Method and system for forming a panoramic image of a scene having minimal aspect distortion
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method for forming a panoramic image of a scene from a sequence of input frames captured by a camera having an optical center that translates relative to the scene, said scene having at least two points at different distances from a path of said optical center, said method comprising:
- obtaining an optical flow between corresponding points in temporally different input frames;
using said optical flow to compute flow statistics for a plurality of different portions of each of at least some of said input frames;
using said optical flow to compute respective stitching costs between some of said portions and respective neighboring portions thereof;
identifying a sequence of selected portions and respective neighboring portions that minimizes a cost function that is a function of the flow statistics and the stitching costs, wherein at least one portion is identified by selecting a cut configured to minimize the cost function, wherein the cut is through a volume comprising the sequence of input frames, and wherein a border section of the at least one portion corresponds to a border section of a respective neighboring portion; and
stitching the selected portions and respective neighboring portions so as to form a panoramic image of the scene.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A panoramic image is generated from a sequence of input frames captured by a camera that translates relative to a scene having at least two points at different distances from the camera. A processor (13) is responsive to optical flow between corresponding points in temporally different input frames for computing flow statistics for at least portions of some of the input frames and for computing respective stitching costs between some of the portions and respective neighboring portions thereof. A selection unit (18) selects a sequence of portions and respective neighboring portions that minimizes a cost function that is a function of the flow statistics and stitching costs. A stitching unit (21) stitches the selected portions and respective neighboring portions so as to form a panoramic image of the scene, which may then be displayed or post-processed.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method for forming a panoramic image of a scene from a sequence of input frames captured by a camera having an optical center that translates relative to the scene, said scene having at least two points at different distances from a path of said optical center, said method comprising:
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obtaining an optical flow between corresponding points in temporally different input frames; using said optical flow to compute flow statistics for a plurality of different portions of each of at least some of said input frames; using said optical flow to compute respective stitching costs between some of said portions and respective neighboring portions thereof; identifying a sequence of selected portions and respective neighboring portions that minimizes a cost function that is a function of the flow statistics and the stitching costs, wherein at least one portion is identified by selecting a cut configured to minimize the cost function, wherein the cut is through a volume comprising the sequence of input frames, and wherein a border section of the at least one portion corresponds to a border section of a respective neighboring portion; and stitching the selected portions and respective neighboring portions so as to form a panoramic image of the scene. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A system for forming a panoramic image of a scene from a sequence of input frames captured by a camera having an optical center that translates relative to the scene, said scene having at least two points at different distances from a path of said optical center, said system comprising:
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a memory for storing an optical flow between corresponding points in temporally different input frames; a processor coupled to said memory and responsive to said optical flow for computing flow statistics for a plurality of different portions of each of at least some of said input frames and for computing respective stitching costs between some of said portions and respective neighboring portions thereof; a selection unit coupled to the processor for selecting a sequence of portions and respective neighboring portions that minimizes a cost function that is a function of the flow statistics and the stitching costs, wherein at least one portion is selected by computing a cut configured to minimize the cost function, wherein the cut is through a volume comprising the sequence of input frames, and wherein a border section of the at least one portion corresponds to a border section of a respective neighboring portion; and a stitching unit coupled to the selection unit for stitching the selected portions and respective neighboring portions so as to form a panoramic image of the scene. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification