Self-rectification of stereo camera

A method for self-rectification of a stereo camera, wherein:

• a) the stereo camera includes a first camera and a second camera,
• b) the method includes creating a plurality of image pairs from a plurality of first images taken by the first camera and a plurality of second images taken by the second camera, respectively, such that each image pair includes two images taken at essentially the same time by the first camera and the second camera, respectively,
• c) the method includes creating, for each image pair, a plurality of matching point pairs from corresponding points in the two images of each image pair, such that each matching point pair includes one point from the first image of the respective image pair and one point from the second image of the respective image pair, and
• d) for each matching point pair, a disparity is calculated such that a plurality of disparities is created for each image pair, and the resulting plurality of disparities is taken into account for said self-rectification, wherein:
• for each image pair, a disparity histogram is created from said plurality of disparities, and said self-rectification is based on this disparity histogram,
• in that, for each image pair, it is determined whether the corresponding disparity histogram includes a relevant peak at a negative disparity value, relevant peak being a peak having a relative magnitude higher than the relative magnitudes of other peaks and/or having an absolute magnitude above a certain magnitude threshold wherein also a relevant peak at a slightly positive disparity value is preferably interpreted as a peak at a negative disparity value, in that
• i. the method includes determining a pan value for each image pair, resulting in a plurality of determined pan values,
• ii. the method includes creating a plurality of corrected pan values from the plurality of determined pan values, preferably by correcting certain determined pan values and by not correcting the remaining determined pan values, and
• iii. the method includes an estimation of an overall pan angle from said plurality of corrected pan values, and
• in that if a relevant peak at a negative disparity value has been detected, the determined pan value of the corresponding image pair is corrected and/or if no relevant peak at a negative disparity value has been detected, the determined pan value of the corresponding image pair is not corrected.