MPEG Z/Alpha and high-resolution MPEG

systems for the acquisition of depth maps, images with depth
information. Increased depth image processing puts forth the demand
for a standardized data format for the exchange of image data with depth
information, both still and animated. Software to convert acquired depth
data to new, standardized videoformats is required. This diploma
thesis sheds light on many issues regarding depth image processing.
Further, a software architecture fulfilling all of the mentioned
demands is presented. The UNIX encoder suite generates MPEG Z/Alpha, an
MPEG2 based video format. MPEG Z/Alpha contains beside MPEG2's standard
data streams one extra data stream that stores image depth information
(and transparency). The decoder suite, TexMPEG, is a C library for the
in-memory decompression of MPEG Z/Alpha. Much effort has been put into
video decoder parallelization, and TexMPEG is capable of decoding
multiple video streams, not only in parallel internally, but also with
inherent frame synchronization between parallely decoded MPEG videos.