Abstract: A method and apparatus for intra prediction for a current block using directional intra prediction based on neighboring pixels around the current block are disclosed. Embodiment according to the present invention derives the gradient for the current pixel from the neighboring reconstructed pixels along a prediction direction of directional intra prediction. The gradient derived is used to form the final intra prediction. In another embodiment of the present invention, the intra prediction for slant vertical and horizontal directions is derived based on the neighboring reconstructed pixels in a neighboring row adjacent to the top side of the current block and the neighboring reconstructed pixels in a neighboring column adjacent to the left side of the current block.

Abstract: According to at least one aspect, a method for predictive Intra coding is provided. The method comprises: determining a set of Intra prediction modes used for prediction unit (PU) blocks with a plurality of different block sizes comprising a 4×4 block size and at least two other block sizes; applying predictive Intra coding to a first PU block having a first block size that matches a block size in the plurality of different block sizes based on one or more neighboring PU blocks according to a first Intra prediction mode selected from the set of Intra prediction modes; and applying predictive Intra coding to a second PU block having a second block size that is different from the first block size and matches a block size in the plurality of different block sizes according to a second Intra prediction mode selected from the set of Intra prediction modes.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for processing reconstructed video using in-loop filter in a video coding system are disclosed. The method uses chroma in-loop filter indication to indicate whether chroma components are processed by in-loop filter when the luma in-loop filter indication indicates that in-loop filter processing is applied to the luma component. An additional flag may be used to indicate whether the in-loop filter processing is applied to an entire picture using same in-loop filter information or each block of the picture using individual in-loop filter information. Various embodiments according to the present invention to increase efficiency are disclosed, wherein various aspects of in-loop filter information are taken into consideration for efficient coding such as the property of quadtree-based partition, boundary conditions of a block, in-loop filter information sharing between luma and chroma components, indexing to a set of in-loop filter information, and prediction of in-loop filter information.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for deriving a motion vector predictor (MVP) candidate set for a block are disclosed. Embodiments according to the present invention determine a plurality of spatial neighboring blocks of the block, obtain one or more spatial MVP candidates from motion vectors associated with the spatial neighboring blocks, determine whether one or more redundant MVP candidates exist in the spatial MVP candidates, generate a first MVP candidate set, wherein said generating the first MVP candidate set comprises not including the determined one or more redundant MVP candidates into the first MVP candidate set, and generate a final MVP candidate set according to the first MVP candidate set.

Abstract: According to at least one aspect, a method for predictive Intra coding is provided. The method comprises: determining a set of Intra prediction modes used for prediction unit (PU) blocks with a plurality of different block sizes comprising a 4×4 block size and at least two other block sizes; applying predictive Intra coding to a first PU block having a first block size that matches a block size in the plurality of different block sizes based on one or more neighboring PU blocks according to a first Intra prediction mode selected from the set of Intra prediction modes; and applying predictive Intra coding to a second PU block having a second block size that is different from the first block size and matches a block size in the plurality of different block sizes according to a second Intra prediction mode selected from the set of Intra prediction modes.

Abstract: In a method and apparatus for context-adaptive binary arithmetic coding (CABAC) of a syntax element, the bin string corresponding to the syntax element is processed by context-adaptive arithmetic coding with a reduced number of contexts using the bin-level bypass mode, bin-level context sharing, or both. The syntax element belongs to a group comprising merge_idx, ref_idx_1c/ref_idx_10/ref_idx_11, pred_type, and cu_qp_delta. In one embodiment, the syntax element corresponds to merge_idx and three bins of the bin string with bin indices corresponding to 1, 2 and 3 are coded in the bin by-pass mode. In another embodiment, the syntax element corresponds to ref_idx_1c/ref_idx_10/ref_idx_11 and one or more bins of the bin string with bin indices larger than 1 for larger than 2 are coded in the bin bypass mode.

Abstract: A method and apparatus of predictive Intra coding of a block are disclosed. In one embodiment according to the present invention, a set of Intra prediction modes is determined, and predictive Intra coding is applied to a prediction unit (PU) of an image based on one or more neighboring PUs according to a current Intra prediction mode. The current Intra prediction mode is selected from the set of Intra prediction modes and the current Intra prediction mode is predicted using most probable modes (MPMs) and remaining modes. A number of the remaining modes is kept as a power of 2. For example, the 32 remaining modes can be represented using 5-bit fixed length codes.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for deriving a motion vector predictor (MVP) candidate set for a block are disclosed. Embodiments according to the present invention generate a complete full MVP candidate set based on the redundancy-removed MVP candidate set if one or more redundant MVP candidates exist. In one embodiment, the method generates the complete full MVP candidate set by adding replacement MVP candidates to the redundancy-removed MVP candidate set and a value corresponding to a non-redundant MVP is assigned to each replacement MVP candidate. In another embodiment, the method generates the complete full MVP candidate set by adding replacement MVP candidates to the redundancy-removed MVP candidate set and a value is assigned to each replacement MVP candidate according to a rule. The procedure of assigning value, checking redundancy, removing redundant MVP candidate are repeated until the MVP candidate set is complete and full.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for intra prediction mode coding and decoding are disclosed. In one embodiment, the encoding and decoding process assigns individual indices and codewords to DC mode and Planar mode respectively. The flag is set if the current intra prediction mode is equal to any of one or more neighboring intra prediction modes. Variable length codes are designed for a remaining mode set. If the flag is not set, the currently intra prediction mode is encoded using the variable length codes. In another embodiment, multiple most probable modes are used.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for inter-layer prediction for scalable video coding are disclosed. Embodiments according to the present invention apply inter-layer adaptive filtering to the video data derived from the reconstructed BL video data to generate inter-layer adaptive filtered data. The inter-layer adaptive filtered data is then included as prediction data to encode or decode the EL video data. The video data derived from the reconstructed BL video data is up-sampled before applying inter-layer adaptive filtering. The up-sampling may also be included in the inter-layer adaptive filtering. In another embodiment, the inter-layer adaptive filtering comprises adaptive up-sampling. For up-sampled BL video data at locations not collocated with the EL video data, the up-sampled BL video data is divided into location types according to locations of the up-sampled BL video data. Each location type may have an individual filter for up-sampling video data in the group.

Abstract: Embodiments according to the present invention configure the intra prediction mode candidates into multi-level MPM sets, which comprise at least a first-level MPM set and a second-level MPM set. Encoding or decoding a current intra prediction mode is based on the multi-level MPM sets, where one syntax element of the syntax information to be generated or decoded respectively is associated with evaluating the current intra prediction mode using the first-level MPM set. A method and apparatus for chroma intra prediction mode encoding and decoding are also disclosed. The chroma intra prediction mode set includes a Luma-based chroma prediction Mode (LM), a Direct Mode (DM) and four other modes. The codeword set comprises variable-length codewords and fixed-length codewords, and the fixed-length codewords are longer than the variable-length codewords. The variable-length codewords are used for the DM and LM, and the fixed-length codewords are used for the four other modes.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for Sample Adaptive Offset (SAO) processing of video data in a video decoder are disclosed. In an embodiment, the method includes receiving a block of processed-reconstructed pixels associated with a picture from a media or a processor, wherein the block of processed-reconstructed pixels are decoded from a video bitstream; determining a SAO type index from the video bitstream, wherein the SAO type index is decoded according to truncated unary binarization, the SAO type index is decoded using CABAC (context-based adaptive binary arithmetic coding) with one context, or the SAO type index is decoded by CABAC using a context mode for a first bin associated with the SAO type index and using a bypass mode for any remaining bin associated with the SAO type index; and applying SAO processing to the block of processed-reconstructed pixels based on SAO information including the SAO type index.

Abstract: A method implemented in an apparatus for video coding a current block coded in an Inter, Merge, or Skip mode determines neighboring blocks of the current block, wherein a motion vector predictor (MVP) candidate set is derived from MVP candidates associated with the neighboring blocks. The method determines at least one redundant MVP candidate, if said MVP candidate is within a same PU (Prediction Unit) as another MVP candidate in the MVP candidate set. The method removes said at least one redundant MVP candidate from the MVP candidate set, and provides a modified MVP candidate set for determining a final MVP, wherein the modified MVP candidate set corresponds to the MVP candidate set with said at least one redundant MVP candidate removed. Finally, the method encodes or decodes the current block according to the final MVP.

Abstract: A method and apparatus of Intra mode coding for a scalable video coding system are disclosed. For a current Intra-coded block in the enhancement layer (EL), predictive coding is applied to the current Intra mode based on the base layer (BL) coding mode associated with the co-located block in the BL and neighboring coding modes associated with neighboring blocks of the current block in the EL. The neighboring blocks of the current block in the EL comprise a left block adjacent to a left side of the current block and a top block adjacent to a top side of the current block. One or more most probable modes (MPMs) can be derived from the neighboring coding modes and the BL coding mode, and the MPMs is then used for predictive coding of the current Intra mode.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for intra prediction mode coding and decoding are disclosed. In one embodiment, the encoding and decoding process assigns individual indices and codewords to DC mode and Planar mode respectively. The flag is set if the current intra prediction mode is equal to any of one or more neighboring intra prediction modes. Variable length codes are designed for a remaining mode set. If the flag is not set, the currently intra prediction mode is encoded using the variable length codes. In another embodiment, multiple most probable modes are used. If the current intra prediction mode is not equal to any of the multiple most probable modes, the current intra prediction mode is encoded using variable length codes designed for the corresponding remaining modes according the ranking order of the remaining modes.

Abstract: A method and apparatus of scaling list data signaling for inter-layer or inter-view sharing of the scaling list data from a reference layer or a reference view in a scalable or three-dimensional video coding system are disclosed. A first flag may be incorporated in the current bitstream to indicate the scaling list data sharing from a reference layer or view. When the first flag exists and the first flag has a first value, the scaling list data for the current layer or the current view is determined from a reference bitstream for a reference layer or a reference view. When the first flag exists and the first flag has a second value, the scaling list data for the current layer or the current view is determined from the current bitstream.

Abstract: Methods for decoding of a video bitstream by a video decoding circuit are provided. In one implementation, a method receives coded data for a 2N×2N coding unit (CU) from the video bitstream, selects one or more first codewords according to whether asymmetric motion partition is disabled or enabled when a size of said 2N×2N CU is not equal to a smallest CU size, wherein none of the first codewords corresponds to INTER N×N partition, selects one or more second codewords when the size of said 2N×2N CU is equal to the smallest CU size, wherein none of the second codewords corresponds to the INTER N×N partition when N is 4, determines a CU structure for said 2N×2N CU from the video bitstream using said one or more first codewords or said one or more second codewords, and decodes the video bitstream using the CU structure.

Abstract: A method and apparatus derive a motion vector predictor (MVP) for a current block in an Inter, Merge, or Skip mode. Embodiments according to the present invention determine redundant MVP candidates according to a non-MV-value based criterion. The redundant MVP candidates are then removed from the MVP candidate set. In other embodiments according to the present invention, motion IDs are assigned to MVP candidates to follow the trail of motion vectors associated with the MVP candidate. An MVP candidate having a same motion ID as a previous MVP is redundant and can be removed from the MVP candidate set. In yet another embodiment, redundant MVP candidates correspond to one or more of the MVP candidates that cause the second 2N×N or N×2N PU to be merged into a 2N×2N PU are removed from the MVP candidate set.

Abstract: A method and apparatus of predictive Intra coding of a block are disclosed. In one embodiment according to the present invention, a set of Intra prediction modes is determined, and predictive Intra coding is applied to a prediction unit (PU) of an image based on one or more neighboring PUs according to a current Intra prediction mode. The current Intra prediction mode is selected from the set of Intra prediction modes and the current Intra prediction mode is predicted using most probable modes (MPMs) and remaining modes. A number of the remaining modes is kept as a power of 2. For example, the 32 remaining modes can be represented using 5-bit fixed length codes.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for video data processing for video in YUV422 or YUV 444 formats are disclosed. In one embodiment, for a 2N×2N luma coding unit (CU) in YUV422 format, the transform process partitions residue data corresponding to the 2N×2N luma CU and the N×2N chroma CU into square luma and chroma transform units (TUs). The residue data associated with the luma and the chroma CUs are generated by applying prediction process to the luma CU and the chroma CU. The transform process is independent of prediction block size or prediction mode associated with the prediction process. In another embodiment, the prediction process splits the CU into two prediction blocks. Transform process is applied on the chroma residue data corresponding to the chroma CU to form one or more chroma TUs, wherein the transform process is dependent on CU size and prediction block size, or CU size and prediction mode.