In this paper, the novel correspondence search method called point-to-block matching was proposed. Recently, in many proposed multimedia systems, depth estimation is performed on compressed input views. To address this problem and increase the quality of such depth maps, in the proposal, a point in a view is not compared simply with a point in another view, but to the most similar point in a small block surrounding it. The introduction of this method in the depth estimation process is beneficial to the quality of depth maps, as it decreases the influence of small shifts in images, caused e.g., by encoding-related errors introduced to input views. The method was implemented in one of the state-of-the-art depth estimation methods and tested in series of experiments. Based on the comparison of synthesized virtual views with the input views, the proposal increases the quality of estimated depth maps in most of the tested configurations.

No abstract

In this paper, the novel correspondence search method called point-to-block matching was proposed. Recently, in many proposed multimedia systems, depth estimation is performed on compressed input views. To address this problem and increase the quality of such depth maps, in the proposal, a point in a view is not compared simply with a point in another view, but to the most similar point in a small block surrounding it. The introduction of this method in the depth estimation process is beneficial to the quality of depth maps, as it decreases the influence of small shifts in images, caused e.g., by encoding-related errors introduced to input views. The method was implemented in one of the state-of-the-art depth estimation methods and tested in series of experiments. Based on the comparison of synthesized virtual views with the input views, the proposal increases the quality of estimated depth maps in most of the tested configurations.

No abstract

In this paper we deal with the problem of the optimal selection of input views, which are transmitted within an immersive video bitstream. Due to limited bitrate and pixel rate, only a subset of input views available on the encoder side can be fully transmitted to the decoder. Remaining views are – in the simplest approach – omitted or – in the newest immersive video encoding standard (MPEG immersive video, MIV) – pruned in order to remove less important information. Selecting proper views for transmission is crucial in terms of the quality of immersive video system user’s experience. In the paper we have analyzed which input views have to be selected for providing the best possible quality of virtual views, independently on the viewport requested by the viewer. Moreover, we have proposed an algorithm, which takes into account a non-uniform probability of user’s viewing direction, allowing for the increase of the subjective quality of virtual navigation for omnidirectional content.