Motion vector inheritance for high efficiency 3D video plus depth coding

This paper describes a new mode for efficient encoding of depth map data that are associated with a video signal. Since the motion characteristics (i.e., block partitioning and corresponding motion vectors) of the video signal and its associated depth signal are typically similar, a motion vector inheritance (MVI) mode, where the data that are already transmitted for the video picture can be reused for efficient encoding of the depth map, has been introduced. Experimental results show averaged total bitrate reductions in terms of Bjontegaard-Delta bitrate of about 1.4% for a 2-view scenario and about 1.1% for a 3-view scenario, when averaged over all, coded and synthesized, views. This corresponds to bitrate savings for the depth signal of about 18% for the 2-view case and about 10% for the 3-view case.