Parallax calculating apparatus

A parallax calculating apparatus comprising;

• a stereo camera for taking a stereo image of a region every time a predetermined time elapses;
• a processor;
• a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium;
• and
• a set of computer-executable instructions stored on said computer-readable storage medium that cause said processor to implement:
• calculating, on a basis of a reference image which is one of stereo images used as a reference, said stereo images being taken at a same computation timing by said stereo camera, a first parallax which is a parallax between corresponding pixels of said stereo images for all pixels in said reference image by using Semi Global Matching method;
• calculating, on a basis of said reference image, a second parallax which is a parallax between corresponding pixels of said stereo images for at least a part of pixels among pixels in said reference image by using Block Matching method;
• and
• calculating, based on said first parallax and said second parallax, a final parallax which is a finally calculated parallax of each of said pixels in said reference image;
• wherein,
• said processor is configured to;
• calculate said first parallax as said final parallax for a pixel for which only said first parallax has been calculated;
• and
• calculate a parallax where a decimal part of said first parallax is replaced with a decimal part of said second parallax as said final parallax for a pixel for which said first parallax and said second parallax have been calculated.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions, said instructions comprising;

• acquiring a set of images of a region every time a predetermined time elapses, said set of images being taken by a stereo camera;
• calculating, on a basis of a reference image which is one of said set of images used as a reference, said set of images being taken at a same computation timing by said stereo camera, a first parallax which is a parallax between corresponding pixels of said set of images for all pixels in said reference image by using Semi Global Matching method;
• calculating, on a basis of said reference image, a second parallax which is a parallax between corresponding pixels of said set of images for at least a part of pixels among pixels in said reference image by using Block Matching method;
• and
• calculating, based on said first parallax and said second parallax, a final parallax which is a finally calculated parallax of each of said pixels in said reference image;
• wherein,
• said calculating a final parallax is configured to;
• calculate said first parallax as said final parallax for a pixel for which only said first parallax has been calculated;
• and
• calculate a parallax where a decimal part of said first parallax is replaced with a decimal part of said second parallax as said final parallax for a pixel for which said first parallax and said second parallax have been calculated.