System and method for streaming visible portions of volumetric video

Abstract

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a device having a processing system including a processor; and a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising predicting a viewpoint within a volumetric video based on a movement input provided by a viewer, resulting in a predicted viewpoint at a future time, retrieving a cell occupancy bitmap for a point cloud of the volumetric video for the future time, determining visible cells based on the cell occupancy bitmap and the predicted viewpoint, where the visible cells are not obscured by points in other cells, and retrieving points of the point cloud that are within the visible cells prior to the future time.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A device, comprising:
 a processing system including a processor; and   a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:   determining a viewpoint relating to video content based on a movement input associated with a viewer, resulting in a determined viewpoint;   retrieving data for a point cloud of the video content, wherein the point cloud is divided into a plurality of three-dimensional portions such that, for the determined viewpoint, particular points in a first portion of the plurality of three-dimensional portions obscure a second portion of the plurality of three-dimensional portions;   determining visible portions of the plurality of three-dimensional portions based on the data and the determined viewpoint, wherein the visible portions exclude the second portion; and   causing points of the point cloud that are within the visible portions to be presented.   
     
     
         2 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the movement input comprises six degrees of freedom, and wherein the processing system comprises a plurality of processors operating in a distributed computing environment. 
     
     
         3 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise selecting a machine learning algorithm to determine the viewpoint, and wherein the determining the viewpoint is performed using the machine learning algorithm. 
     
     
         4 . The device of  claim 3 , wherein the machine learning algorithm is a linear regression, a ridge regression, or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         5 . The device of  claim 3 , wherein the machine learning algorithm is a deep learning scheme. 
     
     
         6 . The device of  claim 5 , wherein the deep learning scheme is a Long Short Term Memory. 
     
     
         7 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise decompressing the data. 
     
     
         8 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise causing additional points of the point cloud that are within additional portions of the plurality of three-dimensional portions to be presented. 
     
     
         9 . The device of  claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise merging the additional portions with the visible portions. 
     
     
         10 . The device of  claim 9 , wherein the operations further comprise retrieving a base layer for the additional portions. 
     
     
         11 . The device of  claim 10 , wherein the operations further comprise retrieving enhancement layers for the additional portions responsive to available network bandwidth being sufficient. 
     
     
         12 . A non-transitory, machine-readable medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system including a processor, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:
 identifying a viewpoint relating to a video based on movement of a user, resulting in an identified viewpoint;   obtaining information for a point cloud of the video, wherein the point cloud is segmented into three-dimensional portions such that, for the identified viewpoint, particular points in a first portion of the three-dimensional portions block a second portion of the three-dimensional portions;   identifying visible portions of the three-dimensional portions according to the information and the identified viewpoint, wherein the visible portions do not include the second portion; and   rendering points of the point cloud that are within the visible portions.   
     
     
         13 . The non-transitory, machine-readable medium of  claim 12 , wherein the processing system comprises a plurality of processors operating in a distributed computing environment. 
     
     
         14 . The non-transitory, machine-readable medium of  claim 12 , wherein the operations further comprise compressing the information. 
     
     
         15 . The non-transitory, machine-readable medium of  claim 12 , wherein the operations further comprise obtaining additional portions of the three-dimensional portions. 
     
     
         16 . The non-transitory, machine-readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein the operations further comprise obtaining a base layer for the additional portions. 
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory, machine-readable medium of  claim 16 , wherein the operations further comprise obtaining enhancement layers for the additional portions responsive to available network bandwidth being sufficient. 
     
     
         18 . A method, comprising:
 determining, by a processing system including a processor, a viewpoint relating to a volumetric video based on movements associated with a viewer, resulting in a determined viewpoint;   obtaining, by the processing system, bitmap information for a point cloud of the volumetric video, wherein the point cloud is divided into three-dimensional portions such that, for the determined viewpoint, particular points in a first portion of the three-dimensional portions obscure a second portion of the three-dimensional portions;   determining, by the processing system, visible portions of the three-dimensional portions based on the bitmap information and the determined viewpoint, wherein the visible portions exclude the second portion; and   displaying, by the processing system, points of the point cloud that are within the visible portions.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the movements comprise six degrees of freedom. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 18 , further comprising decompressing the bitmap information.