IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS

• US 20120069009A1
• Filed: 09/16/2011
• Published: 03/22/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: SHIMOYAMA, Kenichi, MITA, Takeshi, IDA, Takashi, MISHIMA, Nao
• Granted Patent: US 9,053,575 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/419
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/205 Image-based rendering
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/261 with monoscopic-to-stereoscopic image conversion

Abstract

A detecting unit detects an object in an input image. A depth map generating unit selects a depth template corresponding to a type of the object and places a selected depth template on a depth map in accordance with a position of the object to generate the depth map having a depth value for each pixel. A correcting unit calculates a weight of at least one interested pixel and a weight of a peripheral pixel based on a relationship between pixel values to the interested pixel and the peripheral pixel and corrects the depth value of the interested pixel based on a weighted sum of the respective depth values corresponding to the interested pixel and the peripheral pixel. An image generating unit generates parallax images based on the corrected depth map and the input image.

Claims

1. An image processing apparatus comprising:

a detecting unit configured to detect an object in an input image including pixel values of each pixel;

a depth map generating unit configured to select, from at least one depth template defining a depth value of a pixel, a depth template corresponding to a type of the object and place a selected depth template on a depth map in accordance with a position of the object to generate the depth map having a depth value for each pixel of the input image;

a correcting unit configured to calculate a weight of at least one interested pixel and a weight of a peripheral pixel in the depth map based on a relationship between respective pixel values corresponding to the interested pixel and the peripheral pixel and correct the depth value of the interested pixel based on a weighted sum of respective depth values of the interested pixel and the peripheral pixel; and

an image generating unit configured to generate a plurality of parallax images based on the depth map corrected by the correcting unit and the input image.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the detecting unit detects at least one of a size and an orientation of the object, and

the depth map generating unit modifies the selected depth template based on at least one of the size and the orientation of the object and places the modified depth template on the depth map.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

the correcting unit calculates a heavier weight for the peripheral pixel as a difference between respective pixel values of the corresponding interested pixel and the corresponding peripheral pixel becomes smaller.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

when a difference between respective pixel values of the corresponding to the interested pixel and the peripheral pixel is greater than a threshold value, the correcting unit assigns 0 to the weight of the peripheral pixel and increases the weight of the interested pixel.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the correcting unit

determines a median value among pixel values corresponding to the interested pixel and the peripheral pixel, assigns the weight of 0 to a pixel associated with a pixel value that does not match the median value out of the peripheral pixel and the interested pixel, and

calculates an average of the depth value of a pixel associated with a pixel value that matches the median value out of the peripheral pixel and the interested pixel and corrects the depth value of the interested pixel to the average.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a depth map combining unit configured to combine the corrected depth map and a given depth map, wherein

the image generating unit generates the parallax images by using a combined depth map.

7. An apparatus comprising:

a detecting unit configured to detect an object in an input image including pixel values of each pixel;

a disparity map generating unit configured to select, from at least one disparity template defining a disparity value of a pixel, a disparity template corresponding to a type of the object and place a selected disparity template on a disparity map in accordance with a position of the object to generate the disparity map having a disparity value for each pixel of the input image;

a correcting unit configured to calculate a weight of at least one interested pixel and a weight of a peripheral pixel in the disparity map based on a relationship between respective pixel values corresponding to the interested pixel and the peripheral pixel and correct the disparity value of the interested pixel based on a weighted sum of respective disparity values corresponding to the interested pixel and the peripheral pixel; and

an image generating unit configured to generate a plurality of parallax images based on the disparity map corrected by the correcting unit and the input image.