On the Selection of Transmitted Views for Decoder-Side Depth Estimation

The selection of optimal views for transmission is critical for the coding efficiency of the MPEG Immersive Video (MIV) profile of Decoder-Side Depth Estimation (DSDE). Standard approaches, which favor a uniform camera distribution, often fail in scenes with complex geometry, leading to decreased quality of depth estimation, and thus, reduced quality of virtual views presented to a viewer. This paper proposes an adaptive view selection method that analyzes the scene’s percentage of occluded regions. Based on this analysis, the encoder dynamically selects a transmission strategy: for scenes with a low occlusion ratio (smaller than 10%), a uniform layout is maintained to maximize spatial coverage; for scenes with a high occlusion ratio, the system switches to grouping cameras into stereo pairs, which are more robust for decreasing numbers of occlusions. Experiments conducted using the TMIV reference software demonstrated that this approach yields measurable quality gains (up to 2 dB BD-IVPSNR) for complex test sequences, such as MartialArts and Frog, without requiring any modifications to the decoder.