Novel coding technique for depth images using quadtree decomposition and plane approximation
Yannick Morvan, Dirk Farin, Peter H. N. de With · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · 2005
An efficient way to transmit multi-view images is to send the texture image together with a corresponding depth image. The depth image specifies the distance between each pixel and the camera. With this information, arbitrary views can be generated at the decoder. In this paper, we propose a new algorithm for the coding of depth images that provides an efficient representation of smooth regions as well as geometric features such as object contours. Our algorithm uses a segmentation procedure based on a quadtree decomposition and models the depth image content with piecewise linear functions. We achieved a bit-rate as low as 0.33 bit/pixel, without any entropy coding. The attractivity of the coding algorithm is that, by exploiting specific properties of depth images, no degradations are shown along discontinuities, which is important for perceived depth.