Patent ID: 8879826

Claim:
A method performed by an information handling system for encoding a video sequence of images, including at least first and second images, the method comprising: in response to at least first and second conditions being satisfied, switching an encoding mode between two-dimensional video coding and three-dimensional video coding, wherein the first condition is that the second image represents a scene change in comparison to the first image; and encoding the second image according to the switched encoding mode; wherein the second condition is one of: that a range of depth of the second image is higher than a threshold range of depth; and that the range of depth of the second image is not higher than the threshold range of depth; wherein, if the second condition is that the range of depth of the second image is higher than the threshold range of depth, then the encoding mode is switched from two-dimensional video coding to three-dimensional video coding in response to at least the first and second conditions being satisfied; and wherein, if the second condition is that the range of depth of the second image is not higher than the threshold range of depth, then the encoding mode is switched from three-dimensional video coding to two-dimensional video coding in response to at least the first and second conditions being satisfied.