Scalable video encoding/decoding method and apparatus thereof with overriding weight value in base layer skip mode

1. A scalable video encoding method, comprising:

(a) determining whether a block of a base layer, which corresponds to a block of an enhancement layer of a current frame to be encoded, is in a skip mode only by determining whether block data of the base layer is the same as block data of a reference frame base layer in the temporal direction;

(b) overriding a previous weight value that has been set for a block of an enhancement layer of a reference frame with a new weight value, the block of the enhancement layer of the reference frame corresponding to the block of the enhancement layer of the current frame, whenever block data of the base layer is the same as the block data of the reference frame base layer in the temporal direction; and

(c) generating a reference block for the block of the enhancement layer of the current frame based on the block of the enhancement layer of the reference frame and the block of the base layer of the current frame using the new weight value.

2. The scalable video encoding method of claim 1 , further comprising performing adaptive reference fine grain scalability (AR-FGS) encoding on the block of the enhancement layer of the current frame based on the generated reference block.

3. The scalable video encoding method of claim 1 , wherein the new weight value is set greater than the previous weight value in order to improve the rate of the use of block data of the enhancement layer of the reference frame.

4. The scalable video encoding method of claim 1 , wherein (c) comprises generating the reference block by means of a weighted sum of the block of the enhancement layer of the reference frame to which the new weight value is applied and the block of the base layer of the current frame to which a weight value calculated from the new weight value is applied.

5. The scalable video encoding method of claim 1 , further comprising (d) generating the reference block based on the block of the enhancement layer of the reference frame and the block of the base layer of the current frame using the previous weight value if the block of the base layer of the current frame is not in the skip mode.

6. The scalable video encoding method of claim 1 , wherein (a) comprises:

(a1) determining whether to set a flag indicating overriding of a previous weight value with a new weight value; and

(a2) determining whether the block of the base layer of the current frame is in the skip mode if the flag is set.

7. The scalable video encoding method of claim 6 , further comprising (e) generating the reference block based on the block of the enhancement layer of the reference frame and the block of the base layer of the current frame using the previous weight value if the flag is not set.

8. The scalable video encoding method of claim 1 , wherein the new weight value is set to have a fixed length of predetermined bits or a variable length, together with the previous weight value, in a slice header.

9. The scalable video encoding method of claim 1 wherein the new weight value is not dependent upon characteristic information of the enhancement layer of the current frame.

10. A scalable video decoding method, comprising:

(a) determining whether a block of a base layer, which corresponds to a block of an enhancement layer of a current frame to be decoded, is in a skip mode only by determining whether block data of the base layer is the same as block data of a reference frame base layer in the temporal direction;

(b) overriding a previous weight value that has been set for a block of an enhancement layer of a reference frame with a new weight value, the block of the enhancement layer of the reference frame corresponding to the block of the enhancement layer of the current frame, in direct response to determining that the block of the base layer is in the skip mode, wherein the new weight value is determined based on whether the block of the base layer is in the skip mode; and

(c) generating a reference block for the block of the enhancement layer of the current frame based on the block of the enhancement layer of the reference frame and the block of the base layer of the current frame using the new weight value.

11. The scalable video decoding method of claim 10 , further comprising performing adaptive reference fine grain scalability (AR-FGS) decoding on the block of the enhancement layer of the current frame based on the generated reference block.

12. The scalable video decoding method of claim 10 , wherein the new weight value is set greater than the previous weight value in order to improve the rate of the use of block data of the enhancement layer of the reference frame.

13. The scalable video decoding method of claim 10 , wherein (b) comprises:

(b1) extracting the new weight value included in the bitstream; and

(b2) overriding the previous weight value set for the block of the enhancement layer of the reference frame with the new weight value.

14. The scalable video decoding method of claim 13 , wherein the new weight value is extracted from a slice header included in the bitstream.

15. The scalable video decoding method of claim 10 , wherein (c) comprises generating the reference block for the block of the enhancement layer of the current frame by means of a weighted sum of the block of the enhancement layer of the reference frame to which the new weight value is applied and the block of the base layer of the current frame to which a weight value calculated from the new weight value is applied.

16. The scalable video decoding method of claim 10 , further comprising (d) generating the reference block based on the block of the enhancement layer of the reference frame and the block of the base layer of the current frame using the previous weight value if the block of the base layer of the current frame is not in the skip mode.

17. The scalable video decoding method of claim 10 , wherein (a) comprises:

(a1) determining whether a flag indicating overriding of a previous weight value with a new weight value has been set; and

(a2) determining whether the block of the base layer of the current frame is in the skip mode if the flag has been set.

18. The scalable video decoding method of claim 17 , further comprising (f) generating the reference block based on the block of the enhancement layer of the reference frame and the block of the base layer of the current frame using the previous weight value if the flag has not been set.

19. The scalable video decoding method of claim 10 wherein the previous weight value is overridden whenever block data of the base layer is the same as the block data of the reference frame base layer in the temporal direction.

20. A scalable video encoding apparatus, comprising:

a mode determination unit determining whether a block of a base layer, which corresponds to a block of an enhancement layer of a current frame to be encoded, is in a skip mode only by determining whether block data of the base layer is the same as block data of a reference frame base layer in the temporal direction;

a weight value overriding unit overriding a previous weight value that has been set for a block of an enhancement layer of a reference frame with a new weight value, the block of the enhancement layer of the reference frame corresponding to the block of the enhancement layer of the current frame, whenever block data of the base layer is the same as the block data of the reference frame base layer in the temporal direction; and

a reference block generation unit generating a reference block for the block of the enhancement layer of the current frame based on the block of the enhancement layer of the reference frame and the block of the base layer of the current frame using the new weight value.

21. The scalable video encoding apparatus of claim 20 , further comprising an encoding unit performing adaptive reference fine grain scalability (AR-FGS) encoding on the block of the enhancement layer of the current frame based on the generated reference block.

22. The scalable video encoding apparatus of claim 20 , wherein the new weight value is set greater than the previous weight value in order to improve the rate of the use of block data of the enhancement layer of the reference frame.

23. The scalable video encoding apparatus of claim 20 , wherein the reference block generation unit generates the reference block by means of a weighted sum of the block of the enhancement layer of the reference frame to which the new weight value is applied and the block of the base layer of the current frame to which a weight value calculated from the new weight value is applied.

24. The scalable video encoding apparatus of claim 20 , wherein the reference block generation unit generates the reference block based on the block of the enhancement layer of the reference frame and the block of the base layer of the current frame using the previous weight value if the block of the base layer of the current frame is not in the skip mode.

25. The scalable video encoding apparatus of claim 20 , wherein the mode determination unit determines whether to set a flag indicating overriding of a previous weight value with a new weight value and determines whether the block of the base layer of the current frame is in the skip mode if the flag has been set.

26. The scalable video encoding apparatus of claim 25 , wherein the reference block generation unit generates the reference block based on the block of the enhancement layer of the reference frame and the block of the base layer of the current frame using the previous weight value if the flag has not been set.

27. A scalable video decoding apparatus comprising:

a mode determination unit determining whether a block of a base layer, which corresponds to a block of an enhancement layer of a current frame to be decoded, is in a skip mode only by determining whether block data of the base layer is the same as block data of a reference frame base layer in the temporal direction;

a weight value overriding unit overriding a previous weight value that has been set for a block of an enhancement layer of a reference frame with a new weight value, the block of the enhancement layer of the reference frame corresponding to the block of the enhancement layer of the current frame, in direct response to determining that the block of the base layer is in the skip mode, wherein the new weight value is determined based on whether the block of the base layer is in the skip mode; and

a reference block generation unit generating a reference block for the block of the enhancement layer of the current frame based on the block of the enhancement layer of the reference frame and the block of the base layer of the current frame using the new weight value.

28. The scalable video decoding apparatus of claim 27 , further comprising a decoding unit performing adaptive reference fine grain scalability (AR-FGS) decoding on the block of the enhancement layer of the current frame based on the generated reference block.

29. The scalable video decoding apparatus of claim 27 , wherein the new weight value is greater than the previous weight value in order to improve the rate of the use of block data of the enhancement layer of the reference frame.

30. The scalable video decoding apparatus of claim 27 , wherein the weight value overriding unit extracts the new weight value included in the bitstream and overrides the previous weight value of the block of the enhancement layer of the reference frame with the new weight value.

31. The scalable video decoding apparatus of claim 27 , wherein the reference block generation unit generates the reference block for the block of the enhancement layer of the current frame by means of a weighted sum of the block of the enhancement layer of the reference frame to which the new weight value is applied and the block of the base layer of the current frame to which a weight value calculated from the new weight value is applied.

32. The scalable video decoding apparatus of claim 27 , wherein the reference block generation unit generates the reference block based on the block of the enhancement layer of the reference frame and the block of the base layer of the current frame using the previous weight value if the block of the base layer of the current frame is not in the skip mode.

33. The scalable video decoding apparatus of claim 27 , wherein the mode determination unit determines whether a flag indicating overriding of a previous weight value with a new weight value has been set and determines whether the block of the base layer of the current frame is in the skip mode if the flag has been set.

34. The scalable video decoding apparatus of claim 33 , wherein the reference block generation unit generates the reference block based on the block of the enhancement layer of the reference frame and the block of the base layer of the current frame using the previous weight value if the flag has not been set.

35. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having embodied thereon a program for executing the method as recited in any one of claims 1 through 18 .