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We propose a new coding technology for 3D video represented by multiple views and the respective depth maps. The proposed technology is demonstrated as an extension of the recently developed high efficiency video coding (HEVC). One base views are compressed into a standard bitstream (like in HEVC). The remaining views and the depth maps are compressed using new coding tools that mostly rely on view synthesis. In the decoder, those views and the depth maps are derived via synthesis in the 3D space from the decoded baseview and from data corresponding to small disoccluded regions. The shapes and locations of those disoccluded regions can be derived by the decoder without any side information transmitted. To achieve high compression efficiency, we propose several new tools such as depth-based motion prediction, joint high frequency layer coding, consistent depth representation, and nonlinear depth representation. The experiments show high compression efficiency of the proposed technology. The bitrate needed for transmission of two side views with depth maps is mostly less than 50% than that of the bitrate for a single-view video.

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The extensions of Advanced Video Coding (AVC) and High-Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) for multiview video plus depth allow for the coding of 3D video scenes. During the standardization of these extensions, it was demonstrated that compression performance can often be improved by the application of nonlinear depth transformation prior to the compression and applying the respective backward nonlinear depth transformation after decompression. Such an approach is referred to as the compression of nonlinear depth representation (NDR). In this paper, a survey of the NDR technology is provided, but a large part of this survey comprises yet unpublished results. First, the motivation and rationale behind the idea of NDR are discussed. The options for the choice of nonlinear transformation are provided with the respective formulations. Also, the standardization of 3D video coding with NDR within ISO/IEC and ITU is discussed along with the experimental results that demonstrate benefits related to the application of NDR in 3D-AVC and 3D-HEVC. Furthermore, the experimental comparisons are provided for simulcast coding of multiview plus depth video using AVC and HEVC technology with and without the NDR. The similar experimental results are also provided for simulcast coding using the current version of Versatile Video Coding technology that is under development for the forthcoming standard of ISO/IEC (MPEG-I) and ITU. All of the experimental results have been obtained for the standard JVC-3V video test sequences under common test conditions for 3D video coding.

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