Method and system for automatic 3-D image creation

A device, comprising:

• an image sensor;
• a user interface;
• and
• a controller, wherein the controller is configured to:
• capture an initial image using the image sensor when the device is at an initial position;
• determine a target displacement from the initial position;
• estimate a displacement of the device from the initial position;
• in response to determining that the estimated displacement corresponds to the target displacement, automatically capture a candidate image using the image sensor;
• in response to capturing the candidate image, automatically perform an acceptability analysis, wherein the acceptability analysis comprises analyzing the candidate image to determine whether the candidate image has acceptable image quality and comparing the candidate image to the initial image to determine whether the candidate image has acceptable similarity to the initial image;
• and
• in response to determining that the candidate image has acceptable image quality and has acceptability similarity to the initial image, automatically create a stereoscopic image based on the initial image and the candidate image.

A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored therein instructions executable by a computing device, the computing device including an image sensor and a user interface, to cause the computing device to perform functions comprising:

• capturing an initial image using the image sensor when the computing device is at an initial position;
• determining a target displacement from the initial position;
• estimating a displacement of the computing device from the initial position;
• in response to determining that the estimated displacement corresponds to the target displacement, automatically capturing a candidate image using the image sensor;
• in response to capturing the candidate image, automatically performing an acceptability analysis, wherein the acceptability analysis comprises analyzing the candidate image to determine whether the candidate image has acceptable image quality and comparing the candidate image to the initial image to determine whether the candidate image has acceptable similarity to the initial image;
• and
• in response to determining that the candidate image has acceptable image quality and has acceptability similarity to the initial image, automatically creating a stereoscopic image based on the initial image and the candidate image.