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 deblocking reconstructed video in a video coding system. The method receives reconstructed pixel data, wherein the reconstructed pixel data is configured into LCUs (largest coding units) and each LCU is divided into blocks. The method then identifies horizontal block edges of the blocks in the LCUs, applies first vertical filtering to the reconstructed pixel data corresponding to one or more first lines above a first horizontal block edge in the first edge group, and applies second vertical filtering to the reconstructed pixel data corresponding to one or more second lines above a second horizontal block edge in the second edge group, wherein a first number of said one or more first lines is smaller than a second number of said one or more second lines.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for coding video data using Inter prediction mode or Merge mode in a video coding system are disclosed, where the video data is configured into a Base Layer (BL) and an Enhancement Layer (EL), and the EL has higher spatial resolution or better video quality than the BL. In one embodiment, at least one information piece of motion information associated with one or more BL blocks in the BL is identified. A motion vector prediction (MVP) candidate list or a Merge candidate list for the selected block in the EL is then determined, where said at least one information piece associated with said one or more BL blocks in the BL is included in the MVP candidate list or the Merge candidate list. The input data associated with the selected block is coded or decoded using the MVP candidate list or the Merge candidate list.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for processing of coded video using in-loop processing are disclosed. The method operates by receiving input data to said in-loop processing, wherein the input data corresponds to reconstructed coding units of the picture; configuring the input data into multiple filter units; selecting a filter from a candidate filter set comprising at least two candidate filters associated with said in-loop processing for one of said multiple filter units; applying said in-loop processing to said one of said multiple filter units using the selected filter to generate a processed filter unit, wherein when said one of said multiple filter units comprises at least two reconstructed coding units, the selected filter is applied to all of said at least two reconstructed coding units; and providing processed video data comprising the processed filter unit. The apparatus provide circuits to carryout the operations of the method.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for three-dimensional video encoding or decoding using the disparity vector derived from an associated depth block are disclosed. The method determines an associated depth block for a current texture block and derives a derived disparity vector based on a subset of depth samples of the associated depth block. The subset contains less depth samples than the associated depth block and the subset excludes a single-sample subset corresponding to a center sample of the associated depth block. The derived disparity vector can be used as an inter-view motion (disparity) vector predictor in Inter mode, an inter-view (disparity) candidate in Merge mode or Skip mode. The derived disparity vector can also be used to locate a reference block for inter-view motion prediction in Inter mode, inter-view candidate in Merge or Skip mode, inter-view motion prediction, inter-view disparity prediction, or inter-view residual prediction.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for temporal motion vector prediction for a current block in a picture are disclosed. In the present method, one temporal block in a first reference picture in a first list selected from a list group comprising list 0 and list 1 is determined. When the determined temporal block has at least one motion vector, a candidate set is determined based on the motion vector of the temporal block. The temporal motion vector predictor or temporal motion vector predictor candidate or temporal motion vector or temporal motion vector candidate for the current block is determined from the candidate set by checking a presence of a motion vector pointing to a reference picture in a first specific list in said at least one motion vector, wherein the first specific list is selected from the list group based on a priority order.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for deriving MV/MVP (motion vector or motion vector predictor) or DV/DVP (disparity vector or disparity vector predictor) associated Skip mode, Merge mode or Inter mode for a block of a current picture in three-dimensional (3D) video coding are disclosed. The 3D video coding may use temporal prediction and inter-view prediction to exploit temporal and inter-view correlation. MV/DV prediction is applied to reduce bitrate associated with MV/DV coding. The MV/MVP or DV/DVP for a block is derived from spatial candidates, temporal candidates and inter-view candidates. For the inter-view candidate, the position of the inter-view co-located block can be located using a global disparity vector (GDV) or warping the current block onto the co-located picture according to the depth information. The candidate can also be derived as the vector corresponding to warping the current block onto the co-located picture according to the depth information.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a method receives a video bitstream corresponding to compressed video, wherein Filter Unit (FU) based in-loop filtering is allowed in a reconstruction loop associated with the compressed video. The method then derives reconstructed video from the video bitstream, wherein the reconstructed video is partitioned into FUs and derives a merge flag from the video bitstream for each of the FUs, wherein the merge flag indicates whether said each of the FUs is merged with a neighboring FU. The method further receives a merge index from the video bitstream if the merge flag indicates that said each of the FUs is merged, and receives the filter parameters from the video bitstream if the merge flag indicates that said each of the FUs is not merged. Finally, the method applies the in-loop filtering to said each of the FUs using the filter parameters.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for sharing context among different SAO syntax elements for a video coder are disclosed. Embodiments of the present invention apply CABAC coding to multiple SAO syntax elements according to a joint context model, wherein the multiple SAO syntax elements share the joint context. The multiple SAO syntax elements may correspond to SAO merge left flag and SAO merge up flag. The multiple SAO syntax elements may correspond to SAO merge left flags or merge up flags associated with different color components. The joint context model can be derived based on joint statistics of the multiple SAO syntax elements. Embodiments of the present invention code the SAO type index using truncated unary binarization, using CABAC with only one context, or using CABAC with context mode for the first bin associated with the SAO type index and with bypass mode for any remaining bin.

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: A method and apparatus of predictive Intra coding of a block are disclosed. In one embodiment according to the present invention, a same set of Intra prediction modes is used for PUs corresponding to different block sizes including a 4×4 block size and at least one other block size. In another embodiment of the present invention, the number of Intra prediction modes in the set is reduced by removing at least one Intra prediction mode from the set. For example, when the set of 35 Intra prediction modes is used, intraPredMode corresponding to 18, 34, or 26 can be removed. The current Intra prediction mode can be coded predictively based on said one or more neighboring PUs, wherein the current Intra prediction mode is predicted using 2 most probable modes (MPMs) and 32 remaining modes. The 32 remaining modes can be represented using 5-bit fixed length codes.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for texture image compression in a 3D video coding system are disclosed. Embodiments according to the present invention derive depth information related to a depth map associated with a texture image and then process the texture image based on the depth information derived. The invention can be applied to the encoder side as well as the decoder side. The encoding order or decoding order for the depth maps and the texture images can be based on block-wise interleaving or picture-wise interleaving. One aspect of the present invent is related to partitioning of the texture image based on depth information of the depth map. Another aspect of the present invention is related to motion vector or motion vector predictor processing based on the depth information.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for deriving a motion vector predictor (MVP) candidate set for motion vector coding of a current block. Embodiments according to the present invention determine a redundancy-removed spatial-temporal MVP candidate set. The redundancy-removed spatial-temporal MVP candidate set is derived from a spatial-temporal MVP candidate set by removing any redundant MVP candidate. The spatial-temporal MVP candidate set includes a top spatial MVP candidate, a left spatial MVP candidate and one temporal MVP candidate. The method further checks whether candidate number of the redundancy-removed spatial-temporal MVP candidate set is smaller than a threshold, and adds a zero motion vector to the redundancy-removed spatial-temporal MVP candidate set if the candidate number is smaller than the threshold. Finally, the method provides the redundancy-removed spatial-temporal MVP candidate set for encoding or decoding of the motion vector of a current block.

Abstract: Implementations of the invention are provided in methods for filter-unit based in-loop filtering in a video decoder and encoder. In one implementation, filter parameters are selected from a filter parameter set for each filter based on a filter index. In another implementation, the picture is partitioned into filter units according to filter unit size, which can be selected between a default size and other size. When other size is selected, the filter unit size may be conveyed using direct size information or ratio information. In another implementation, a merge flag and a merge index are used to convey filter unit merge information. A method for filter-unit based in-loop filtering in a video encoder for color video is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method incorporates filter syntax in the video bitstream by interleaving the color-component filter syntax for the FUs.

Abstract: Video decoding and encoding with in-loop processing of reconstructed video are disclosed. At the decoder side, a flag is received from the video bitstream and according to the flag, information associated with in-loop filter parameters is received either from a data payload in the video bitstream to be shared by two or more coding blocks or individual coding block data in the video bitstream. At the encoder side, information associated with the in-loop filter parameters is incorporated either in a data payload in a video bitstream to be shared by two or more coding blocks or interleaved with individual coding block data in the video bitstream according to a flag. The data payload in the video bitstream is in a picture level, Adaptation Parameter Set (APS), or a slice header.

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 as signed 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: 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 for deriving a motion vector predictor (MVP) receives motion vectors (MVs) associated with reference blocks of the current block. The method determines at least one first spatial search MV associated with a first MV searching order and at least one second spatial search MV associated with a second MV searching order for each neighboring reference block. Then, the method determines whether a first available-first spatial search MV exists for said at least one neighboring reference block according to the first MV searching order, and provides the first available-first spatial search MV as a spatial MVP for the current block. Finally, the method determines whether a first available-second spatial search MV exists for said at least one neighboring reference block according to the second MV searching order only if none of first spatial search MVs for said at least one neighboring reference block is available.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for loop processing of reconstructed video in an encoder system are disclosed. The loop processing comprises an in-loop filter and one or more adaptive filters. The filter parameters for the adaptive filter are derived from the pre-in-loop video data so that the adaptive filter processing can be applied to the in-loop processed video data without the need of waiting for completion of the in-loop filter processing for a picture or an image unit. In another embodiment, two adaptive filters derive their respective adaptive filter parameters based on the same pre-in-loop video data. In yet another embodiment, a moving window is used for image-unit-based coding system incorporating in-loop filter and one or more adaptive filters. The in-loop filter and the adaptive filter are applied to a moving window of pre-in-loop video data comprising one or more sub-regions from corresponding one or more image units.