A multiview sequence CODEC with view scalability

Abstract

A multiview sequence CODEC with flexibility, MPEG-2 compatibility and view scalability is proposed. We define a GGOP (Group of GOP) structure as a basic coding unit to efficiently code multiview sequences. Our proposed CODEC provides flexible GGOP structures based on the number of views and baseline distances among cameras. The encoder generates two types of bitstreams; a main bitstream and an auxiliary one. The main bitstream is the same as a MPEG-2 mono-sequence bitstream for MPEG-2 compatibility. The auxiliary bitstream contains information concerning the remaining multiview sequences except for the reference sequences. Our proposed CODEC with view scalability provides several viewers with realities or one viewer motion parallax whereby changes in the viewer’s position results in changes in what is seen. The important point is that a number of view points are selectively determined at the receiver according to the type of display modes. The viewers can choose an arbitrary number of views by checking the information so that only the views selected are decoded and displayed. The proposed multiview sequence CODEC is tested with several multiview sequences to determine its flexibility, compatibility and view scalability. In addition, we subjectively confirm that the decoded bitstreams with view scalability can be properly displayed by several types of display modes, including 3D monitors.