Patent ID: 8913105

Claim:
A method performed by a video coding system, the method comprising: estimating a first-view depth indicator for a location in a first view, and estimating a second-view depth indicator for a corresponding location in a second view, wherein the estimating of the first-view depth indicator and the estimating of the second-view depth indicator jointly satisfy a constraint relating the first-view depth indicator directly with respect to the second-view depth indicator for corresponding locations, wherein estimating the first-view depth indicator and the second-view depth indicator comprises: determining that the depth indicators have values differing by more than a depth-indicator threshold from the relationship provided by the constraint; determining a first-view distortion for the first-view depth indicator; determining a second-view distortion for the second-view depth indicator; marking the location in the first view as a hole if the first-view distortion is greater than the second-view distortion by a distortion threshold; and marking the corresponding location in the second view as a hole if the second-view distortion is greater than the first-view distortion by the distortion threshold.