Intra Mode Selection for Depth Map Coding in 3D-HEVC

Abstract

3D high efficiency video coding was recently standardized by the Joint Collaborative Team on 3D Video coding as an extension of high efficiency video coding. In the current 3D high efficiency video coding method, new depth intra modes including Depth Modeling Modes and Region Boundary Chain coding are used for depth map coding. These partition-based intra modes achieve the highest possible coding efficiency, but take an extremely long time, which hinders the practical application of the new standard. In this paper, we propose an efficient intra mode selection algorithm for depth map coding in 3D high efficiency video coding. It makes use of the coding information from a spatial neighboring depth map treeblock and the co-located texture video treeblock to predict the depth map intra mode treeblock and terminate its mode decision process early. The experimental results show that the proposed intra mode selection algorithm can achieve the average computational savings of about 40% with a negligible loss of rate distortion performance in 3D high efficiency video coding intra-only configuration.