Sample adaptive offset (SAO) parameter signaling

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10070152-B2
Application number	US-201213593973-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 24, 2012
Priority date	Aug 24, 2011
Publication date	Sep 4, 2018
Grant date	Sep 4, 2018

Abstract

A method for sample adaptive offset (SAO) filtering and SAO parameter signaling in a video encoder is provided that includes determining SAO parameters for largest coding units (LCUs) of a reconstructed picture, wherein the SAO parameters include an indicator of an SAO filter type and a plurality of SAO offsets, applying SAO filtering to the reconstructed picture according to the SAO parameters, and entropy encoding LCU specific SAO information for each LCU of the reconstructed picture in an encoded video bit stream, wherein the entropy encoded LCU specific SAO information for the LCUs is interleaved with entropy encoded data for the LCUs in the encoded video bit stream. Determining SAO parameters may include determining the LCU specific SAO information to be entropy encoded for each LCU according to an SAO prediction protocol.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for sample adaptive offset (SAO) filtering and SAO parameter signaling, the method comprising:
determining sample adaptive offset (SAO) parameters for a plurality of non-overlapping regions of a reconstructed picture wherein the SAO parameters comprise an indicator of an SAO filter type and at least one SAO offset,
applying SAO filtering to the plurality of non-overlapping regions of the reconstructed picture according to the SAO parameters; and
encoding the SAO parameters in a slice data portion of a bit stream, wherein the SAO parameters for the associated plurality of the non-overlapping regions and data for the associated plurality of the non-overlapping regions are interleaved in the slice data portion of the bit stream.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of non-overlapping regions further comprises a first non-overlapping region with an immediate left nearest neighbor non-overlapping region, and encoding a first merge flag in the bit stream if the SAO parameters determined for the left nearest neighbor non-overlapping region are to be applied to the first non-overlapping region.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of non-overlapping regions further comprises a second non-overlapping region with an immediate top nearest neighbor non-overlapping region, and encoding a second merge flag in the bit stream if the SAO parameters for the top nearest neighbor non-overlapping region are to be applied to the second non-overlapping region.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising performing deblocking filtering on said reconstructed picture prior to the determining SAO parameters.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the SAO filter type is a band offset filter or an edge filter.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the SAO filter type is a band offset filter or an edge filter.

7. The method of claim 3 , wherein the SAO filter type is a band offset filter or an edge filter.

8. A video encoding system comprising:
a dequantizing component configured to perform a dequantizing function on an input bit stream;
an inverse transform component coupled to the dequantizing component and configured to perform an inverse transform function on bit stream data output from the dequantizing component;
a combiner component coupled to the inverse transform component and configured to combine bit stream data output from the inverse transform component with additional data to form a plurality of non-overlapping regions of a reconstructed picture;
a deblocking filter coupled to the combiner component and configured to perform a deblocking function on the plurality of non-overlapping regions to form a plurality of deblocked non-overlapping regions;
a sample adaptive offset (SAO) filter coupled to the deblocking filter and configured to:
determine SAO parameters for the plurality of deblocked non-overlapping regions wherein the SAO parameters comprise an indicator of an SAO filter type and at least one SAO offset; filter the plurality of deblocked non-overlapping regions using the SAO parameters; and

an entropy encoder component coupled to the SAO filter and configured to encode the SAO parameters and data for the associated plurality of the non-overlapping regions for which the SAO parameters are determined in an interleaved manner in a slice data portion.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the entropy encoder component is further configured to encode a first merge flag if for a first non-overlapping region with an immediate left nearest neighbor non-overlapping region, the SAO parameters determined for the left nearest neighbor non-overlapping region are to be applied to the first non-overlapping region.

10. The system of claim 8 wherein the entropy encoder component is further configured to encode a second merge flag if for a second non-overlapping region with an immediate top nearest neighbor non-overlapping region, the SAO parameters for the top nearest neighbor non-overlapping region are to be applied to the second non-overlapping region.

11. The system of claim 8 wherein the system comprises multiple processing units with a memory on a common integrated circuit.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein said multiple processing units further comprises at least a first processing unit for controlling video processes and at least a second processing unit wherein at least some of the SAO filtering is performed using the second processing unit.

13. The system of claim 11 further comprising software to be executed by at least some of the multiple processor units during video processing wherein the software is initially stored in a computer-readable medium and loaded and executed in the at least some of the multiple processor units.

14. A video encoding system, comprising:
a video capture component configured to provide a video sequence; and
a video encoder component coupled to the video capture component comprising:
a dequantizing component configured to perform a dequantizing function on an input bit stream;
an inverse transform component coupled to the dequantizing component and configured to perform an inverse transform function on bit stream data output from the dequantizing component;
a combiner component coupled to the inverse transform component and configured to combine bit stream data output from the inverse transform component with additional data to form a plurality of non-overlapping regions of a reconstructed picture;
a deblocking filter coupled to the combiner component and configured to perform a deblocking function on the plurality of non-overlapping regions to form a plurality of deblocked non-overlapping regions;
a sample adaptive offset (SAO) filter coupled to the deblocking filter and configured to determine SAO parameters for the plurality of deblocked non-overlapping regions wherein the SAO parameters comprise an indicator of an SAO filter type and at least one SAO offset and filter the plurality of deblocked non-overlapping regions using the SAO parameters; and
an entropy encoder component coupled to the SAO filter and configured to encode the SAO parameters and data for the associated plurality of the non-overlapping regions for which the SAO parameters are determined in an interleaved manner in a slice data portion to form encoded video data.

15. The video encoding system of claim 14 wherein the video encoder component comprises multiple processing units with a memory on a common integrated circuit.

16. The video encoding system of claim 15 wherein said multiple processing units further comprises at least a first processing unit for controlling video processes and at least a second processing unit wherein at least some of the SAO filtering is performed using the second processing unit.

17. The video encoding system of claim 15 further comprising software to be executed by at least some of the multiple processor units during video processing wherein the software is initially stored in a computer-readable medium and loaded and executed in the at least some of the multiple processor units.

18. The video encoding system of claim 14 where the video capture component is a camera.

19. The video encoding system of claim 14 where the video capture component is a video feed from a video content provider.

20. The video encoding system of claim 14 where the video capture component is a video archive.

21. The video encoding system of claim 18 comprising a transmitter component configured to transmit the encoded video data over a communicati

Assignees

• Sze Vivienne
• Kim Woo Shik
• Budagavi Madhukar
• Kwon Do Kyoung
• Zhou Minhua
• Texas Instruments Inc

Inventors

• Sze Vivienne
• Kim Woo-Shik
• Budagavi Madhukar
• Kwon Do-Kyoung
• Zhou Minhua

Classifications

• H04N19/82

  involving filtering within a prediction loop · CPC title

• H04N19/463

  by compressing encoding parameters before transmission · CPC title

• H04N19/117

  Filters, e.g. for pre-processing or post-processing (sub-band filter banks H04N19/635) · CPC title

• H04N19/91

  Entropy coding, e.g. variable length coding [VLC] or arithmetic coding · CPC title

• H04N19/80

  Details of filtering operations specially adapted for video compression, e.g. for pixel interpolation (H04N19/635, H04N19/86 take precedence) · CPC title