3D video: Depth coding based on inter-component prediction of block partitions

This paper presents a new approach for 3D video coding, where the video and the depth component of an MVD representation are jointly coded in an integrated framework. This enables a new type of prediction for exploiting the correlations of video and depth signals in addition to existing methods for temporal and inter-view prediction. Our new method is referred to as inter-component prediction and we adopt it for predicting non-rectangular partitions in depth blocks. By dividing the block into two regions, each represented with a constant value, such block partitions are well-adapted to the characteristics of depth maps. The results show that this approach reduces the bit rate of the depth component by up to 11% and leads to an increased quality of rendered views.