Systems and methods for combining multiple depth maps

A method of combining depth information from at least two depth maps to produce refined depth information comprising:

• a. providing at least two source depth maps of a scene from at least two points of view and forwarding the at least two source depth maps to a computer system configured to:
• b. receive the at least two source depth maps;
• c. select a target viewpoint in order to generate a target depth map;
• d. select at least a first selected location on the target depth map, and locate corresponding locations and depth values in at least one of the at least two source depth maps and by using zero or at least one of the corresponding depth values determine at least one refined depth value for the first selected location;
• e. repeat the process in step (d) for at least a substantial portion of locations in the target depth map to determine refined depth values for at least the substantial portion of locations in the target depth map;
• f. repeat steps (c), (d), and (e) to produce at least two refined target depth maps;
• g. repeat steps (b), (c), (d), (e), and (f) using the at least two refined target depth maps as the at least two source depth maps to further improve the at least two refined target depth maps;
• h. repeat step (g) until a termination condition is reached;
• and
• i. output the refined depth information representative of the scene.