Incorporating Depth-Image Based View-Prediction into H.264 for Multiview-Image Coding

We investigate the coding of multiview images obtained from a set of multiple cameras. To exploit the inter-view correlation, two view-prediction tools have been implemented and used in parallel: a block-based motion compensation scheme and a depth image based rendering technique (DIBR). Whereas DIBR relies on an accurate depth image, the block-based motion-compensation scheme can be performed without any geometry information. Our encoder adaptively selects the most appropriate prediction scheme using a rate-distortion criterion for an optimal prediction-mode selection. The attractiveness of the algorithm is that the compression algorithm is robust against inaccurately estimated depth images and requires only one single reference camera for fast random-access to different views. We present experimental results for several multiview sequences, that result in a quality improvement of up to 1.4 dB as compared to H.264 compression.