Method and apparatus for processing images
OwnerSean Adkins, Keith Hanna +4inventors
InventorsSean Adkins, Keith Hanna, James R. Bergen, Rakesh Kumar, Harpreet Sawhney, Jeffrey Lubin
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for accurately computing parallax information as captured by imagery of a scene. The method computes the parallax information of each point in an image by computing the parallax within windows that are offset with respect to the point for which the parallax is being computed. Additionally, parallax computations are performed over multiple frames of imagery to ensure accuracy of the parallax computation and to facilitate correction of occluded imagery.
Claims24
A method for computing image flow information from a plurality of images comprising:
- aligning a plurality of images to form an aligned image;
- defining a plurality of windows, where each of said windows circumscribe an image region containing a point within said aligned image;
- offsetting at least one of said windows from said point;
- computing a flow estimation within each of said windows;
- identifying the flow estimation having the lowest error;
- and
- deeming said flow estimation associated with said lowest error as said flow information for said point.
A method for enhancing regions within a plurality of images comprising:
- aligning a plurality of images to form a plurality of aligned images;
- computing a flow estimation for each of said aligned images;
- identifying flow estimation having the lowest error;
- identifying, in response to said flow estimation, regions in a first aligned image;
- and
- enhancing said regions in said first aligned image with information from at least one other aligned image.
A method of determining image flow comprising the steps of:
- aligning a plurality of pairs of images in said plurality of images to form a plurality of aligned images;
- computing a flow estimation for each of said aligned images to produce a plurality of flow estimates;
- weighting the flow estimates;
- and
- compositing an image by combining the weighted flow estimates.
Apparatus for generating a enhancing an image comprising:
- a first imaging device for producing first images at a first resolution;
- a second imaging device for producing second images at a second resolution;
- an image processor coupled to said first and said second imaging devices, for using said second image to enhance said first image.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.