Apparatus and method for estimating disparity using visibility energy model

A disparity estimation apparatus comprising:

• an energy calculator to calculate an energy related to stereo matching of each of a left image and a right image which constitute a stereo image;
• a map generator to generate a visibility map of each of the left image and the right image for determining an error in disparity between the left image and the right image using the calculated energy;
• an energy recalculator to recalculate the energy related to a region in the visibility map of each of the left image and the right image including a visibility error generated due to the error in disparity and to maintain the energy not related to the region including the visibility error;
• and
• a disparity determiner to perform local matching using the recalculated energy of each of the left image and the right image and to determine disparity from the local-matched stereo image.

A disparity estimation method comprising:

• calculating an energy related to stereo matching between a left image and a right image which constitute a stereo image;
• generating a visibility map for determining an error in disparity between the left image and the right image using the calculated energy;
• recalculating the energy related to a region in the visibility map including a visibility error generated due to the error in disparity and to maintain the energy not related to the region in the visibility map including the visibility error;
• and
• determining disparity from the stereo image using the recalculated energy of each of the left image and the right image.

A disparity estimation method comprising:

• calculating an energy related to stereo matching of each of a left image and a right image which constitute a stereo image;
• generating a visibility map of each of the left image and the right image for determining an error in disparity between the left image and the right image using the calculated energy;
• recalculating the energy of each of the left image and the right image related to a region in the visibility map of each of the left image and the right image including a visibility error generated due to the error in disparity and to maintain the energy of each of the left image and the right image not related to the region including the visibility error;
• and
• performing local matching using the recalculated energy of each of the left image and the right image and determining disparity from the local-matched stereo image.

A disparity estimation method comprising:

• calculating an energy related to stereo matching between a left image and a right image which constitute a stereo image;
• calculating an initial disparity of each of the left image and the right image;
• generating a visibility map of the left image and the right image using the initial disparity of each of the left image and the right image;
• determining an energy propagation direction in a region in the visibility map of the left image and the right image including the visibility error using the initial disparity of each of the left image and the right image;
• and
• determining representative energy in the region including the visibility error and performing energy propagation based on the representative energy to determine an energy;
• determining disparity from the stereo image using the determined energy of each of the left image and the right image.