Data formats for high efficiency coding of Lytro-Illum light fields

Light fields captured by the Lytro-Illum camera are the first to appear in the consumer market, capable of providing refocused pictures at acceptable spatial resolution and quality. Since this is partially due to sampling of a huge number of light rays, efficient compression methods are required to store and exchange light field data. This paper presents a performance study of HEVC-compatible coding of Lytro-Illum light fields using different data formats for standard coding. The efficiency of 5 different light field data formats are evaluated using a data set of 12 light field images and the standard HEVC coding configurations of Still-Image Profile, All-Intra, Low Delay B and P and Random Access. Unexpectedly, the results show that relative performance is not consistent across all coding configurations, raising new research questions regarding standard coding of Lytro-Illum light fields using HEVC. Most importantly, the proposed data formats greatly increase HEVC performance.

I. Introduction

Recent advances in holoscopic or light field image and video have been driving new research efforts and technological developments in three-dimensional visual information acquisition’ processing and display. Until recently, the low spatial resolution of the 2D images obtained from light fields has been one of the main limitations of such technology, due to inherent tradeoff between spatial and angular resolution in acquisition systems [1].