US Patent 10957044 Sphere pole projections for efficient compression of 360-degree video

Provided are systems and methods for processing 360-degree video data. In various implementations, a spherical representation of a 360-degree video frame can be segmented into a top region, a bottom region, and a middle region. The middle region can be mapped into one or more rectangular areas of an output video frame. The top region can be mapped into a first rectangular area of the output video frame using a mapping that converts a square to a circle, such that pixels in the circular top region are expanded to fill the first rectangular region. The bottom region can be mapped into a second rectangular area of the output video frame such that pixels in the circular bottom region are expanded to fill the second rectangular region.