the output sample information as provided by the scaler/inverse transform unit (551).

In other cases, the output samples of the scaler/inverse transform unit (551) can pertain to an inter coded, and potentially motion compensated, block. In such a case, a motion compensation prediction unit (553) can access reference picture memory (557) to fetch samples used for prediction. After motion compensating the fetched samples in accordance with the symbols (521) pertaining to the block, these samples can be added by the aggregator (555) to the output of the scaler/inverse transform unit (551) (in this case called the residual samples or residual signal) so as to generate output sample information. The addresses within the reference picture memory (557) from where the motion compensation prediction unit (553) fetches prediction samples can be controlled by motion vectors, available to the motion compensation prediction unit (553) in the form of symbols (521) that can have, for example X, Y, and reference picture components. Motion compensation also can include interpolation of sample values as fetched from the reference picture memory (557) when sub-sample exact motion vectors are in use, motion vector prediction mechanisms, and so forth.

The output samples of the aggregator (555) can be subject to various loop filtering techniques in the loop filter unit (556). Video compression technologies can include in-loop filter technologies that are controlled by parameters included in the coded video sequence (also referred to as coded video bitstream) and made available to the loop filter unit (556) as symbols (521) from the parser (520). Video compression can also be responsive to meta-information obtained during the decoding of previous (in decoding order) parts of the coded picture or coded video sequence, as well as responsive to previously reconstructed and loop-filtered sample values.

The output of the loop filter unit (556) can be a sample stream that can be output to the render device (512) as well as stored in the reference picture memory (557) for use in future inter-picture prediction.

Certain coded pictures, once fully reconstructed, can be used as reference pictures for future prediction. For example, once a coded picture corresponding to a current picture is fully reconstructed and the coded picture has been identified as a reference picture (by, for example, the parser (520)), the current picture buffer (558) can become a part of the reference picture memory (557), and a fresh current picture buffer can be reallocated before commencing the reconstruction of the following coded picture.

The video decoder (510) may perform decoding operations according to a predetermined video compression technology or a standard, such as ITU-T Rec. H.265. The coded video sequence may conform to a syntax specified by the video compression technology or standard being used, in the sense that the coded video sequence adheres to both the syntax of the video compression technology or standard and the profiles as documented in the video compression technology or standard. Specifically, a profile can select certain tools as the only tools available for use under that profile from all the tools available in the video compression technology or standard. Also necessary for compliance can be that the complexity of the coded video sequence is within bounds as defined by the level of the video compression technology or standard. In some cases, levels restrict the maximum picture size, maximum frame rate, maximum reconstruction sample rate (measured in, for example megasamples per second), maximum reference picture size, and so on. Limits set by levels can, in some cases, be further restricted through Hypothetical Reference Decoder (HRD) specifications and metadata for HRD buffer management signaled in the coded video sequence.

In an embodiment, the receiver (531) may receive additional (redundant) data with the encoded video. The additional data may be included as part of the coded video sequence(s). The additional data may be used by the video decoder (510) to properly decode the data and/or to more accurately reconstruct the original video data. Additional data can be in the form of, for example, temporal, spatial, or signal noise ratio (SNR) enhancement layers, redundant slices, redundant pictures, forward error correction codes, and so on.

FIG.6shows an exemplary block diagram of a video encoder (603). The video encoder (603) is included in an electronic device (620). The electronic device (620) includes a transmitter (640) (e.g., transmitting circuitry). The video encoder (603) can be used in the place of the video encoder (403) in theFIG.4example.

The video encoder (603) may receive video samples from a video source (601) (that is not part of the electronic device (620) in theFIG.6example) that may capture video image(s) to be coded by the video encoder (603). In another example, the video source (601) is a part of the electronic device (620).

The video source (601) may provide the source video sequence to be coded by the video encoder (603) in the form of a digital video sample stream that can be of any suitable bit depth (for example: 8 bit, 10 bit, 12 bit, . . . ), any colorspace (for example, BT.601 Y CrCB, RGB, . . . ), and any suitable sampling structure (for example Y CrCb 4:2:0, Y CrCb 4:4:4). In a media serving system, the video source (601) may be a storage device storing previously prepared video. In a videoconferencing system, the video source (601) may be a camera that captures local image information as a video sequence. Video data may be provided as a plurality of individual pictures that impart motion when viewed in sequence. The pictures themselves may be organized as a spatial array of pixels, wherein each pixel can comprise one or more samples depending on the sampling structure, color space, etc. in use. A person skilled in the art can readily understand the relationship between pixels and samples. The description below focuses on samples.

According to an embodiment, the video encoder (603) may code and compress the pictures of the source video sequence into a coded video sequence (643) in real time or under any other time constraints as required. Enforcing appropriate coding speed is one function of a controller (650). In some embodiments, the controller (650) controls other functional units as described below and is functionally coupled to the other functional units. The coupling is not depicted for clarity. Parameters set by the controller (650) can include rate control related parameters (picture skip, quantizer, lambda value of rate-distortion optimization techniques, . . . ), picture size, group of pictures (GOP) layout, maximum motion vector search range, and so forth. The controller (650) can be configured to have other suitable functions that pertain to the video encoder (603) optimized for a certain system design.

In some embodiments, the video encoder (603) is configured to operate in a coding loop. As an oversimplified description, in an example, the coding loop can include a source coder (630) (e.g., responsible for creating symbols, such as a symbol stream, based on an input picture to be coded, and a reference picture(s)), and a (local) decoder (633) embedded in the video encoder (603). The decoder (633) reconstructs the symbols to create the sample data in a similar manner as a (remote) decoder also would create. The reconstructed sample stream (sample data) is input to the reference picture memory (634). As the decoding of a symbol stream leads to bit-exact results independent of decoder location (local or remote), the content in the reference picture memory (634) is also bit exact between the local encoder and remote encoder. In other words, the prediction part of an encoder “sees” as reference picture samples exactly the same sample values as a decoder would “see” when using prediction during decoding. This fundamental principle of reference picture synchronicity (and resulting drift, if synchronicity cannot be maintained, for example because of channel errors) is used in some related arts as well.

The operation of the “local” decoder (633) can be the same as of a “remote” decoder, such as the video decoder (510), which has already been described in detail above in conjunction withFIG.5. Briefly referring also toFIG.5, however, as symbols are available and encoding/decoding of symbols to a coded video sequence by an entropy coder (645) and the parser (520) can be lossless, the entropy decoding parts of the video decoder (510), including the buffer memory (515), and parser (520) may not be fully implemented in the local decoder (633).

In an embodiment, a decoder technology except the parsing/entropy decoding that is present in a decoder is present, in an identical or a substantially identical functional form, in a corresponding encoder. Accordingly, the disclosed subject matter focuses on decoder operation. The description of encoder technologies can be abbreviated as they are the inverse of the comprehensively described decoder technologies. In certain areas a more detail description is provided below.

During operation, in some examples, the source coder (630) may perform motion compensated predictive coding, which codes an input picture predictively with reference to one or more previously coded picture from the video sequence that were designated as “reference pictures.” In this manner, the coding engine (632) codes differences between pixel blocks of an input picture and pixel blocks of reference picture(s) that may be selected as prediction reference(s) to the input picture.

The local video decoder (633) may decode coded video data of pictures that may be designated as reference pictures, based on symbols created by the source coder (630). Operations of the coding engine (632) may advantageously be lossy processes. When the coded video data may be decoded at a video decoder (not shown inFIG.6), the reconstructed video sequence typically may be a replica of the source video sequence with some errors. The local video decoder (633) replicates decoding processes that may be performed by the video decoder on reference pictures and may cause reconstructed reference pictures to be stored in the reference picture memory (634). In this manner, the video encoder (603) may store copies of reconstructed reference pictures locally that have common content as the reconstructed reference pictures that will be obtained by a far-end video decoder (absent transmission errors).

The predictor (635) may perform prediction searches for the coding engine (632). That is, for a new picture to be coded, the predictor (635) may search the reference picture memory (634) for sample data (as candidate reference pixel blocks) or certain metadata such as reference picture motion vectors, block shapes, and so on, that may serve as an appropriate prediction reference for the new pictures. The predictor (635) may operate on a sample block-by-pixel block basis to find appropriate prediction references. In some cases, as determined by search results obtained by the predictor (635), an input picture may have prediction references drawn from multiple reference pictures stored in the reference picture memory (634).

The controller (650) may manage coding operations of the source coder (630), including, for example, setting of parameters and subgroup parameters used for encoding the video data.

Output of all aforementioned functional units may be subjected to entropy coding in the entropy coder (645). The entropy coder (645) translates the symbols as generated by the various functional units into a coded video sequence, by applying lossless compression to the symbols according to technologies such as Huffman coding, variable length coding, arithmetic coding, and so forth.

The transmitter (640) may buffer the coded video sequence(s) as created by the entropy coder (645) to prepare for transmission via a communication channel (660), which may be a hardware/software link to a storage device which would store the encoded video data. The transmitter (640) may merge coded video data from the video encoder (603) with other data to be transmitted, for example, coded audio data and/or ancillary data streams (sources not shown).

The controller (650) may manage operation of the video encoder (603). During coding, the controller (650) may assign to each coded picture a certain coded picture type, which may affect the coding techniques that may be applied to the respective picture. For example, pictures often may be assigned as one of the following picture types:

An Intra Picture (I picture) may be one that may be coded and decoded without using any other picture in the sequence as a source of prediction. Some video codecs allow for different types of intra pictures, including, for example Independent Decoder Refresh (“IDR”) Pictures. A person skilled in the art is aware of those variants of I pictures and their respective applications and features.

A predictive picture (P picture) may be one that may be coded and decoded using intra prediction or inter prediction using at most one motion vector and reference index to predict the sample values of each block.

A bi-directionally predictive picture (B Picture) may be one that may be coded and decoded using intra prediction or inter prediction using at most two motion vectors and reference indices to predict the sample values of each block. Similarly, multiple-predictive pictures can use more than two reference pictures and associated metadata for the reconstruction of a single block.

Source pictures commonly may be subdivided spatially into a plurality of sample blocks (for example, blocks of 4×4, 8×8, 4×8, or 16×16 samples each) and coded on a block-by-block basis. Blocks may be coded predictively with reference to other (already coded) blocks as determined by the coding assignment applied to the blocks' respective pictures. For example, blocks of I pictures may be coded non-predictively or they may be coded predictively with reference to already coded blocks of the same picture (spatial prediction or intra prediction). Pixel blocks of P pictures may be coded predictively, via spatial prediction or via temporal prediction with reference to one previously coded reference picture. Blocks of B pictures may be coded predictively, via spatial prediction or via temporal prediction with reference to one or two previously coded reference pictures.

The video encoder (603) may perform coding operations according to a predetermined video coding technology or standard, such as ITU-T Rec. H.265. In its operation, the video encoder (603) may perform various compression operations, including predictive coding operations that exploit temporal and spatial redundancies in the input video sequence. The coded video data, therefore, may conform to a syntax specified by the video coding technology or standard being used.

In an embodiment, the transmitter (640) may transmit additional data with the encoded video. The source coder (630) may include such data as part of the coded video sequence. Additional data may comprise temporal/spatial/SNR enhancement layers, other forms of redundant data such as redundant pictures and slices, SEI messages, VUI parameter set fragments, and so on.

A video may be captured as a plurality of source pictures (video pictures) in a temporal sequence. Intra-picture prediction (often abbreviated to intra prediction) makes use of spatial correlation in a given picture, and inter-picture prediction makes uses of the (temporal or other) correlation between the pictures. In an example, a specific picture under encoding/decoding, which is referred to as a current picture, is partitioned into blocks. When a block in the current picture is similar to a reference block in a previously coded and still buffered reference picture in the video, the block in the current picture can be coded by a vector that is referred to as a motion vector. The motion vector points to the reference block in the reference picture, and can have a third dimension identifying the reference picture, in case multiple reference pictures are in use.

In some embodiments, a bi-prediction technique can be used in the inter-picture prediction. According to the bi-prediction technique, two reference pictures, such as a first reference picture and a second reference picture that are both prior in decoding order to the current picture in the video (but may be in the past and future, respectively, in display order) are used. A block in the current picture can be coded by a first motion vector that points to a first reference block in the first reference picture, and a second motion vector that points to a second reference block in the second reference picture. The block can be predicted by a combination of the first reference block and the second reference block.

Further, a merge mode technique can be used in the inter-picture prediction to improve coding efficiency.

According to some embodiments of the disclosure, predictions, such as inter-picture predictions and intra-picture predictions, are performed in the unit of blocks. For example, according to the HEVC standard, a picture in a sequence of video pictures is partitioned into coding tree units (CTU) for compression, the CTUs in a picture have the same size, such as 64×64 pixels, 32×32 pixels, or 16×16 pixels. In general, a CTU includes three coding tree blocks (CTBs), which are one luma CTB and two chroma CTBs. Each CTU can be recursively quadtree split into one or multiple coding units (CUs). For example, a CTU of 64×64 pixels can be split into one CU of 64×64 pixels, or 4 CUs of 32×32 pixels, or 16 CUs of 16×16 pixels. In an example, each CU is analyzed to determine a prediction type for the CU, such as an inter prediction type or an intra prediction type. The CU is split into one or more prediction units (PUs) depending on the temporal and/or spatial predictability. Generally, each PU includes a luma prediction block (PB), and two chroma PBs. In an embodiment, a prediction operation in coding (encoding/decoding) is performed in the unit of a prediction block. Using a luma prediction block as an example of a prediction block, the prediction block includes a matrix of values (e.g., luma values) for pixels, such as 8×8 pixels, 16×16 pixels, 8×16 pixels, 16×8 pixels, and the like.

FIG.7shows an exemplary diagram of a video encoder (703). The video encoder (703) is configured to receive a processing block (e.g., a prediction block) of sample values within a current video picture in a sequence of video pictures, and encode the processing block into a coded picture that is part of a coded video sequence. In an example, the video encoder (703) is used in the place of the video encoder (403) in theFIG.4example.

In an HEVC example, the video encoder (703) receives a matrix of sample values for a processing block, such as a prediction block of 8×8 samples, and the like. The video encoder (703) determines whether the processing block is best coded using intra mode, inter mode, or bi-prediction mode using, for example, rate-distortion optimization. When the processing block is to be coded in intra mode, the video encoder (703) may use an intra prediction technique to encode the processing block into the coded picture; and when the processing block is to be coded in inter mode or bi-prediction mode, the video encoder (703) may use an inter prediction or bi-prediction technique, respectively, to encode the processing block into the coded picture. In certain video coding technologies, merge mode can be an inter picture prediction submode where the motion vector is derived from one or more motion vector predictors without the benefit of a coded motion vector component outside the predictors. In certain other video coding technologies, a motion vector component applicable to the subject block may be present. In an example, the video encoder (703) includes other components, such as a mode decision module (not shown) to determine the mode of the processing blocks.

In theFIG.7example, the video encoder (703) includes an inter encoder (730), an intra encoder (722), a residue calculator (723), a switch (726), a residue encoder (724), a general controller (721), and an entropy encoder (725) coupled together as shown inFIG.7.

The inter encoder (730) is configured to receive the samples of the current block (e.g., a processing block), compare the block to one or more reference blocks in reference pictures (e.g., blocks in previous pictures and later pictures), generate inter prediction information (e.g., description of redundant information according to inter encoding technique, motion vectors, merge mode information), and calculate inter prediction results (e.g., predicted block) based on the inter prediction information using any suitable technique. In some examples, the reference pictures are decoded reference pictures that are decoded based on the encoded video information.

The intra encoder (722) is configured to receive the samples of the current block (e.g., a processing block), in some cases compare the block to blocks already coded in the same picture, generate quantized coefficients after transform, and in some cases also generate intra prediction information (e.g., an intra prediction direction information according to one or more intra encoding techniques). In an example, the intra encoder (722) also calculates intra prediction results (e.g., predicted block) based on the intra prediction information and reference blocks in the same picture.

The general controller (721) is configured to determine general control data and control other components of the video encoder (703) based on the general control data. In an example, the general controller (721) determines the mode of the block, and provides a control signal to the switch (726) based on the mode. For example, when the mode is the intra mode, the general controller (721) controls the switch (726) to select the intra mode result for use by the residue calculator (723), and controls the entropy encoder (725) to select the intra prediction information and include the intra prediction information in the bitstream; and when the mode is the inter mode, the general controller (721) controls the switch (726) to select the inter prediction result for use by the residue calculator (723), and controls the entropy encoder (725) to select the inter prediction information and include the inter prediction information in the bitstream.

The residue calculator (723) is configured to calculate a difference (residue data) between the received block and prediction results selected from the intra encoder (722) or the inter encoder (730). The residue encoder (724) is configured to operate based on the residue data to encode the residue data to generate the transform coefficients. In an example, the residue encoder (724) is configured to convert the residue data from a spatial domain to a frequency domain, and generate the transform coefficients. The transform coefficients are then subject to quantization processing to obtain quantized transform coefficients. In various embodiments, the video encoder (703) also includes a residue decoder (728). The residue decoder (728) is configured to perform inverse-transform, and generate the decoded residue data. The decoded residue data can be suitably used by the intra encoder (722) and the inter encoder (730). For example, the inter encoder (730) can generate decoded blocks based on the decoded residue data and inter prediction information, and the intra encoder (722) can generate decoded blocks based on the decoded residue data and the intra prediction information. The decoded blocks are suitably processed to generate decoded pictures and the decoded pictures can be buffered in a memory circuit (not shown) and used as reference pictures in some examples.

The entropy encoder (725) is configured to format the bitstream to include the encoded block. The entropy encoder (725) is configured to include various information in the bitstream according to a suitable standard, such as the HEVC standard. In an example, the entropy encoder (725) is configured to include the general control data, the selected prediction information (e.g., intra prediction information or inter prediction information), the residue information, and other suitable information in the bitstream. Note that, according to the disclosed subject matter, when coding a block in the merge submode of either inter mode or bi-prediction mode, there is no residue information.

FIG.8shows an exemplary diagram of a video decoder (810). The video decoder (810) is configured to receive coded pictures that are part of a coded video sequence, and decode the coded pictures to generate reconstructed pictures. In an example, the video decoder (810) is used in the place of the video decoder (410) in theFIG.4example.

In theFIG.8example, the video decoder (810) includes an entropy decoder (871), an inter decoder (880), a residue decoder (873), a reconstruction module (874), and an intra decoder (872) coupled together as shown inFIG.8.

The entropy decoder (871) can be configured to reconstruct, from the coded picture, certain symbols that represent the syntax elements of which the coded picture is made up. Such symbols can include, for example, the mode in which a block is coded (such as, for example, intra mode, inter mode, bi-predicted mode, the latter two in merge submode or another submode) and prediction information (such as, for example, intra prediction information or inter prediction information) that can identify certain sample or metadata that is used for prediction by the intra decoder (872) or the inter decoder (880), respectively. The symbols can also include residual information in the form of, for example, quantized transform coefficients, and the like. In an example, when the prediction mode is inter or bi-predicted mode, the inter prediction information is provided to the inter decoder (880); and when the prediction type is the intra prediction type, the intra prediction information is provided to the intra decoder (872). The residual information can be subject to inverse quantization and is provided to the residue decoder (873).

The inter decoder (880) is configured to receive the inter prediction information, and generate inter prediction results based on the inter prediction information.

The intra decoder (872) is configured to receive the intra prediction information, and generate prediction results based on the intra prediction information.

The residue decoder (873) is configured to perform inverse quantization to extract de-quantized transform coefficients, and process the de-quantized transform coefficients to convert the residual information from the frequency domain to the spatial domain. The residue decoder (873) may also require certain control information (to include the Quantizer Parameter (QP)), and that information may be provided by the entropy decoder (871) (data path not depicted as this may be low volume control information only).

The reconstruction module (874) is configured to combine, in the spatial domain, the residual information as output by the residue decoder (873) and the prediction results (as output by the inter or intra prediction modules as the case may be) to form a reconstructed block, that may be part of the reconstructed picture, which in turn may be part of the reconstructed video. It is noted that other suitable operations, such as a deblocking operation and the like, can be performed to improve the visual quality.

It is noted that the video encoders (403), (603), and (703), and the video decoders (410), (510), and (810) can be implemented using any suitable technique. In an embodiment, the video encoders (403), (603), and (703), and the video decoders (410), (510), and (810) can be implemented using one or more integrated circuits. In another embodiment, the video encoders (403), (603), and (603), and the video decoders (410), (510), and (810) can be implemented using one or more processors that execute software instructions.

Various inter prediction modes can be used in VVC. For an inter-predicted CU, motion parameters can include MV(s), one or more reference picture indices, a reference picture list usage index, and additional information for certain coding features to be used for inter-predicted sample generation. A motion parameter can be signaled explicitly or implicitly. When a CU is coded with a skip mode, the CU can be associated with a PU and can have no significant residual coefficients, no coded motion vector delta or MV difference (e.g., MVD) or a reference picture index. A merge mode can be specified where the motion parameters for the current CU are obtained from neighboring CU(s), including spatial and/or temporal candidates, and optionally additional information such as introduced in VVC. The merge mode can be applied to an inter-predicted CU, not only for skip mode. In an example, an alternative to the merge mode is the explicit transmission of motion parameters, where MV(s), a corresponding reference picture index for each reference picture list and a reference picture list usage flag and other information are signaled explicitly per CU.

In an embodiment, such as in VVC, VVC Test model (VTM) reference software includes one or more refined inter prediction coding tools that include: an extended merge prediction, a merge motion vector difference (MMVD) mode, an adaptive motion vector prediction (AMVP) mode with symmetric MVD signaling, an affine motion compensated prediction, a subblock-based temporal motion vector prediction (SbTMVP), an adaptive motion vector resolution (AMVR), a motion field storage ( 1/16th luma sample MV storage and 8×8 motion field compression), a bi-prediction with CU-level weights (BCW), a bi-directional optical flow (BDOF), a prediction refinement using optical flow (PROF), a decoder side motion vector refinement (DMVR), a combined inter and intra prediction (CIIP), a geometric partitioning mode (GPM), and the like. Inter predictions and related methods are described in detail below.

Extended merge prediction can be used in some examples. In an example, such as in VTM4, a merge candidate list is constructed by including the following five types of candidates in order: spatial motion vector predictor(s) (MVP(s)) from spatial neighboring CU(s), temporal MVP(s) from collocated CU(s), history-based MVP(s) (HMVP(s)) from a first-in-first-out (FIFO) table, pairwise average MVP(s), and zero MV(s).

A size of the merge candidate list can be signaled in a slice header. In an example, the maximum allowed size of the merge candidate list is 6 in VTM4. For each CU coded in the merge mode, an index (e.g., a merge index) of a best merge candidate can be encoded using truncated unary binarization (TU). The first bin of the merge index can be coded with context (e.g., context-adaptive binary arithmetic coding (CABAC)) and a bypass coding can be used for other bins.

Some examples of a generation process of each category of merge candidates are provided below. In an embodiment, spatial candidate(s) are derived as follows. The derivation of spatial merge candidates in VVC can be identical to that in HEVC. In an example, a maximum of four merge candidates are selected among candidates located in positions depicted inFIG.9.FIG.9shows positions of spatial merge candidates according to an embodiment of the disclosure. Referring toFIG.9, an order of derivation is B1, A1, B0, A0, and B2. The position B2 is considered only when any CU of positions A0, B0, B1, and A1 is not available (e.g., because the CU belongs to another slice or another tile) or is intra coded. After a candidate at the position A1 is added, the addition of the remaining candidates is subject to a redundancy check which ensures that candidates with same motion information are excluded from the candidate list so that coding efficiency is improved.

To reduce computational complexity, not all possible candidate pairs are considered in the mentioned redundancy check. Instead, only pairs linked with an arrow inFIG.10are considered and a candidate is only added to the candidate list if the corresponding candidate used for the redundancy check does not have the same motion information.FIG.10shows candidate pairs that are considered for a redundancy check of spatial merge candidates according to an embodiment of the disclosure. Referring toFIG.10, the pairs linked with respective arrows include A1 and B1, A1 and A0, A1 and B2, B1 and B0, and B1 and B2. Thus, candidates at the positions B1, A0, and/or B2 can be compared with the candidate at the position A1, and candidates at the positions B0 and/or B2 can be compared with the candidate at the position B1.

In an embodiment, temporal candidate(s) are derived as follows. In an example, only one temporal merge candidate is added to the candidate list.FIG.11shows exemplary motion vector scaling for a temporal merge candidate. To derive the temporal merge candidate of a current CU (1111) in a current picture (1101), a scaled MV (1121) (e.g., shown by a dotted line inFIG.11) can be derived based on a collocated CU (1112) belonging to a collocated reference picture (1104). In an example, the collocated reference picture (also referred to as the collocated picture) is a particular reference picture, for example, used for temporal motion vector prediction. The collocated reference picture used for the temporal motion vector prediction can be indicated by a reference index in a syntax, such as a high-level syntax (e.g., a picture header, a slice header).

A reference picture list used to derive the collocated CU (1112) can be explicitly signaled in a slice header. The scaled MV (1121) for the temporal merge candidate can be obtained as shown by the dotted line inFIG.11. The scaled MV (1121) can be scaled from the MV of the collocated CU (1112) using picture order count (POC) distances tb and td. The POC distance tb can be defined to be the POC difference between a current reference picture (1102) of the current picture (1101) and the current picture (1101). The POC distance td can be defined to be the POC difference between the collocated reference picture (1104) of the collocated reference picture (1103) and the collocated reference picture (1103). A reference picture index of the temporal merge candidate can be set to zero.

FIG.12shows exemplary candidate positions (e.g., C0 and C1) for a temporal merge candidate of a current CU. A position for the temporal merge candidate can be selected from the candidate positions C0 and C1. The candidate position C0 is located at a bottom-right corner of a co-located CU (1210) of the current CU. The candidate position C1 is located at a center of the co-located CU (1210) of the current CU. If a CU at the candidate position C0 is not available, is intra coded, or is outside of a current row of CTUs, the candidate position C1 is used to derive the temporal merge candidate. Otherwise, for example, the CU at the candidate position C0 is available, intra coded, and in the current row of CTUs, the candidate position C0 is used to derive the temporal merge candidate.

A merge with motion vector difference (MMVD) mode can be used for a skip mode or a merge mode with a motion vector expression method. Merge candidate(s), such as used in VVC, can be reused in the MMVD mode. A candidate can be selected among the merge candidates as a starting point (e.g., an MV predictor (MVP)), and can be further expanded by the MMVD mode. The MMVD mode can provide a new motion vector expression with simplified signaling. The motion vector expression method includes the starting point and an MV difference (MVD). In an example, the MVD is indicated by a magnitude (or a motion magnitude) of the MVD, and a direction (e.g., a motion direction) of the MVD.

The MMVD mode can use a merge candidate list, such as used in VVC. In an embodiment, only candidate(s) which are of a default merge type (e.g., MRG_TYPE_DEFAULT_N) are considered for the MMVD mode. The starting point can be indicated or defined by a base candidate index (IDX). The base candidate index can indicate a candidate (e.g., the best candidate) among the candidates (e.g., the base candidates) in the merge candidate list. Table 1 shows an exemplary relationship between the base candidate index and the corresponding starting point. The base candidate index being 0, 1, 2, or 3 indicates the corresponding starting point being a 1stMVP, a 2ndMVP, a 3rdMVP or a 4thMVP. In an example, if a number of the base candidate(s) is equal to 1, the base candidate IDX is not signaled.

TABLE 1Base candidate IDXBase candidate IDX0123NthMVP1stMVP2ndMVP3rdMVP4thMVP

A distance index can indicate motion magnitude information of the MVD, such as the magnitude of the MVD. For example, the distance index indicates a distance (e.g., a pre-defined distance) from the starting point (e.g., the MVP indicated by the base candidate index). In an example, the distance is one of a plurality of pre-defined distances, such as shown in Table 2. Table 2 shows an exemplary relationship between the distance index and the corresponding distance (in units of samples or pixels). 1 pel in Table 2 is one sample or one pixel. For example, the distance index being 1 indicates the distance to be ½-pel or ½ samples.

TABLE 2Distance IDXDistance IDX01234567Pixel¼-½-1-2-4-8-16-32-distancepelpelpelpelpelpelpelpel

A direction index can represent the direction of the MVD relative to the starting point. The direction index can represent one of a plurality of directions, such as four directions as shown in Table 3. For example, the direction index being 00 indicates the direction of the MVD being along the positive x-axis.

TABLE 3Direction IDXDirection IDX00011011x-axis+−N/AN/Ay-axisN/AN/A+−

An MMVD flag can be signaled after sending a skip and merge flag. If the skip and merge flag is true, the MMVD flag can be parsed. In an example, if the MMVD flag is equal to 1, MMVD syntaxes (e.g., including a distance index and/or a direction index) can be parsed. If the MMVD flag is not equal to 1, an AFFINE flag can be parsed. If the AFFINE flag is equal to 1, the AFFINE mode is used to code the current block. If the AFFINE flag is not equal to 1, a skip/merge index can be parsed for a skip/merge mode, such as used in VTM.

FIGS.13-14show an example of a search process in the MMVD mode. By performing the search process, indices including a base candidate index, a direction index, and/or a distance index can be determined for a current block (1300) in a current picture (or referred to as a current frame) (1301).

A first motion vector (MV) (1311) and a second MV (1321) belonging to a first merge candidate are shown. The first merge candidate can be a merge candidate in a merge candidate list constructed for the current block (1300). The first and second MVs (1311) and (1321) can be associated with two reference pictures (1302) and (1303) in reference picture lists L0 and L1, respectively. Accordingly, two starting points (1411) and (1421) inFIGS.13-14can be determined at the reference pictures (1302) and (1303), respectively.

In an example, based on the starting points (1411) and (1421), multiple predefined points (e.g., 1-12 shown inFIG.14) extending from the starting points (1411) and (1421) in vertical directions (represented by +Y, or −Y) or horizontal directions (represented by +X and −X) in the reference pictures (1302) and (1303) can be evaluated. In one example, a pair of points mirroring each other with respect to the respective starting point (1411) or (1421), such as the pair of points (1414) and (1424), or the pair of points (1415) and (1425), can be used to determine a pair of MVs (1314) and (1324) or a pair of MVs (1315) and (1325) which may form MV predictor (MVP) candidates for the current block (1300). The MVP candidates determined based on the predefined points surrounding the starting points (1411) and/or (1421) can be evaluated. Referring toFIG.13, an MVD (1312) between the first MV (1311) and the MV (1314) has a magnitude of 1S. An MVD (1322) between the second MV (1321) and the MV (1324) has a magnitude of 1S. Similarly, an MVD between the first MV (1311) and the MV (1315) has a magnitude of 2S. An MVD between the second MV (1321) and the MV (1325) has a magnitude of 2S.

In addition to the first merge candidate, other available or valid merge candidates in the merge candidate list of the current block (1300) can also be evaluated similarly. In one example, for a uni-predicted merge candidate, only one prediction direction associated with one of the two reference picture lists is evaluated.

In an example, based on the evaluations, a best MVP candidate can be determined. Accordingly, a best merge candidate corresponding to the best MVP candidate can be selected from the merge list, and a motion direction and a motion distance can also be determined. For example, based on the selected merge candidate and the Table 1, a base candidate index can be determined. Based on the selected MVP, such as that corresponding to the predefined point (1415) (or (1425)), a direction and a distance (e.g., 2S) of the point (1415) with respect to the starting point (1411) can be determined. According to Table 2 and Table 3, a direction index and a distance index can accordingly be determined.

As described above, two indices, such as a distance index and a direction index can be used to indicate an MVD in the MMVD mode. Alternatively, a single index can be used to indicate an MVD in the MMVD mode, for example, with a table that pairs the single index with the MVD.

Template matching (TM) based candidate reordering can be used in some prediction modes, such as the MMVD mode and an affine MMVD mode. In an embodiment, MMVD offsets are extended for the MMVD mode and the affine MMVD mode.FIG.15shows additional refinement positions along multiple diagonal angles, such as k×π/8 diagonal angles where k is an integer from 0 to 15. The additional refinement positions along the multiple diagonal angles can increase a number of directions, for example, from 4 directions (e.g., +X, −X, +Y, and −Y) to 16 directions (e.g., k=0, 1, 2, . . . , 15). In an example, each of the 16 directions is represented by an angle between the +X direction and a direction indicated by a center point (1500) and one of points 1-16. For example, the point 1 indicates +X direction with an angle of 0 (i.e., k=0), the point 2 indicates a direction along an angle of 1×π/8 (i.e., k=1), and the like.

The TM can be performed in the MMVD mode. In an example, for each MMVD refinement position, a TM cost can be determined based on a current template of a current block and one or more reference templates. The TM cost can be determined using any method, such as a sum of absolute difference (SAD) (e.g., an SAD cost), a sum of absolute transformed differences (SATD), sum of squared errors (SSE), a mean removed SAD/SATD/SSE, a variance, a partial SAD, a partial SSE, a partial SATD, or the like.

The current template of the current block can include any suitable samples, such as one row of samples above the current block and/or one column of samples to the left of the current block. Based on the TM costs (e.g., SAD costs) between the current template and corresponding reference templates for the refinement positions, MMVD refinement positions, for example, all possible MMVD refinement positions (e.g., 16×6 representing 16 directions and 6 magnitudes) for each base candidate (e.g., an MVP) can be reordered. In an example, top MMVD refinement positions with the smallest TM costs (e.g., the smallest SAD costs) are kept as available MMVD refinement positions for MMVD index coding. For example, a subset (e.g., 8) of the MMVD refinement positions with the smallest TM costs is used for the MMVD index coding. For example, an MMVD index indicates which one of the subset of the MMVD refinement positions with the smallest TM costs is selected to code the current block. In an example, an MMVD index of 0 indicates that an MVD (e.g., an MMVD refinement position) that corresponds to the smallest TM cost is used to code the current block. The MMVD index can be binarized, for example, by the Rice code with a parameter equal to 2.

In an embodiment, in addition to the MMVD offset extension described above, such as inFIG.15, an affine MMVD reordering is extended where additional refinement positions along k×π/4 diagonal angles are added. After reordering, top ½ refinement positions with the smallest TM costs (e.g., SAD costs) are kept to code the current block

To improve the coding efficiency and reduce the transmission overhead of MV(s), a subblock level MV refinement can be applied to extend a CU level temporal motion vector prediction (TMVP). In an example, a subblock-based TMVP (SbTMVP) mode allows inheriting motion information at a subblock-level from a collocated reference picture. As described above, the collocated reference picture can be indicated by a reference index in a syntax, such as a high-level syntax (e.g., a picture header, a slice header). Each subblock of a current CU (e.g., a current CU with a large size) in a current picture can have respective motion information without explicitly transmitting a block partition structure or the respective motion information. In the SbTMVP mode, motion information for each subblock can be obtained as follows, for example, in three steps. In the first step, a displacement vector (DV) of the current CU can be derived. The DV can indicate a block in the collocated reference picture, for example, the DV points from the current block in the current picture to the block in the collocated reference picture. Thus, the block indicated by the DV is considered as being collocated with the current block and is referred to as a collocated block of the current block. In the second step, availability of an SbTMVP candidate can be checked and a central motion (e.g., a central motion of the current CU) can be derived. In the third step, subblock motion information can be derived from a corresponding subblock in the collocated block using the DV. The three steps can be combined into one or two steps, and/or an order of the three steps may be adjusted.

Unlike TMVP candidate derivation which derives temporal MVs from a collocated block in a reference frame or a reference picture, in the SbTMVP mode, a DV (e.g., a DV derived from an MV of a left neighboring CU of the current CU) can be applied to locate a corresponding subblock in the collocated reference picture for each subblock in the current CU that is in the current picture. If the corresponding subblock is not inter-coded, motion information of the current subblock can be set to be the central motion of the collocated block.

The SbTMVP mode can be supported by various video coding standards including for example VVC. Similar to the TMVP mode, for example, in HEVC, in the SbTMVP mode, a motion field (also referred to as a motion information field or an MV field) in the collocated reference picture can be used to improve MV prediction and a merge mode for CUs in the current picture. In an example, the same collocated reference picture used by the TMVP mode is used in the SbTMVP mode. In an example, the SbTMVP mode differs from the TMVP mode in the following aspects: (i) the TMVP mode predicts motion information at the CU level while the SbTMVP mode predicts motion information at a sub-CU level; (ii) the TMVP mode fetches the temporal MVs from the collocated block in the collocated reference picture (e.g., the collocated block is the bottom-right or a center block relative to the current CU) while the SbTMVP mode can apply a motion shift before fetching the temporal motion information from the collocated reference picture. In an example, the motion shift used in the SbTMVP mode is obtained from an MV of one of spatial neighboring blocks of the current CU.

FIGS.16-17show an exemplary SbTMVP process used in the SbTMVP mode. The SbTMVP process can predict MVs of sub-CUs (e.g., subblocks) within a current CU (e.g., a current block) (1601) in a current picture (1711), for example, in two steps. In the first step, a spatial neighbor (e.g., A1) of the current block (1601) inFIGS.16-17is examined. If the spatial neighbor (e.g., A1) has an MV (1721) that uses a collocated reference picture (1712) as a reference picture of the spatial neighbor (e.g., A1), the MV (1721) can be selected to be a motion shift (or a DV) to be applied to the current block (1601). If no such MV (e.g., an MV that uses the collocated reference picture (1712) as a reference picture) is identified, the motion shift or the DV can be set to a zero MV (e.g., (0, 0)). In some examples, MV(s) of additional spatial neighbors, such as A0, B0, B1, and the like are checked if no such MV is identified for the spatial neighbor A1.

In the second step, the motion shift or the DV (1721) identified in the first step can be applied to the current block (1601) (e.g., the DV (1721) is added to coordinates of the current block) to obtain sub-CU level motion information (e.g., including MVs and reference indices) from the collocated reference picture (1712). In the example shown inFIG.17, the motion shift or the DV (1721) is set to be the MV of the spatial neighbor A1 (e.g., a block A1) of the current block (1601). For each sub-CU or subblock (1731) in the current block (1601), motion information of a corresponding collocated block (1701) (e.g., motion information of the smallest motion grid that covers a center sample of the collocated block (1701)) in the collocated reference picture (1712) can be used to derive the motion information for the sub-CU or subblock (1731). After the motion information of the collocated sub-CU (1732) in the collocated block (1701) is identified, the motion information of the collocated sub-CU (1732) can be converted to the motion information (e.g., MV(s) and one or more reference indices) of the current sub-CU (1731), for example, using a scaling method, such as in a similar way as the TMVP process used in HEVC, where temporal motion scaling is applied to align reference pictures of temporal MVs to reference pictures of a current CU.

The motion field of the current block (1601) derived based on the DV (1721) can include motion information of each subblock (1731) in the current block (1601), such as MV(s) and one or more associated reference indices. The motion field of the current block (1601) can also be referred to as an SbTMVP candidate and corresponds to the DV (1721).

FIG.17shows an example of the motion field or the SbTMVP candidate of the current block (1601). For example, the motion information of the subblock (1731(1)) that is bi-predicted includes a first MV, a first index indicating a first reference picture in a reference picture list 0 (L0), a second MV and a second index indicating a second reference picture in a reference picture list 1 (L1). In an example, the motion information of the subblock (1731(2)) that is uni-predicted includes an MV and an index indicating a reference picture in L0 or L1.

In an example, the DV (1721) is applied to a central position of the current block (1601) to locate a displaced central position in the collocated reference picture (1712). If a block including the displaced central position is not inter-coded, the SbTMVP candidate is considered not available. Otherwise, if a block (e.g., the collocated block (1701)) including the displaced central position is inter-coded, the motion information of the central position of the current block (1601), referred to as central motion of the current block (1601), can be derived from motion information of the block including the displaced central position in the collocated reference picture (1712). In an example, a scaling process can be used to derive the central motion of the current block (1601) from the motion information of the block including the displaced central position in the collocated reference picture (1712). When the SbTMVP candidate is available, the DV (1721) can be applied to find the corresponding subblock (1732) in the collocated reference picture (1712) for each subblock (1731) of the current block (1601). The motion information of the corresponding subblock (1732) can be used to derive the motion information of the subblock (1731) in the current block (1601), such as in the same way used to derive the central motion of the current block (1601). In an example, if the corresponding subblock (1732) is not inter-coded, the motion information of the current subblock (1731) is set to be the central motion of the current block (1601).

In some examples, such as in VVC, a combined subblock based merge list which includes an SbTMVP candidate and affine merge candidate(s) is used in the signaling of a subblock based merge mode. The SbTMVP mode can be enabled or disabled by a sequence parameter set (SPS) flag. If the SbTMVP mode is enabled, the SbTMVP candidate (or the SbTMVP predictor) can be added as the first entry of the subblock based merge list including subblock based merge candidates, and followed by the affine merge candidate(s). The size of the subblock based merge list can be signaled in the SPS. In an example, the maximum allowed size of the subblock based merge list is 5 in VVC. In an example, multiple SbTMVP candidates are included in the subblock based merge list.

In some examples, such as in VVC, the sub-CU size used in the SbTMVP mode is fixed to be 8×8, such as used for the affine merge mode. In an example, the SbTMVP mode is only applicable to a CU with both a width and a height being larger than or equal to 8. The subblock size (e.g., 8×8) may be configurable to other sizes, such as 4×4 in an ECM software model use for exploration beyond VVC. In an example, multiple collocated reference pictures, such as two collocated frames, are utilized to provide temporal motion information for the SbTMVP and/or the TMVP in the AMVP mode.

In some examples of the SbTMVP mode, such as in VVC and ECM, a DV (e.g., the DV (1721) inFIG.17) of a current CU is only derived from an MV of a neighboring CU of the current CU. However, the SbTMVP candidate derived with the DV may not be an accurate match.

A DV offset (DVO) can be used in the SbTMVP mode. In an example, to get a more accurate matching, a DV (e.g., an initial DV) can be modified by the DV offset to determine an updated DV′. In an example, the updated DV′ is a vector sum of the DV (e.g., the initial DV) and the DVO. The initial DV can be determined using any method, such as described inFIGS.16-17. For example, the initial DV is determined based on an MV of a neighboring block of the current block. For a current block, the DVO can be signaled and parsed to indicate an additional motion offset of the initial DV. The DVO can be indicated, for example, by signaling an index indicating the DVO from DVO candidates. In an example, the DVO is signaled. In an example, the MMVD mode is used to indicate the DVO, for example, the DVO is an MVD indicated by a direction index and/or a distance index, such as described in Tables 2-3. By using the DVO, a location of a collocated CU (or a collocated block) within a collocated reference picture can be adjusted, and thus an MV field of the collocated CU (or the collocated block) can vary based on the DVO. When the DVO is not zero, the updated DV′ can be used as the displacement vector to indicate the location of the collocated CU (or a collocated block) to perform the SbTMVP process. Referring toFIG.17, instead of using the initial DV (e.g., the DV (1721)) that is the MV of the spatial neighbor A1, the updated DV′ can be used to determine a collocated block for the current block. A SbTMVP candidate of the current block can be derived by using the updated DV′ (e.g., a vector sum of the initial DV and the DVO).

In an embodiment, the DVO is signaled directly, for example, using any signaling method used to signal an MVD, such as in the AMVP mode, the AMVR mode, and/or the like. In the AMVR mode, an MVD of a block can be signaled in different resolutions, such as ¼-, ½-, 1- or 4-luma sample resolutions. The DVO can be signaled in different resolutions using the AMVR mode.

A predefined DVO list can include DVO candidates (e.g., possible DVOs to be used by the current block). One or more indices can be signaled to indicate which DVO candidate of the DVO candidates is to be selected as the DVO.

In an example, the DVO is signaled using the MMVD mode. For examples, two indices including a first index (e.g., a distance index or a step index) indicating a magnitude of a DVO candidate and a second index (e.g., a direction index) indicating a direction of the DVO candidate are signaled to indicate the DVO candidate, such as described in Tables 2-3.

Referring back toFIG.14, the distance index (or the step index) and the direction index may be predefined as described above with reference to the MMVD mode. The distance index indicates motion magnitude information such as the magnitude of the DVO. For example, the distance index indicates a predefined distance from the starting point (e.g., the initial DV). In an example, available predefined distances are shown in Table 2. The direction index represents a direction of the DVO relative to the starting point (e.g., the initial DV). The direction index can indicate one of multiple directions, such as the four directions shown in Table 3.

In an example, a collocated CTU in the collocated reference picture is collocated with a current CTU that includes the current block. The current CTU is located in the current picture. In an embodiment, a location of the collocated block corresponding to the updated DV′ is restricted to be within a first area in the collocated reference picture. In an example, the first area in the collocated reference picture includes the collocated CTU. In an example, the first area in the collocated reference picture includes the collocated CTU plus one column of 4×4 blocks at a right boundary of the collocated CTU. The updated DV′ can be constrained such that the collocated block corresponding to the updated DV′ is within the first area in the collocated reference picture. In an example, the DVO (e.g., a horizontal component DVOxof the DVO and/or a vertical component DVOyof the DVO) is constrained to ensure that the updated DV′ satisfies the location restriction of the collocated block as described above.

In an example, a maximum vertical component of the updated DV′ is H. The DVO (e.g., the vertical component DVOyof the DVO) is to be less than or equal to H minus a vertical component DVyof the DV, for example, DVOy≤H−DVy. A maximum horizontal component for the updated DV′ is W, and the DVO is to be smaller than or equal to W minus a horizontal component DVxof the DV, for example, DVOx≤W−DVx.

As described inFIGS.16-17, a collocated block (e.g., (1701)) in a collocated reference picture (e.g., (1712)) can be determined based on a DV (e.g.,1721)) of a current block (e.g., (1601)) in a current picture (e.g., (1711)). Thus, motion information (e.g., a TMVP) of each subblock in the current block can be based on motion information of a corresponding subblock in the collocated block. According to an embodiment of the disclosure, updated motion information (e.g., an updated TMVP) of each subblock in the current block can be determined based on the motion information (e.g., the TMVP) of the subblock in the current block and a motion vector offset (MVO) of the current block.

In an embodiment, the MVO is added to each derived subblock-level TMVP of the respective subblock in the current block to generate the updated subblock-level TMVP. The MVO can be signaled and parsed to indicate an extra motion offset of each subblock-based TMVP of the respective subblock in the current block that is determined using the SbTMVP mode.

In an embodiment, the MVO is signaled directly, for example, using any signaling method used to signal an MVD, such as in the AMVP mode, the AMVR mode, and/or the like. In the AMVR mode, an MVD of a block can be signaled in different resolutions, such as ¼-, ½-, 1- or 4-luma sample resolutions. The MVO can be signaled in different resolutions using the AMVR mode.

A predefined MVO list can include MVO candidates (e.g., possible MVOs to be used by the current block). One or more indices can be signaled to indicate which MVO candidate of the MVO candidates in the predefined MVO list can be selected as the MVO.

In an example, the MVO is signaled using the MMVD mode. For examples, two indices including a first index (e.g., a distance index or a step index) indicating a magnitude of an MVO candidate and a second index (e.g., a direction index) indicating a direction of the MVO candidate are signaled to indicate the MVO candidate, such as described in Tables 2-3.

Referring back toFIG.14, the distance index (or the step index) and the direction index of the MVO may be predefined as described above with reference to the MMVD mode. The distance index indicates motion magnitude information such as the magnitude of the MVO and indicates a predefined distance from the starting point (e.g., the DV used to determine the location of the collocated block in the collocated reference picture). In an example, available predefined distances are shown in Table 2. The direction index represents a direction of the MVO relative to the starting point (e.g., the DV used to determine the location of the collocated block in the collocated reference picture). The direction index can indicate one of multiple directions, such as the four directions as shown in Table 3.

In an example, a subblock in the current block is bi-predicted. Referring toFIG.17, the subblock (1731(1)) is bi-predicted and has a first MV associated with a first reference picture in a reference list L0 and a second MV associated with a second reference picture in a reference list L1. The MVO may be applied to the first MV associated with the reference list L0. An updated first MV can be a vector sum of the first MV and the MVO. The following embodiments can be applied to the second MV associated with the reference list L1.

In an example, the MVO is not applied to the second MV associated with the reference list L1. For example, no MVO is applied to the second MV associated with the reference list L1. Thus, the updated motion information of the subblock (1731(1)) includes the updated first MV and the second MV.

In an example, a mirrored MVO of the MVO is applied to the second MV associated with the reference list L1. The mirrored MVO and the MVO can have the same magnitude and opposite directions. A horizontal component and a vertical component of the MVO (e.g., being signaled) are multiplied by −1 to obtain a horizontal component and a vertical component of the mirrored MVO, respectively. An updated second MV can be a vector sum of the second MV and the mirrored MVO or a vector difference between the second MV and the MVO. Thus, the updated motion information of the subblock (1731(1)) includes the updated first MV (e.g., the first MV+the MVO) and the updated second MV (e.g., the second MV−the MVO).

In an example, a scaled MVO (MVO′) can be applied to the second MV associated with the reference list L1. A value of each component (e.g., the horizontal component and the vertical component) of the MVO can be scaled based on a first POC difference and a second POC difference, as shown in Eq. 1. Eq. 1 can be applied to the vectors MVO′ and MVO. Eq. 1 can be applied to each component of the vectors MVO′ and MVO. The first POC difference is a difference between a POC (POCcurr) of the current picture and a POC (POCL0) of the first reference picture in the reference picture list L0. The second POC difference is a difference between the POC (POCcurr) of the current picture and a POC (POCL1) of the second reference picture in the reference picture list L1.
MVO′=MVO×(POCL1−POCcurr)/(POCL0−POCcurr)  Eq. 1

In an example, the scaled MVO (MVO′) is added to the second MV associated with the reference list L1. In an example, a mirrored MVO′ of the scaled MVO (MVO′) is added to the second MV associated with the reference list L1.

As described above, in an example of the SbTMVP mode (e.g., a variation to the SbTMVP mode described inFIGS.16-17), the DVO can be applied to the DV such that the location of the collocated block within the collocated reference picture can be adjusted, and thus affecting the motion information of the subblocks in the current block. In another example of the SbTMVP mode (e.g., another variation to the SbTMVP mode described inFIGS.16-17), The MVO can be applied to directly adjust the motion information of the subblocks in the current block. The DVO and the MVO can be signaled using a same method. For example, the predefined MVO list is identical to the predefined DVO list, and the DVO and the MVO can use the same predefined MVO list.

In some examples, a DVO can be applied to the DV such that the location of the collocated block within the collocated reference picture can be adjusted. After obtaining the motion information of the subblocks in the current block based on motion information of corresponding subblocks in the collocated reference picture determined based on the updated DV′ (e.g., the DV+the DVO), an MVO can be applied to further adjust the motion information of the subblocks in the current block. The DVO can be identical to or different from the MVO.

FIG.18shows a flow chart outlining an encoding process (1800) according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The process (1800) can be used in a video encoder. The process (1800) can be executed by an apparatus for video coding that can include processing circuitry. In various embodiments, the process (1800) is executed by the processing circuitry, such as the processing circuitry in the terminal devices (310), (320), (330) and (340), processing circuitry that performs functions of a video encoder (e.g., (403), (603), (703)), or the like. In some embodiments, the process (1800) is implemented in software instructions, thus when the processing circuitry executes the software instructions, the processing circuitry performs the process (1800). The process starts at (S1801), and proceeds to (S1810).

At (S1810), an updated DV of a current block in a current picture can be determined based on a DV of the current block and a DV offset (also referred to an MV offset (MVO)) of the current block. The DV can be determined as described above, such as inFIGS.16-17. The updated DV of the current block indicates a collocated block in a collocated picture. The collocated block is collocated with the current block.

The current block includes a plurality of subblocks that are encoded using a subblock-based temporal motion vector prediction (SbTMVP) mode.

In an example, the DV offset (or MVO) is determined from DV offset candidates using any suitable method.

In an example, the updated DV is determined to be a vector sum of the DV and the DV offset.

In an example, the updated DV is constrained such that the collocated block is within a restricted area in the collocated reference picture. The restricted area includes a collocated area corresponding to a current CTU in the current picture, and the current CTU includes the current block.

At (S1820), motion information of a subblock in the plurality of subblocks can be determined based on motion information of a corresponding subblock in the collocated block

At (S1830), DV offset information (also referred to as MVO information) indicating the DV offset can be encoded. The subblock in the plurality of subblocks can be encoded based on the motion information of the subblock in the plurality of subblocks.

In an embodiment, the DV offset information indicates at least one index indicating a magnitude of the DV offset and a direction of the DV offset. In an example, the at least one index includes a distance index that indicates the magnitude of the DV offset that is one of a set of pre-defined distances and a direction index that indicates the direction of the DV offset that is one of a set of pre-defined directions.

In an example, the set of pre-defined distances and the set of pre-defined directions are used in a merge motion vector difference (MMVD) mode.

At (S1840), the encoded DV offset information can be included in a bitstream and signaled to a decoder.

In an example, the DV offset information includes the DV offset that is encoded and signaled in a bitstream.

The process (1800) then proceeds to (S1899), and terminates.

The process (1800) can be suitably adapted to various scenarios and steps in the process (1800) can be adjusted accordingly. One or more of the steps in the process (1800) can be adapted, omitted, repeated, and/or combined. Any suitable order can be used to implement the process (1800). Additional step(s) can be added.

In an embodiment, an updated displacement vector (DV) of a current block in a current picture is determined based on a DV and an MVO (also referred to as a DV offset) of the current block. The MVO indicates a motion offset of the DV that is used to adjust a location of a collocated block in a collocated reference picture. The updated DV indicates the adjusted location of the collocated block in the collocated reference picture. The current block is coded with the SbTMVP mode.

SbTMVP information (e.g., motion information) of a respective subblock in the plurality of subblocks can be derived based on at least motion information of a corresponding subblock in the collocated block indicated by the updated DV. The plurality of subblocks can be encoded in the SbTMVP mode based on the SbTMVP information of the subblock in the plurality of subblocks.

FIG.19Ashows a flow chart outlining a decoding process (1900A) according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The process (1900A) can be used in a video decoder. The process (1900A) can be executed by an apparatus for video coding that can include receiving circuitry and processing circuitry. In various embodiments, the process (1900A) is executed by the processing circuitry, such as the processing circuitry in the terminal devices (310), (320), (330) and (340), the processing circuitry that performs functions of the video encoder (403), the processing circuitry that performs functions of the video decoder (410), the processing circuitry that performs functions of the video decoder (510), the processing circuitry that performs functions of the video encoder (603), and the like. In some embodiments, the process (1900A) is implemented in software instructions, thus when the processing circuitry executes the software instructions, the processing circuitry performs the process (1900A). The process starts at (S1901), and proceeds to (S1910).

At (S1910), displacement vector (DV) offset (also referred to an MV offset (MVO)) information of a current block in a current picture can be received from a coded video bitstream. The current block includes a plurality of subblocks that are reconstructed using a subblock-based temporal motion vector prediction (SbTMVP) mode. The DV offset (or the MVO) information can indicate a motion offset to a DV that is used to adjust a location of a collocated block in a collocated reference picture. In an example, the location of the collocated block in the collocated reference picture is adjusted by the DV offset.

In an example, the DV offset information includes a DV offset (or an MVO) signaled in the coded video bitstream.

In an embodiment, the DV offset information indicates at least one index indicating a magnitude of the DV offset and a direction of the DV offset. In an example, the at least one index includes a distance index that indicates the magnitude of the DV offset that is one of a set of pre-defined distances and a direction index that indicates the direction of the DV offset that is one of a set of pre-defined directions.

In an example, the set of pre-defined distances and the set of pre-defined directions are used in a merge motion vector difference (MMVD) mode.

At (S1920), an updated DV of the current block can be determined based on the DV of the current block and the DV offset of the current block. The DV offset is indicated by the DV offset information. The updated DV of the current block indicates a block in a collocated reference picture. The block is considered as collocated with the current block, and is referred to as the collocated block of the current block.

In an example, the updated DV is determined to be a vector sum of the DV and the DV offset.

In an example, the updated DV is constrained such that the collocated block is within a restricted area in the collocated reference picture. The restricted area includes a collocated area corresponding to a current CTU in the current picture, and the current CTU includes the current block.

At (S1930), motion information of a subblock in the plurality of subblocks can be determined based on motion information of a corresponding subblock in the collocated block.

At (S1940), the subblock in the plurality of subblocks can be reconstructed based on the motion information of the subblock in the plurality of subblocks.

The process (1900A) proceeds to (S1999), and terminates.

The process (1900A) can be suitably adapted to various scenarios and steps in the process (1900A) can be adjusted accordingly. One or more of the steps in the process (1900A) can be adapted, omitted, repeated, and/or combined. Any suitable order can be used to implement the process (1900A). Additional step(s) can be added.

FIG.19Bshows a flow chart outlining a decoding process (1900B) according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The process (1900B) is a variation of the decoding process (1900A). The process (1900B) can be used in a video decoder. The process (1900B) can be executed by an apparatus for video coding that can include receiving circuitry and processing circuitry. In various embodiments, the process (1900B) is executed by the processing circuitry, such as the processing circuitry in the terminal devices (310), (320), (330) and (340), the processing circuitry that performs functions of the video encoder (403), the processing circuitry that performs functions of the video decoder (410), the processing circuitry that performs functions of the video decoder (510), the processing circuitry that performs functions of the video encoder (603), and the like. In some embodiments, the process (1900B) is implemented in software instructions, thus when the processing circuitry executes the software instructions, the processing circuitry performs the process (1900B). The process starts at (S1902), and proceeds to (S1912).

At (S1912), a coded video bitstream comprising a current picture is received. The current picture includes a current block. The current block includes a plurality of subblocks.

At (S1922), that the current block including the plurality of subblocks is coded in a subblock-based temporal motion vector prediction (SbTMVP) mode is determined based on a syntax element in the coded video bitstream.

At (S1932), motion vector offset (MVO) information of the current block is obtained. The MVO indicates a motion offset of a displacement vector (DV) that is used to adjust a location of a collocated block in a collocated reference picture.

At (S1942), an updated DV of the current block is determined based on the DV and the MVO of the current block. The updated DV indicates the adjusted location of the collocated block in the collocated reference picture.

At (S1952), SbTMVP information (e.g., motion information) of a respective subblock in the plurality of subblocks is derived based on at least motion information of a corresponding subblock in the collocated block indicated by the updated DV.

At (S1962), the plurality of subblocks is reconstructed in the SbTMVP mode based on the SbTMVP information of the subblock in the plurality of subblocks.

The process (1900B) proceeds to (S1992), and terminates.

The process (1900B) can be suitably adapted to various scenarios and steps in the process (1900B) can be adjusted accordingly. One or more of the steps in the process (1900B) can be adapted, omitted, repeated, and/or combined. Any suitable order can be used to implement the process (1900B). Additional step(s) can be added.

Embodiments in the disclosure may be used separately or combined in any order. Further, each of the methods (or embodiments), an encoder, and a decoder may be implemented by processing circuitry (e.g., one or more processors or one or more integrated circuits). In one example, the one or more processors execute a program that is stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium.

FIG.20shows a flow chart outlining an encoding process (2000) according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The process (2000) can be used in a video encoder. The process (2000) can be executed by an apparatus for video coding that can include processing circuitry. In various embodiments, the process (2000) is executed by the processing circuitry, such as the processing circuitry in the terminal devices (310), (320), (330) and (340), processing circuitry that performs functions of a video encoder (e.g., (403), (603), (703)), or the like. In some embodiments, the process (2000) is implemented in software instructions, thus when the processing circuitry executes the software instructions, the processing circuitry performs the process (2000). The process starts at (S2001), and proceeds to (S2010).

At (S2010), a displacement vector (DV) of a current block in a current picture can be determined, such as described inFIGS.16-17. The current block includes a plurality of subblocks to be encoded using a subblock-based temporal motion vector prediction (SbTMVP) mode. The DV indicates a collocated block in a collocated reference picture that is collocated with the current block.

At (S2020), motion information of a subblock in the plurality of subblocks can be determined based on motion information of a corresponding subblock in the collocated block, such as described inFIGS.16-17.

At (S2030), updated motion information of the subblock in the plurality of subblocks can be determined based on the motion information of the subblock in the plurality of subblocks and a motion vector (MV) offset of the current block.

In an example, the motion information of the subblock in the plurality of subblocks includes a first motion vector (MV) associated with a first reference picture from a first reference picture list L0. An updated first MV can be determined to be a vector sum of the first MV and the MV offset. The updated motion information includes the updated first MV.

In an example, the motion information of the subblock in the plurality of subblocks includes a second MV associated with a second reference picture from a second reference picture list L1. An updated second MV can be determined to be one of: (i) a vector difference of the second MV and the MV offset; or (ii) a vector sum of the second MV and a scaled MV offset. The scaled MV offset can be based on the MV offset, a picture order count (POC) of the current picture, a POC of the first reference picture, and a POC of the second reference picture. The updated motion information includes the updated second MV.

At (S2040), MV offset information indicating the MV offset can be encoded. The subblock in the plurality of subblocks can be encoded based on the updated motion information. The MV offset information can be included in a bitstream.

In an example, the MV offset information includes the MV offset.

In an example, the MV offset information indicates at least one index indicating a magnitude of the MV offset and a direction of the MV offset. The at least one index includes a distance index that indicates the magnitude of the MV offset that is one of a set of pre-defined distances and a direction index that indicates the direction of the MV offset that is one of a set of pre-defined directions. The set of pre-defined distances and the set of pre-defined directions are used in a merge motion vector difference (MMVD) mode.

The process (2000) then proceeds to (S2099), and terminates.

The process (2000) can be suitably adapted to various scenarios and steps in the process (2000) can be adjusted accordingly. One or more of the steps in the process (2000) can be adapted, omitted, repeated, and/or combined. Any suitable order can be used to implement the process (2000). Additional step(s) can be added.

FIG.21shows a flow chart outlining a decoding process (2100) according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The process (2100) can be used in a video decoder. The process (2100) can be executed by an apparatus for video coding that can include receiving circuitry and processing circuitry. In various embodiments, the process (2100) is executed by the processing circuitry, such as the processing circuitry in the terminal devices (310), (320), (330) and (340), the processing circuitry that performs functions of the video encoder (403), the processing circuitry that performs functions of the video decoder (410), the processing circuitry that performs functions of the video decoder (510), the processing circuitry that performs functions of the video encoder (603), and the like. In some embodiments, the process (2100) is implemented in software instructions, thus when the processing circuitry executes the software instructions, the processing circuitry performs the process (2100). The process starts at (S2101), and proceeds to (S2110).

At (S2110), motion vector (MV) offset information of a current block in a current picture can be received from a coded video bitstream. The current block includes a plurality of subblocks that are reconstructed using a subblock-based temporal motion vector prediction (SbTMVP) mode.

At (S2120), a displacement vector (DV) of the current block can be determined, such as described inFIGS.16-17. The DV can indicate a block in a collocated reference picture that is collocated with the current block. The block can be referred to as a collocated block of the current block.

At (S2130), motion information of a subblock in the plurality of subblocks can be determined based on motion information of a corresponding subblock in the collocated block, such as described inFIGS.16-17.

At (S2140), updated motion information of the subblock in the plurality of subblocks can be determined based on the motion information of the subblock in the plurality of subblocks and an MV offset of the current block indicated by the MV offset information.

In an example, the MV offset information includes the MV offset signaled in the coded video bitstream.

In an example, the MV offset information indicates at least one index indicating a magnitude of the MV offset and a direction of the MV offset. The at least one index includes a distance index that indicates the magnitude of the MV offset that is one of a set of pre-defined distances and a direction index that indicates the direction of the MV offset that is one of a set of pre-defined directions. The set of pre-defined distances and the set of pre-defined directions are used in a merge motion vector difference (MMVD) mode.

In an example, the motion information of the subblock in the plurality of subblocks includes a first motion vector (MV) associated with a first reference picture from a first reference picture list L0. An updated first MV can be determined to be a vector sum of the first MV and the MV offset. The updated motion information includes the updated first MV.

In an example, the motion information of the subblock in the plurality of subblocks includes a second MV associated with a second reference picture from a second reference picture list L1. An updated second MV can be determined to be one of: (i) a vector difference of the second MV and the MV offset; or (ii) a vector sum of the second MV and a scaled MV offset. The scaled MV offset can be based on the MV offset, a picture order count (POC) of the current picture, a POC of the first reference picture, and a POC of the second reference picture. The updated motion information includes the updated second MV.

At (S2150), the subblock in the plurality of subblocks can be reconstructed based on the updated motion information.

The process (2100) proceeds to (S2199), and terminates.

The process (2100) can be suitably adapted to various scenarios and steps in the process (2100) can be adjusted accordingly. One or more of the steps in the process (2100) can be adapted, omitted, repeated, and/or combined. Any suitable order can be used to implement the process (2100). Additional step(s) can be added.

The techniques described above, can be implemented as computer software using computer-readable instructions and physically stored in one or more computer-readable media. For example,FIG.22shows a computer system (2200) suitable for implementing certain embodiments of the disclosed subject matter.

The computer software can be coded using any suitable machine code or computer language, that may be subject to assembly, compilation, linking, or like mechanisms to create code comprising instructions that can be executed directly, or through interpretation, micro-code execution, and the like, by one or more computer central processing units (CPUs), Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), and the like.

The instructions can be executed on various types of computers or components thereof, including, for example, personal computers, tablet computers, servers, smartphones, gaming devices, internet of things devices, and the like.

The components shown inFIG.22for computer system (2200) are exemplary in nature and are not intended to suggest any limitation as to the scope of use or functionality of the computer software implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. Neither should the configuration of components be interpreted as having any dependency or requirement relating to any one or combination of components illustrated in the exemplary embodiment of a computer system (2200).

Computer system (2200) may include certain human interface input devices. Such a human interface input device may be responsive to input by one or more human users through, for example, tactile input (such as: keystrokes, swipes, data glove movements), audio input (such as: voice, clapping), visual input (such as: gestures), olfactory input (not depicted). The human interface devices can also be used to capture certain media not necessarily directly related to conscious input by a human, such as audio (such as: speech, music, ambient sound), images (such as: scanned images, photographic images obtain from a still image camera), video (such as two-dimensional video, three-dimensional video including stereoscopic video).

Input human interface devices may include one or more of (only one of each depicted): keyboard (2201), mouse (2202), trackpad (2203), touch screen (2210), data-glove (not shown), joystick (2205), microphone (2206), scanner (2207), camera (2208).

Computer system (2200) may also include certain human interface output devices. Such human interface output devices may be stimulating the senses of one or more human users through, for example, tactile output, sound, light, and smell/taste. Such human interface output devices may include tactile output devices (for example tactile feedback by the touch-screen (2210), data-glove (not shown), or joystick (2205), but there can also be tactile feedback devices that do not serve as input devices), audio output devices (such as: speakers (2209), headphones (not depicted)), visual output devices (such as screens (2210) to include CRT screens, LCD screens, plasma screens, OLED screens, each with or without touch-screen input capability, each with or without tactile feedback capability—some of which may be capable to output two dimensional visual output or more than three dimensional output through means such as stereographic output; virtual-reality glasses (not depicted), holographic displays and smoke tanks (not depicted)), and printers (not depicted).

Computer system (2200) can also include human accessible storage devices and their associated media such as optical media including CD/DVD ROM/RW (2220) with CD/DVD or the like media (2221), thumb-drive (2222), removable hard drive or solid state drive (2223), legacy magnetic media such as tape and floppy disc (not depicted), specialized ROM/ASIC/PLD based devices such as security dongles (not depicted), and the like.

Those skilled in the art should also understand that term “computer readable media” as used in connection with the presently disclosed subject matter does not encompass transmission media, carrier waves, or other transitory signals.

Computer system (2200) can also include an interface (2254) to one or more communication networks (2255). Networks can for example be wireless, wireline, optical. Networks can further be local, wide-area, metropolitan, vehicular and industrial, real-time, delay-tolerant, and so on. Examples of networks include local area networks such as Ethernet, wireless LANs, cellular networks to include GSM, 3G, 4G, 5G, LTE and the like, TV wireline or wireless wide area digital networks to include cable TV, satellite TV, and terrestrial broadcast TV, vehicular and industrial to include CANBus, and so forth. Certain networks commonly require external network interface adapters that attached to certain general purpose data ports or peripheral buses (2249) (such as, for example USB ports of the computer system (2200)); others are commonly integrated into the core of the computer system (2200) by attachment to a system bus as described below (for example Ethernet interface into a PC computer system or cellular network interface into a smartphone computer system). Using any of these networks, computer system (2200) can communicate with other entities. Such communication can be uni-directional, receive only (for example, broadcast TV), uni-directional send-only (for example CANbus to certain CANbus devices), or bi-directional, for example to other computer systems using local or wide area digital networks. Certain protocols and protocol stacks can be used on each of those networks and network interfaces as described above.

Aforementioned human interface devices, human-accessible storage devices, and network interfaces can be attached to a core (2240) of the computer system (2200).

The core (2240) can include one or more Central Processing Units (CPU) (2241), Graphics Processing Units (GPU) (2242), specialized programmable processing units in the form of Field Programmable Gate Areas (FPGA) (2243), hardware accelerators for certain tasks (2244), graphics adapters (2250), and so forth. These devices, along with Read-only memory (ROM) (2245), Random-access memory (2246), internal mass storage such as internal non-user accessible hard drives, SSDs, and the like (2247), may be connected through a system bus (2248). In some computer systems, the system bus (2248) can be accessible in the form of one or more physical plugs to enable extensions by additional CPUs, GPU, and the like. The peripheral devices can be attached either directly to the core's system bus (2248), or through a peripheral bus (2249). In an example, the screen (2210) can be connected to the graphics adapter (2250). Architectures for a peripheral bus include PCI, USB, and the like.

CPUs (2241), GPUs (2242), FPGAs (2243), and accelerators (2244) can execute certain instructions that, in combination, can make up the aforementioned computer code. That computer code can be stored in ROM (2245) or RAM (2246). Transitional data can also be stored in RAM (2246), whereas permanent data can be stored for example, in the internal mass storage (2247). Fast storage and retrieve to any of the memory devices can be enabled through the use of cache memory, that can be closely associated with one or more CPU (2241), GPU (2242), mass storage (2247), ROM (2245), RAM (2246), and the like.

The computer readable media can have computer code thereon for performing various computer-implemented operations. The media and computer code can be those specially designed and constructed for the purposes of the present disclosure, or they can be of the kind well known and available to those having skill in the computer software arts.

As an example and not by way of limitation, the computer system having architecture (2200), and specifically the core (2240) can provide functionality as a result of processor(s) (including CPUs, GPUs, FPGA, accelerators, and the like) executing software embodied in one or more tangible, computer-readable media. Such computer-readable media can be media associated with user-accessible mass storage as introduced above, as well as certain storage of the core (2240) that are of non-transitory nature, such as core-internal mass storage (2247) or ROM (2245). The software implementing various embodiments of the present disclosure can be stored in such devices and executed by core (2240). A computer-readable medium can include one or more memory devices or chips, according to particular needs. The software can cause the core (2240) and specifically the processors therein (including CPU, GPU, FPGA, and the like) to execute particular processes or particular parts of particular processes described herein, including defining data structures stored in RAM (2246) and modifying such data structures according to the processes defined by the software. In addition or as an alternative, the computer system can provide functionality as a result of logic hardwired or otherwise embodied in a circuit (for example: accelerator (2244)), which can operate in place of or together with software to execute particular processes or particular parts of particular processes described herein. Reference to software can encompass logic, and vice versa, where appropriate. Reference to a computer-readable media can encompass a circuit (such as an integrated circuit (IC)) storing software for execution, a circuit embodying logic for execution, or both, where appropriate. The present disclosure encompasses any suitable combination of hardware and software.

APPENDIX A: ACRONYMS

JEM: joint exploration modelVVC: versatile video codingBMS: benchmark setMV: Motion VectorHEVC: High Efficiency Video CodingSEI: Supplementary Enhancement InformationVUI: Video Usability InformationGOPs: Groups of PicturesTUs: Transform Units,PUs: Prediction UnitsCTUs: Coding Tree UnitsCTBs: Coding Tree BlocksPBs: Prediction BlocksHRD: Hypothetical Reference DecoderSNR: Signal Noise RatioCPUs: Central Processing UnitsGPUs: Graphics Processing UnitsCRT: Cathode Ray TubeLCD: Liquid-Crystal DisplayOLED: Organic Light-Emitting DiodeCD: Compact DiscDVD: Digital Video DiscROM: Read-Only MemoryRAM: Random Access MemoryASIC: Application-Specific Integrated CircuitPLD: Programmable Logic DeviceLAN: Local Area NetworkGSM: Global System for Mobile communicationsLTE: Long-Term EvolutionCANBus: Controller Area Network BusUSB: Universal Serial BusPCI: Peripheral Component InterconnectFPGA: Field Programmable Gate AreasSSD: solid-state driveIC: Integrated CircuitCU: Coding Unit

While this disclosure has described several exemplary embodiments, there are alterations, permutations, and various substitute equivalents, which fall within the scope of the disclosure. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise numerous systems and methods which, although not explicitly shown or described herein, embody the principles of the disclosure and are thus within the spirit and scope thereof.