Method for coding and decoding a digital video, and related coding and decoding devices

Abstract

A method is described for generating a video stream by starting from a plurality of sequences of 2D and/or 3D video frames, wherein a video stream generator composes into a container video frame video frames coming from N different sources (S1, S2, S3, SN) and generates a single output video stream of container video frames which is coded by an encoder, wherein said encoder enters into the output video stream a signalling adapted to indicate the structure of the container video frames. A corresponding method for regenerating the video stream is also described.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A method for generating a digital video stream in a video stream generator comprising a video stream receiver unit and a video encoder, wherein the video stream generator generates a container video stream containing a plurality of independently encoded regions, the method comprising:
 receiving by said the video stream receiver unit three or more component video streams from a plurality of video sources; 
 mapping said by the video encoder the three or more component video streams to three or more independently decodable regions; 
 entering by said the video encoder a signalling signal indicating a presence of corresponding three or more independently decodable regions,;  
 entering by said the video encoder a signalling indicating an association between each of said the three or more component video streams and each of said the three or more independently decodable regions, whereby any of said the three or more component regions component video streams can be associated with any of said the three or more independently decodable regions in an independent way,; and 
 outputting a digital video stream comprising said the signal, the signalling and the container video stream. 
 
     
     
       2. The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising entering by said wherein the signalling entered by the video encoder enters a descriptor into said the digital video stream indicating a type of content of said the three or more component video streams. 
     
     
       3. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein each one of the three or more independently decodable regions is coded by said the video encoder as a tile. 
     
     
       4. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein a coding technique employed by said the video encoder is employs the coding technique H.264/AVC or HEVC. 
     
     
       5. The method according to claim  1  2, wherein the signalling entered by said the video encoder into the digital video stream indicating that indicates the association between each of the three or more component regions video streams and each of the three or more independently decodable regions and that includes the descriptor indicating a the type of content of the three or more component regions is video streams is an SEI message. 
     
     
       6. The method according to claim  1  2, wherein the signalling indicating that indicates the association between each of the three or more component regions video streams and each of the three or more independently decodable regions and that includes the descriptor indicating a the type of content of the three or more component regions is video streams is entered by said the video encoder into an SPS signalling or into a PPS signalling. 
     
     
       7. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the signalling entered by said the video encoder into the digital video stream indicating the association between each of the three or more component regions video streams and each of the three or more independently decodable regions includes a bitmask. 
     
     
       8. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the three or more component regions of the digital video stream video streams represent one or more independent video streams. 
     
     
       9. The method according to  claim 8 , wherein the one three or more component video streams include one or more of the following formats:
 one or more stereoscopic video pairs; 
 video streams and depth maps; 
 one or more video streams in the frame packing arrangement format; 
 mosaic of independent videos. 
 
     
     
       10. The method according to  claim 2 , wherein the descriptor comprises one or more metadata describing:
 Frame packing arrangement; 
 Content interpretation type; and  
 View ID. 
 
     
     
       11. A method for decoding an encoded digital video stream including a three or more independent component regions component video streams in a video decoder comprising a signalling decoder and a video data decoder, the method comprising:
 reading by said the signalling decoder a signal indicating a presence of three or more independently decodable regions; 
 reading by said the signalling decoder a signalling comprised in said the digital video stream indicating an association between each of said the three or more independent component regions component video streams and each of said the three or more independently decodable regions, wherein said the three or more independent component regions component video streams are originated by a plurality of video sources and wherein any of said the three or more component regions component video streams can be associated with any of said the three or more independently decodable regions in an independent way; 
 reading by said the signaling decoder a descriptor comprised in said the digital video stream indicating a type of content of each one of the three or more independently decodable regions; 
 selecting for decoding a set one or more of the three or more independently decodable regions indicated by said the signalling or by said the descriptor, and 
 decoding said the selected set one or more of independently decodable regions by said the video decoder and outputting the a decoded video stream obtained by said the video data decoder for displaying. 
 
     
     
       12. The method according to  claim 11 , wherein said the video decoder selects the one or more of the three or more independently decodable regions based on an evaluation of its own computational resources of the video decoder. 
     
     
       13. The method according to  claim 11 , wherein the selected one or more of the three or more independently decodable regions are made available for display on a single display. 
     
     
       14. The method according to  claim 11 , wherein the selected one or more of the three or more independently decodable regions are made available for display on multiple heterogeneous devices. 
     
     
       15. The method according to  claim 11 , wherein a selection of a set the selected one or more of the three or more independently decodable regions to be decoded is determined based on an automatic negotiation with a display device associated to said the video decoder and configured to display the video data decoded by said the video decoder. 
     
     
       16. The method according to  claim 11 , wherein a selection of a set the selected one or more of the three or more independently decodable regions to be decoded is determined based on a manual selection of the a display format on a display device associated to said the video decoder by a user performed by means of a remote control device associated to said the video decoding device decoder or to said the display device. 
     
     
       17. A decoding device for decoding a digital video stream including a three or more independent component regions component video streams and configured to read a signal indicating a presence of three or more independently decodable regions, the decoding device comprising:
 a signaling decoder configured to read a signalling comprised in said the digital video stream indicating an association between the three or more independent component regions component video streams and the three or more independently decodable regions and configured to read a descriptor comprised in said the digital video stream indicating a type of content of each one of the three or more independently decodable regions, wherein said three or more independent component regions are originated by a plurality of video sources and wherein any of said the three or more independent component regions component video streams can be associated with any of said the three or more independently decodable regions in an independent way,;  
 a video data decoder configured to decode video data comprised in said the digital video stream according to a decoding strategy,; and 
 a selecting unit configured to select for decoding by said the video data decoder a set of said the three or more independently decodable regions indicated by said the signalling or by said the descriptor, 
 wherein the video data decoder decodes said the selected set of the three or more independently decodable regions selected by the selecting unit, and outputs a decoded digital video stream comprising said the selected set of selected the three or more independently decodable regions. 
 
     
     
       18. The decoding device of  claim 17 , wherein said the selecting unit is further configured to automatically or manually select for display on a display device associated to said the decoding device said the selected set of the three or more independently decodable regions decoded by said the decoding device. 
     
     
       19. The decoding device according to  claim 17 , wherein said a the selecting unit is further configured to select, by means of a negotiation process with a display device associated to said the decoding device, a display format comprising said the selected set of the three or more independently decodable regions decoded by said the decoding device.