IP Library Granted Patent US 8,977,037
Granted Patent B1
US 8,977,037 · App. 13/600,809 · Granted Mar 10, 2015

Methods and systems of creating a stereoscopic image

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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 8,977,037
App. No.
13/600,809
Granted
Mar 10, 2015
Kind
B1
Abstract

Disclosed herein are methods and systems for creating stereoscopic images. A left-eye view image for a stereoscopic image and an imperfect right-eye view image may be received. A smooth optical flow may be generated from the received image representing the left-eye view to the imperfect image representing the right-eye view to produce a first candidate right-eye view. Objects are identified in the imperfect image, and merged into the first candidate right-eye view image to create a right-eye view image. A stereoscopic image is created from the left-eye view image and right-eye view image.

Claims (40)

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

generating, with at least one processing device, a smooth optical flow from a first image to a second image, wherein the first image represents one of a left-eye view and a right-eye view, and the second image represents the other one of a left-eye view and a right-eye view, and wherein the second image is an imperfect image that has at least one of a feature point having distorted height, a discontinuity in depth, an object with distorted shape, or an object with distorted appearance;

producing a first candidate view from the smooth optical flow;

identifying objects in the second image;

merging the identified objects of the second image into the first candidate view;

creating a third image based on the merging; and

creating a target stereoscopic image from the first image and the third image.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first image represents a left-eye view of a target stereoscopic image, and wherein the second image is an imperfect image representing a right-eye view of the target stereoscopic image.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first image represents a right-eye view of a target stereoscopic image, and wherein the second image is an imperfect image representing a left-eye view of the target stereoscopic image.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of identifying objects in the second image is performed by a clustering algorithm.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the clustering algorithm is K-Means.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of merging the identified objects of the second image into the first image reduces artifacts and increases detail.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the smooth optical flow is generated by interpolating vectors between matching pixels in the first image and the second image.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising producing a first candidate view from the smooth optical flow using computer vision techniques.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising merging the identified objects of the second image into the first candidate view using Poisson image editing.

10. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium containing control logic stored thereon that, when executed by one or more processing devices, causes the one or more processing devices to:

generate a smooth optical flow from a first image to a second image, wherein the first image represents one of a left-eye view and a right-eye view, and the second image represents the other one of a left-eye view and a right-eye view, and wherein the second image is an imperfect image that has at least one of a feature point having distorted height, a discontinuity in depth, an object with distorted shape, or an object with distorted appearance;

produce a first candidate view from the smooth optical flow;

identify objects in the imperfect image;

merge the identified objects of the second image into the first candidate view;

create a third image based on the merging; and

create a target stereoscopic image from the first image and the second image.

11. The computer readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the first image represents a left-eye view of a target stereoscopic image, and wherein the second image is an imperfect image representing a right-eye view of the target stereoscopic image.

12. The computer readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the first image represents a right-eye view of a target stereoscopic image, and wherein the second image is an imperfect image representing a left-eye view of the target stereoscopic image.

13. The computer readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the control logic causes the one or more processing devices to identify objects in the second image by a clustering algorithm.

14. The computer readable storage medium of claim 13 wherein the clustering algorithm is K-Means.

15. The computer readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the smooth optical flow is generated by interpolating vectors between matching pixels in the first image and the second image.

16. The computer readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the control logic causes the one or more processing devices to produce a first candidate view from the smooth optical flow by computer vision techniques.

17. The computer readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the control logic causes the one or more processing devices to merge the identified objects of the second image into the first candidate view using Poisson image editing.

18. A system, comprising:

a receiver that receives a first and second image, wherein the first image represents one of a left-eye view and a right-eye view, and the second image represents the other one of a left-eye view and a right-eve view, and wherein the second image is an imperfect image that has at least one of a feature point having distorted height, a discontinuity in depth, an object with distorted shape, or an object with distorted appearance;

a smooth optical flow generator that generates a smooth optical flow from the first image to the second image;

a candidate image producer that produces a first candidate view from the smooth optical flow;

an object identifier that identifies objects in the second image;

an image creator that creates a third image by merging objects identified by the object identifier into the first candidate view; and

a stereoscopic image creator, implemented on at least on processing device, that creates a stereoscopic image from the first image and the third image.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the first image represents a left-eye view of a target stereoscopic image, and wherein the second image is an imperfect image representing a right-eye view of the target stereoscopic image.

20. The system of claim 18 , wherein the first image represents a right-eye view of a target stereoscopic image, and wherein the second image is an imperfect image representing a left-eye view of the target stereoscopic image.

21. The system of claim 18 , wherein the object identifier further identifies objects in the second image using K-Means clustering.

22. The system of claim 18 , wherein the image creator merges objects identified by the object identifier into the first candidate view using Poisson image editing.

Assignments (2)
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Oct 2, 2017
From: GOOGLE INC.
To: GOOGLE LLC
Reel/Frame 044334/0466 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Aug 31, 2012
From: FANG, HUI; YIN, MING
To: GOOGLE INC.
Reel/Frame 028882/0690 →