Classification for multiple merge tools

1. A video coding method comprising:

receiving, at a video codec, data to be encoded or decoded as a current block of a current picture of a video, wherein at least one of first and second flags indicate whether to apply combined inter and intra prediction mode or triangle prediction mode, wherein the combined inter and intra prediction mode and the triangle prediction mode are taken as a group for combined prediction modes; and

decoding or encoding the current block,

wherein when combined inter and intra prediction mode is applied, the current block is coded by using a combined prediction that is generated based on an inter-prediction and an intra-prediction,

wherein when triangle prediction mode is applied, the current block is coded by using a combined prediction that is generated based on at least two inter-predictions,

wherein the first flag indicates whether a multi-hypothesis prediction mode is applied to combine two prediction signals to generate a combined prediction for decoding or encoding the current block,

wherein the first flag is coded by a first bin and the second flag is coded by a second bin that are signaled with different contexts, and

wherein the first flag and the second flag are signaled using fixed length codewords.

2. The video coding method of claim 1 , wherein the second flag selects combined inter and intra prediction mode or triangle prediction mode.

3. The video coding method of claim 1 , wherein when triangle prediction mode is applied, the video codec combines a first inter-prediction signal with a second inter-prediction signal to generate the combined prediction for a diagonal region between two triangular prediction units of the current block.

4. The video coding method of claim 1 , wherein when triangle prediction mode is applied, the video codec combines a first inter-prediction signal with a second inter-prediction signal to generate the combined prediction for an overlap prediction region that is defined based on a partitioning along a straight line bifurcating the current block.

5. The video coding method of claim 4 , wherein the straight line is a diagonal line connecting two opposing vertices of the current block.

6. The video coding method of claim 4 , wherein the combined prediction is a weighted sum of the first inter-prediction signal and the second inter-prediction signal.

7. The video coding method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of first and second flags are coded by one or more bins that are signaled with one or more contexts that are chosen based on properties of a set of the current block or neighboring blocks of the current block.

8. The video coding method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of first and second flags are coded by one or more bins that are signaled with one or more contexts that are chosen based on a selected motion candidate or a selected intra prediction mode.

9. An electronic apparatus comprising:

a video decoder circuit configured to perform operations comprising:

receiving data from a bitstream for a block of pixels to be decoded as a current block of a current picture of a video;

receiving at least one of first and second flags that indicate whether to apply combined inter and intra prediction mode or triangle prediction mode, wherein the combined inter and intra prediction mode and the triangle prediction mode are taken as a group for combined prediction modes; and

decoding the current block,

wherein when combined inter and intra prediction mode is applied, the current block is decoded by using a combined prediction that is generated based on an inter-prediction and an intra-prediction,

wherein when triangle prediction mode is applied, the current block is decoded by using a combined prediction that is generated based on at least two inter-predictions,

wherein the first flag indicates whether a multi-hypothesis prediction mode is applied to combine two prediction signals to generate a combined prediction for decoding or encoding the current block,

wherein the first flag is coded by a first bin and the second flag is coded by a second bin that are signaled with different contexts, and

wherein the first flag and the second flag are signaled using fixed length codewords.

10. An electronic apparatus comprising:

a video encoder circuit configured to perform operations comprising:

receiving raw pixel data for a block of pixels to be encoded as a current block of a current picture of a video into a bitstream;

signaling at least one of first and second flags in the bitstream to indicate whether to apply combined inter and intra prediction mode or triangle prediction mode, wherein the combined inter and intra prediction mode and the triangle prediction mode are taken as a group for combined prediction modes; and

encoding the current block,

wherein when combined inter and intra prediction mode is applied, the current block is encoded by a combined prediction that is generated based on an inter-prediction and an intra-prediction,

wherein when triangle prediction mode is applied, the current block is encoded by a combined prediction that is generated based on at least two different inter-predictions,

wherein the first flag indicates whether a multi-hypothesis prediction mode is applied to combine two prediction signals to generate a combined prediction for decoding or encoding the current block,

wherein the first flag is coded by a first bin and the second flag is coded by a second bin that are signaled with different contexts, and

wherein the first flag and the second flag are signaled using fixed length codewords.