Generation of a disparity result with low latency

• US 20110210851A1
• Filed: 03/02/2011
• Published: 09/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/15/1997
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Tyzx, Inc. (Intel Corporation)
• Inventors: Von Herzen, Brian, Baker, Henry Harlyn, Alkire, Robert Dale, Woodfill, John Iselin
• Granted Patent: US 8,260,040 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/540
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 11/06 by comparison of two or more pictures of the same area
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/20 Processor architectures; Processor configuration, e.g. pipelining
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10012 Stereo images
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/593 from stereo images
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/24 Aligning, centring, orientation detection or correction of the image
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/757 Matching configurations of points or features
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/111 Transformation of image signals corresponding to virtual viewpoints, e.g. spatial image interpolation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/167 Synchronising or controlling image signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/189 Recording image signals; Reproducing recorded image signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/194 Transmission of image signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/239 using two 2D image sensors having a relative position equal to or related to the interocular distance H04N13/243 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/246 Calibration of cameras
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/296 Synchronisation thereof; Control thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2013/0081 Depth or disparity estimation from stereoscopic image signals

Abstract

A powerful, scaleable, and reconfigurable image processing system and method of processing data therein is described. This general purpose, reconfigurable engine with toroidal topology, distributed memory, and wide bandwidth I/O are capable of solving real applications at real-time speeds. The reconfigurable image processing system can be optimized to efficiently perform specialized computations, such as real-time video and audio processing. This reconfigurable image processing system provides high performance via high computational density, high memory bandwidth, and high I/O bandwidth. Generally, the reconfigurable image processing system and its control structure include a homogeneous array of 16 field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) and 16 static random access memories (SRAM) arranged in a partial torus configuration. The reconfigurable image processing system also includes a PCI bus interface chip, a clock control chip, and a datapath chip. It can be implemented in a single board. It receives data from its external environment, computes correspondence, and uses the results of the correspondence computations for various post-processing industrial applications. The reconfigurable image processing system determines correspondence by using non-parametric local transforms followed by correlation. These non-parametric local transforms include the census and rank transforms. Other embodiments involve a combination of correspondence, rectification, a left-right consistency check, and the application of an interest operator.

Claims

1. A method of generating disparity results comprising:

receiving a first element of a first set of image data and a first element of a second set of image data;

storing in a first memory the first element of the first set of image data and in a second memory the first element of the second set of image data; and

generating a disparity result for a first element before all elements of the first data set and the second data set have been received, wherein the disparity result is generated using a low latency image processing system that processes a plurality of elements of the first set of image data and a plurality of elements of the second set of image data.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising recognizing a hand gesture in order to control an application by tracking a location and an orientation of a user'"'"'s hand based at least in part on the disparity result.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the application includes providing instructions for a visual display.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising alerting a person entering a controlled zone to a danger or redirecting hazardous activity around the person based at least in part on the disparity result.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising detecting a position of one or more vehicles and/or one or more pedestrians for a traffic monitoring application based at least in part on the disparity result.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether an object associated with the first element is moving by calculating a motion associated with the object as the object appears in a first image and in a second image taken at different times.

7. A system for generating disparity results comprising:

An interface for receiving a first element of a first set of image data and a first element of a second set of image data;

A first memory for storing the first element of the first set of image data;

A second memory for storing the first element of the second set of image data; and

A processor for generating a disparity result for a first element before all elements of the first data set and the second data set have been received, wherein the disparity result is generated using a low latency image processing system that processes a plurality of elements of the first set of image data and a plurality of elements of the second set of image data.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the processor is further configured to recognize a hand gesture in order to control an application by tracking a location and an orientation of a user'"'"'s hand based at least in part on the disparity result.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the application includes providing instructions for a visual display.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the processor is further configured to alert a person entering a controlled zone to a danger or redirecting hazardous activity around the person based at least in part on the disparity result.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the processor is further configured to detect a position of is one or more vehicles and/or one or more pedestrians for a traffic monitoring application based at least in part on the disparity result.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the processor is further configured to determine whether an object associated with the first element is moving by calculating a motion associated with the object as the object appears in a first image and in a second image taken at different times.