System and method for depth map extraction using region-based filtering

A system for extracting depth information from at least two images comprising:

• means for acquiring a first image and a second image from a scene;
• a disparity estimator configured for estimating the disparity of at least one point in the first image with at least one corresponding point in the second image to generate a disparity map;
• a segmentation module configured for segmenting at least one of the first or second images into at least one region;
• a filter configured for filtering the disparity map in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction based on the segmented regions the filtering in the vertical direction configured to have a greater smoothing effect than filtering in the horizontal direction;
• and
• a depth map generator configured for converting the filtered disparity map into a depth map by inverting the estimated disparity for each of the at least one point of the disparity map.

A program storage device readable by a machine, storing a program of instructions executable by the machine, the program causing the machine to perform method steps for extracting depth information from at least two images, the method comprising:

• acquiring a first image and a second image from a scene;
• estimating the disparity of at least one point in the first image with at least one corresponding point in the second image to generate a disparity map;
• segmenting at least one of the first or second images into at least one region;
• filtering the disparity map in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction based on the segmented regions, the filtering in the vertical direction configured to have a greater smoothing effect than filtering in the horizontal direction;
• and
• converting the filtered disparity map into a depth map by inverting the estimated disparity for each of the at least one point of the disparity map.