NONLINEAR DEPTH REMAPPING SYSTEM AND METHOD THEREOF

• US 20120293489A1
• Filed: 05/20/2011
• Published: 11/22/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: National Taiwan University (Government of The Republic of China), Himax Technologies Ltd. (Himax Technologies Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: National Taiwan University (Government of The Republic of China), Himax Technologies Ltd. (Himax Technologies Incorporated)
• Inventors: CHEN, LIANG-GEE, LI, CHUNG-TE, CHENG, CHAO-CHUNG, WU, CHIEN, LAI, YEN-CHIEH, HUANG, LING-HSIU
• Application Number:
  US13/112,854
• Publication Number:
  US 20120293489A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/419
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/20 Editing of 3D images, e.g. changing shapes or colours, aligning objects or positioning parts
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2219/2016 Rotation, translation, scaling
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/111 Transformation of image signals corresponding to virtual viewpoints, e.g. spatial image interpolation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/128 Adjusting depth or disparity
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/261 with monoscopic-to-stereoscopic image conversion

Abstract

A nonlinear depth remapping method includes the following steps: firstly, an initial depth map associated with at least one image is received, with the image comprising a plurality of pixels and the initial depth map carrying an initial depth value of each pixel. Then, an exponential function is utilized to adjust the initial depth values, so as to generate an adjusted depth map.

Claims

1. A nonlinear depth remapping system, comprising:

a depth generator configured to generate an initial depth map associated with at least one image, wherein the at least one image comprises a plurality of pixels and the initial depth map carries an initial depth value of each pixel; and

a depth adjusting unit configured to utilize an exponential function to adjust the initial depth values so as to generate an adjusted depth map.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the initial depth values is adjusted according to the difference between each of the initial depth values and an average depth value, and wherein the average depth value is average of the maximum and the minimum of the initial depth values.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the exponential function has an exponent which is adjusted according to the difference between each of the initial depth values and the average depth value.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a depth-image-based rendering (DIBR) unit configured to receive the adjusted depth map and the at least one image to accordingly generate an adjusted left image and an adjusted right image.

5. A nonlinear depth remapping method, comprising:

receiving an initial depth map associated with at least one image, wherein the at least one image comprises a plurality of pixels and the initial depth map carries an initial depth value of each pixel; and

utilizing an exponential function to adjust the initial depth values, so as to generate an adjusted depth map.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of utilizing the exponential function to adjust the initial depth values comprises:

calculating an average depth value as an average of the maximum and the minimum of the initial depth values; and

calculating an exponent of the exponential function, wherein the exponent is adjusted according to the difference between each of the initial depth values and the average depth value.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein:

the step of utilizing the exponential function to adjust the initial depth values further comprises putting each of the initial depth values and its corresponding exponent into the exponential function; and

each of the initial depth values is adjusted according to the difference between each of the initial depth values and an average depth value.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising receiving the adjusted depth map and the at least one image to accordingly generate an adjusted left image and an adjusted right image.