Automatic system for production-grade stereo image enhancements
AssigneeThe United States of America As Represented By The Director Of The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
InventorRobert Nevins
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Abstract
Systems and methods for automatically optimizing pairs of stereo images are presented. Pixels in an image pair are reprojected from their raw format to a common pixel-space coordinate system. The image pair is masked to remove pixels that do not appear in both images. Each image undergoes a local enhancement process. The local enhancements are processed into a global enhancement for each image of the image pair. A factor is calculated to balance the left and right images with each other. A brightness factor for the image pair is calculated. The enhancements, including the balancing and brightness factors, are then mapped to their respective images.
Claims20
A method for enhancing stereo image pairs comprising:
- reprojecting a pair of images into a common coordinate system;
- after reprojecting, masking portions of either image that are not common to both images;
- after masking, calculating a plurality of local enhancement values for each image of the pair;
- converting the local enhancement values into global enhancement values for each image of the pair;
- balancing the two images of the pair;
- calculating at least one brightness adjustment for the image pair;
- and
- mapping the global enhancement, balancing, and brightness adjustment values to the images of the pair.
A method for enhancing a series of stereo image pairs comprising:
- reprojecting a plurality of pairs of images into a common coordinate system;
- and
- for each of the plurality of pairs of images;
- masking portions of either image that are not common to both images;
- after masking, calculating a plurality of local enhancement values for each image of the pair;
- converting the local enhancement values into global enhancement values for each image of the pair;
- balancing the two images of the pair;
- calculating at least one brightness adjustment for the image pair;
- and
- mapping the global enhancement, balancing, and brightness adjustment values to the images of the pair.
A method for enhancing a multispectral stereo image pair comprising:
- reprojecting each image of the pair of images into a common coordinate system;
- after reprojection, masking portions of either image that are not common to both images;
- dividing the masked image pair into a plurality of sub-image pairs, the division based at least in part on wavelength range;
- and
- for each sub-image pair:
- calculating a plurality of local enhancement values for each sub-image of the pair;
- converting the local enhancement values into global enhancement values for each sub-image of the pair;
- balancing the two sub-images of the pair;
- calculating at least one brightness adjustment for the sub-image pair;
- and
- mapping the global enhancement, balancing, and brightness adjustment values to the sub-images of the pair.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.