Parallax calculating apparatus and parallax calculating method

A disparity calculating apparatus which calculates disparity values from a stereo image including a first image and a second image, the disparity calculating apparatus comprising:

• an image dividing unit configured to divide the first image into a plurality of segments having consecutive and similar pixel values;
• a reference point determining unit configured to set a plurality of reference points in the first image;
• a corresponding point detecting unit configured to (i) calculate, for each of the reference points, a corresponding point which is included in the second image and corresponds to the reference point, based on phase information of images obtained by performing Fourier transform on a first segment of the first image and second segments of the second image, (ii) calculate a disparity value using the reference point and the corresponding point, and (iii) calculate a reliability of the disparity value, the first segment having a center which is the reference point and having a search window size, and each of the second segments having a center which is a corresponding point candidate and having the search window size;
• and
• a disparity assigning unit configured to assign each of the segments which includes a corresponding one of the reference points the disparity value and the reliability calculated for the reference point by the corresponding point detecting unit.