Multiview Depth-Image Compression Using an Extended H.264 Encoder

This paper presents a predictive-coding algorithm for the compression of multiple depth-sequences obtained from a multi-camera acquisition setup. The proposed depth-prediction algorithm works by synthesizing a virtual depth-image that matches the depth-image (of the predicted camera). To generate this virtual depth-image, we use an image-rendering algorithm known as 3D image-warping. This newly proposed prediction technique is employed in a 3D coding system in order to compress multiview depth-sequences. For this purpose, we introduce an extended H.264 encoder that employs two prediction techniques: a block-based motion prediction and the previously mentioned 3D image-warping prediction. This extended H.264 encoder adaptively selects the most efficient prediction scheme for each image-block using a rate-distortion criterion. We present experimental results for several multiview depth-sequences, which show a quality improvement of about 2.5 dB as compared to H.264 inter-coded depth-images