Edge-aware depth motion estimation — A complexity reduction scheme for 3D-HEVC

This work presents the Edge-Aware Depth Motion Estimation (E-ADME), a complexity reduction scheme developed for depth maps coding on 3D High Efficiency Video Coding (3D-HEVC). This scheme focuses on obtaining an execution time reduction while keeping a high quality of the encoded depth map. E-ADME starts classifying each encoding depth block as edge or homogeneous. If the block is classified as an edge, then the Test Zone Search (TZS) is applied because edges require expensive comparisons to find the best block match. Otherwise, the scheme applies an Iterative-Small Diamond Search Pattern (I-SDSP), which is a lightweight center-biased algorithm for efficient encoding of homogeneous blocks. The proposed solution was capable of achieving a time saving of 6.9% in depth maps coding, increasing less than 0.15% the BD-rate of the synthesized view.