Granted Patent B2

US 12,581,096 · App. 18/773,056 · Granted Mar 17, 2026

Inventors: Jie Chen (Beijing, CN); Ru-Ling Liao (Beijing, CN); Yan Ye (San Mateo, CA); Jiancong Luo (San Mateo, CA)

Assignee: ALIBABA GROUP HOLDING LIMITED

H04N19/46H04N19/172

Abstract

Claims (60)

1 . A method of decoding a bitstream to output one or more pictures for a video stream, the method comprising:

receiving a bitstream; and

decoding, using coded information of the bitstream, one or more pictures, wherein the decoding comprises:

determining whether a first plurality of sequence level flags are present in the bitstream, based on a second plurality of sequence level flags, respectively;

determining whether one or more picture level flags are present in the bitstream, based on the first plurality of sequence level flags, respectively; and

enabling or disabling one or more coding modes for a target picture based on the one or more picture level flags, respectively.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the second plurality of sequence level flags comprises a first sequence level flag indicating whether a coding mode is enabled for a video sequence, the one or more picture level flags comprise a picture level flag indicating whether the coding mode is enabled for the target picture, the first plurality of sequence level flags comprises a second sequence level flag indicating whether the picture level flag is present, and the method further comprises:

in response to the first sequence level flag indicating the coding mode is enabled for the video sequence, decoding a value of the second sequence level flag;

in response to the value of the second sequence level flag indicating the picture level flag is present, decoding a value of the picture level flag; and

in response to the value of the picture level flag indicating the coding mode is disabled for the targe picture, disabling the coding mode for the target picture; and

in response to the first sequence level flag indicating the coding mode is disabled for the video sequence, determining the second sequence level flag is not present; and

disabling the coding mode for the video sequence.

3 . The method according to claim 2 , wherein the one or more coding modes comprise at least one of:

a prediction refinement with optical flow (PROF) mode, a bi-directional optical flow (BDOF) mode, or a decoder side motion vector refinement (DMVR) mode.

4 . The method according to claim 2 , wherein the first plurality of sequence level flags and the second plurality of sequence level flags are present in a Sequence Parameter Set (SPS) of the bitstream.

5 . The method according to claim 2 , wherein the one or more picture level flags are present in a picture header; and the target picture refers to the picture header.

6 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the second plurality of sequence level flags comprises a first sequence level flag associated with a prediction refinement with optical flow (PROF) mode, and the method further comprises:

determining, based on a second sequence level flag, whether an affine mode is enabled for a video sequence; and

in response to the affine mode being enabled, determining that the first sequence level flag is signaled in the bitstream and determining, based on the first sequence level flag, whether the PROF mode is enabled for the video sequence.

7 . A method according to encoding a video sequence into a bitstream, the method comprising:

receiving a video sequence;

encoding one or more pictures of the video sequence; and

generating a bitstream,

wherein the encoding comprises:

encoding a second plurality of sequence level flags in the bitstream, the second plurality of sequence level flags respectively indicating whether a first plurality of sequence level flags are present in the bitstream;

in response to one or more of the first plurality of sequence level flags are present in the bitstream, encoding the first plurality of sequence level flags in the bitstream, the first plurality of sequence level flags respectively indicating whether one or more picture level flags are present in the bitstream; and

in response to the one or more picture level flags being present in the bitstream, encoding the one or more picture level flags based on one or more coding modes associated with a target picture, respectively.

8 . The method according to claim 7 , wherein the second plurality of sequence level flags comprises a first sequence level flag indicating whether a coding mode is enabled for a video sequence, the one or more picture level flags comprise a picture level flag indicating whether the coding mode is enabled for the target picture, the first plurality of sequence level flags comprises a second sequence level flag indicating whether the picture level flag is present, and the method further comprises:

in response to the first sequence level flag indicating the coding mode is enabled for the video sequence, encoding the second sequence level flag in the bitstream; and

in response to the second sequence level flag indicating the picture level flag is present, encoding the picture level flag in the bitstream; and

in response to the first sequence level flag indicating the coding mode is disabled for the video sequence, skipping the encoding of the first plurality of sequence level flags and the one or more picture level flags.

9 . The method according to claim 8 , wherein the one or more coding modes comprise at least one of:

a prediction refinement with optical flow (PROF) mode, a bi-directional optical flow (BDOF) mode, or a decoder side motion vector refinement (DMVR) mode.

10 . The method according to claim 8 , wherein the first plurality of sequence level flags and the second plurality of sequence level flags are encoded in a Sequence Parameter Set (SPS) of the bitstream.

11 . The method according to claim 8 , wherein:

the one or more picture level flags are encoded in a picture header that the target picture refers to.

12 . The method according to claim 8 , wherein encoding the one or more o picture level flags comprises:

setting values of the one or more picture level flags based on whether the respective coding modes are enabled or disabled for the target picture.

13 . The method according to claim 7 , wherein the second plurality of sequence level flags comprises a first sequence level flag indicating whether a prediction refinement with optical flow (PROF) mode is enabled for the video sequence, and the method further comprises:

encoding a second sequence level flag indicating whether an affine mode is enabled for the video sequence; and

in response to the affine mode being enabled for the video sequence, encoding the first sequence level flag, or

in response to the affine mode being disabled for the video sequence, skipping the encoding of the first sequence level flag.

14 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a bitstream of a video, the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium being part of a computing device configured to execute a set of instructions to cause the computing device to decode the bitstream according to operations comprising:

determining whether a first plurality of sequence level flags are present in the bitstream, based on a second plurality of sequence level flags, respectively;

determining whether one or more picture level flags are present in the bitstream, based on the first plurality of sequence level flags, respectively; and

enabling or disabling one or more coding modes for a target picture based on the one or more picture level flags, respectively.

15 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 14 , wherein the second plurality of sequence level flags comprises a first sequence level flag indicating whether a coding mode is enabled for a video sequence, the one or more picture level flags comprise a picture level flag indicating whether the coding mode is enabled for the target picture, the first plurality of sequence level flags comprises a second sequence level flag indicating whether the picture level flag is present, and the operations further comprise:

in response to the first sequence level flag indicating the coding mode is enabled for the video sequence, decoding a value of the second sequence level flag;

in response to the value of the second sequence level flag indicating the picture level flag is present, decoding a value of the picture level flag; and

in response to the value of the picture level flag indicating the coding mode is disabled for the targe picture, disabling the coding mode for the target picture; and

in response to the first sequence level flag indicating the coding mode is disabled for the video sequence, determining the second sequence level flag is not present; and

disabling the coding mode for a video sequence.

16 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 15 , wherein the one or more coding modes comprises at least one of:

a prediction refinement with optical flow (PROF) mode, a bi-directional optical flow (BDOF) mode, or a decoder side motion vector refinement (DMVR) mode.

17 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 15 , wherein the first plurality of sequence level flags and the second plurality of sequence level flags are present in a Sequence Parameter Set (SPS) of the bitstream.

18 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 15 , wherein:

the one or more picture level flags are present in a picture header; and the target picture refers to the picture header.

19 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 14 , wherein the second plurality of sequence level flags comprises a first sequence level flag associated with a prediction refinement with optical flow (PROF) mode, and the operations further comprise:

determining, based on a second sequence level flag, whether an affine mode is enabled for a video sequence; and

in response to the affine mode being enabled, determining that the first sequence level flag is signaled in the bitstream and determining, based on the first sequence level flag, whether the PROF mode is enabled for the video sequence.

Assignments (3)

Continuity (5)

References Cited (47)