Compression of light fields

Light field imaging is a three-dimensional visual model providing a richer acquisition of the real world. In contrast to traditional cameras, which collect all light falling on the sensor and discard directional information of incoming light rays, light fields capture light information for each spatial position coming from any angular direction. Whereas this new imaging model expands the frontiers of immersiveness and quality of experience, it generates enormous amounts of data. The great demand for storage and bandwidth resources has motivated a considerable deal of research on light field coding, which recently culminated with the development of a standard, called JPEG Pleno. This chapter will present an overview of light field coding technologies, describe the methodology behind coding solutions proposed by JPEG Pleno, and compare some of the most efficient solutions.