IP Library Granted Patent US 9,148,653
Granted Patent B2
US 9,148,653 · App. 13/883,141 · Granted Sep 29, 2015

Stereo image processing device and stereo image processing method

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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 9,148,653
App. No.
13/883,141
Granted
Sep 29, 2015
Kind
B2
Abstract

An image segmenting unit ( 401 ) in the stereo image processing device ( 100 ) extracts M (a natural number between 2 and N, inclusive) number of segmented target images wherein a first partial area within a target image has been segmented into N (a natural number of 2 or more), and also extracts M number of segmented reference images wherein a second partial area within a reference image has been segmented into N. An image concatenating unit ( 402 ) serially concatenates M data strings, each comprising a intensity value from each segmented target image, to form a first image data string and also serially concatenates M data strings, each comprising a intensity value from each segmented reference image, to form a second image data string. A filtering unit ( 403 ) and a peak position detection unit ( 104 ) calculate the disparity between the standard images and the reference images.

Claims (15)

1. A stereo image processing apparatus that computes a shift between a target image and a reference image that form stereo images, the stereo image processing apparatus comprising:

an extraction section that extracts M many divisional target images obtained by dividing a first partial region in the target image into N parts (where N is a natural number equal to or greater than 2, and M is a natural number equal to or greater than 2 but equal to or less than N), and extracts M many divisional reference images obtained by dividing a second partial region in the reference image corresponding to the first partial region in the target image into N parts;

a concatenating section that forms a first concatenated data sequence by concatenating, in series, M many data sequences, each of which comprises intensity values of a corresponding one of the divisional target images, and forms a second concatenated data sequence by concatenating, in series, M many data sequences, each of which comprises intensity values of a corresponding one of the divisional reference images;

a filtering section that computes inverted phase filter coefficients by reversing the data order of the first concatenated data sequence, and performs filtering on the second concatenated data sequence using the inverted phase filter coefficients; and

a computation section that computes the shift based on a peak position in a filtering result of the filtering section.

2. The stereo image processing apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a suppression section that suppresses, relative to high-frequency components, low-frequency components in an image signal corresponding to the first partial region and in an image signal corresponding to the second partial region, the suppression section being provided at an input stage for the extraction section.

3. The stereo image processing apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a control section that causes the processes of the extraction section, the concatenating section, the filtering section, and the computation section to be executed, only when amplitudes of high-frequency components in an image signal corresponding to the first partial region and in an image signal corresponding to the second partial region are equal to or greater than a threshold.

4. The stereo image processing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein a frequency value that divides frequency components into the low-frequency components and the high-frequency components is 1/(2T), where T is a width of the first partial region and the second partial region.

5. The stereo image processing apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising a computation section that computes a pixel-level shift between the target image and the reference image, wherein

the value of M and the value of N are set based on the computed pixel-level shift.

6. A stereo image processing method that computes a shift between a target image and a reference image that form stereo images, the stereo image processing method comprising:

extracting M many divisional target images obtained by dividing a first partial region in the target image into N parts (where N is a natural number equal to or greater than 2, and M is a natural number equal to or greater than 2 but equal to or less than N), and extracting M many divisional reference images obtained by dividing a second partial region in the reference image corresponding to the first partial region in the target image into N parts;

forming a first concatenated data sequence by concatenating, in series, M many data sequences, each of which comprises intensity values of a corresponding one of the divisional target images, and forming a second concatenated data sequence by concatenating, in series, M many data sequences, each of which comprises intensity values of a corresponding one of the divisional reference images;

computing inverted phase filter coefficients by reversing the data order of the first concatenated data sequence, and performing filtering on the second concatenated data sequence using the inverted phase filter coefficients; and

computing the shift based on a peak position in a result of the filtering.

Assignments (3)
CORRECTIVE ASSIGNMENT TO CORRECT THE ERRONEOUSLY FILED APPLICATION NUMBERS 13/384239, 13/498734, 14/116681 AND 14/301144 PREVIOUSLY RECORDED ON REEL 034194 FRAME 0143. ASSIGNOR(S) HEREBY CONFIRMS THE ASSIGNMENT. Recorded Dec 24, 2020
From: PANASONIC CORPORATION
To: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
Reel/Frame 056788/0362 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Nov 10, 2014
From: PANASONIC CORPORATION
To: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
Reel/Frame 034194/0143 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jul 16, 2013
From: NANRI, TAKUYA; MARUYA, KENSUKE; KUROKAWA, HISASHI
To: PANASONIC CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 030801/0084 →