Apparatus and method for generating an image data bitstream

1. An apparatus for generating an image data bitstream, the apparatus comprising:

a storage circuit,

wherein the storage circuit is arranged to store a set of image parts and associated depth data,

wherein the set of image parts and associated depth data represent a scene from different view poses;

a predictability processor circuit,

wherein the predictability processor circuit is arranged to generate at least one predictability measures for image parts of the set of image parts for view poses of the scene,

wherein a first predictability measure for a first image part for a first view pose is indicative of an estimate of a prediction quality for a prediction of at least part of an image,

wherein the part of an image is a viewport of the first view pose from a first subset of image parts of the set of image parts,

wherein the set of image parts do not include the first image part;

a selector circuit,

wherein the selector circuit is arranged to select a second subset of image parts of the set of image parts in response to the predictability measures,

wherein the selector circuit is arranged to select a plurality of image contiguous parts in response to a determination,

wherein the determination is that the plurality of contiguous image parts form a region having a prediction quality measure below a first threshold for an interior part of the regions and a prediction quality measure above a second threshold for a border part of the region; and

a bitstream generator circuit,

wherein the bitstream generator is arranged to generate the image bitstream,

wherein the image bitstream comprised image data and depth data from the first subset of image parts.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the predictability processor circuit is arranged to generate the first predictability measure as indicative of a prediction quality of a prediction of the first image part.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first subset of image parts includes only image parts included in the bitstream.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the selector circuit is arranged to select the second subset of image parts in response to a visibility measure for the set of image parts for a target view pose.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the image parts are pre-encoded image parts.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the set of image parts comprises faces of polyhedral projections of the scene for different view poses.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the image parts correspond to a predetermined partitioning of the images.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a partitioner circuit,

wherein the partitioner circuit is arranged to generate at least some image parts of the set of image parts in response to a partitioning of images,

wherein the partitioning of images is based on at least one of pixel values of the images and depth values for the images.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 ,

wherein at least some image parts of the set of image parts are image parts of a texture atlas image,

wherein the texture atlas image includes texture parts from mesh and texture representations of the scene.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the selector circuit is arranged to select image parts for the second subset of image parts in response to a target view pose received from a remote source.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least some image parts are overlapping.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the predictability processor circuit is arranged to generate the first predictability measure in response to the associated depth data for the first image part.

13. A method of generating an image data bitstream, the method comprising:

storing a set of image parts and associated depth data, wherein the set of image parts and associated depth data represents a scene from different view poses;

generating predictability measures for image parts of the set of image parts for view poses of the scene,

wherein a first predictability measure for a first image part for a first view pose is indicative of an estimate of a prediction quality for a prediction of at least part of an image,

wherein the part of an image is a viewport of the first view pose from a first subset of image parts of the set of image parts not including the first image part;

selecting a second subset of image parts of the set of image parts in response to the predictability measures,

wherein the selecting is arranged to select a plurality of image contiguous parts in response to a determination,

wherein the determination is that the plurality of contiguous image parts form a region having a prediction quality measure below a first threshold for an interior part of the regions and a prediction quality measure above a second threshold for a border part of the region; and

generating the image bitstream comprising image data and depth data from the first subset of image parts.

14. A computer program stored on a non-transitory medium, wherein the computer program when executed on a processor performs the method as claimed in claim 13 .

15. The method as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the generating the first predictability measure is indicative of a prediction quality of a prediction of the first image part.

16. The method as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the first subset of image parts includes only image parts included in the bitstream.

17. The method as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the selecting is arranged to select the second subset of image parts in response to a visibility measure for the set of image parts for a target view pose.

18. The method as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the image parts are pre-encoded image parts.

19. The method as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the set of image parts comprises faces of polyhedral projections of the scene for different view poses.