IP Library Granted Patent US 11,488,418
Granted Patent B2
US 11,488,418 · App. 17/135,697 · Granted Nov 1, 2022

Three-dimensional (3D) pose estimation from a monocular camera

Inventors: Umar Iqbal (San Jose, CA); Pavlo Molchanov (Mountain View, CA); Thomas Michael Breuel (Sparks, NV); Jan Kautz (Lexington, MA)
Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation
G06V40/28G06N3/08G06N5/046G06T7/579G06T7/73G06V40/107
View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,488,418
App. No.
17/135,697
Granted
Nov 1, 2022
Kind
B2
Abstract

Estimating a three-dimensional (3D) pose of an object, such as a hand or body (human, animal, robot, etc.), from a 2D image is necessary for human-computer interaction. A hand pose can be represented by a set of points in 3D space, called keypoints. Two coordinates (x,y) represent spatial displacement and a third coordinate represents a depth of every point with respect to the camera. A monocular camera is used to capture an image of the 3D pose, but does not capture depth information. A neural network architecture is configured to generate a depth value for each keypoint in the captured image, even when portions of the pose are occluded, or the orientation of the object is ambiguous. Generation of the depth values enables estimation of the 3D pose of the object.

Claims (30)

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving locations of keypoints for a three-dimensional (3D) object, wherein each location includes pixel coordinates and a normalized depth value, the pixel coordinates corresponding to pixels within a two-dimensional (2D) image of the 3D object, the 2D image associated with camera attributes and the normalized depth values corresponding to normalized relative depth values of each one of the keypoints with respect to a reference keypoint;

computing a depth of the reference keypoint with respect to a camera based on the locations and the camera attributes; and

computing a scale normalized 3D pose of the 3D object based on the locations, the depth of the reference keypoint and the camera attributes.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving a scale factor corresponding to the 3D object.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , further comprising generating, according to the scale factor, an absolute 3D pose of the 3D object from the scale normalized 3D pose.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein the scale factor is estimated and corresponds to a component of the 3D object.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein the scale factor is measured and corresponds to a component of the 3D object.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein the scale factor is a distance between two vertices or two keypoints of the 3D object.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the normalized depth values are computed relative to a reference keypoint.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , wherein computing the scale normalized 3D pose is based on a depth of the reference keypoint that is calculated using the locations.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the normalized depth values are invariant for changes in a scale of the 3D object.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the normalized depth values are invariant for changes in a translation of the 3D object.

11. A system, comprising:

a processor configured to:

receive locations of keypoints for a three-dimensional (3D) object, wherein each location includes pixel coordinates and a normalized depth value, the pixel coordinates corresponding to pixels within a two-dimensional (2D) image of the 3D object, the 2D image associated with camera attributes and the normalized depth values corresponding to normalized relative depth values of each one of the keypoints with respect to a reference keypoint;

compute a depth of the reference keypoint with respect to a camera based on the locations and the camera attributes; and

compute a scale normalized 3D pose of the 3D object based on the locations, the depth of the reference keypoint and the camera attributes.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the processor is further configured to receive a scale factor corresponding to the 3D object.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the processor is further configured to generate, according to the scale factor, an absolute 3D pose of the 3D object from the scale normalized 3D pose.

14. The system of claim 12 , wherein the scale factor is estimated and corresponds to a component of the 3D object.

15. The system of claim 12 , wherein the scale factor is a distance between two vertices or two keypoints of the 3D object.

16. The system of claim 11 , wherein the normalized depth values are computed relative to a reference keypoint.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein computing the scale normalized 3D pose is based on a depth of the reference keypoint that is calculated using the locations.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

receiving locations of keypoints for a three-dimensional (3D) object, wherein each location includes pixel coordinates and a normalized depth value, the pixel coordinates corresponding to pixels within a two-dimensional (2D) image of the 3D object, the 2D image associated with camera attributes and the normalized depth values corresponding to normalized relative depth values of each one of the keypoints with respect to a reference keypoint;

computing a depth of the reference keypoint with respect to a camera based on the locations and the camera attributes; and

computing a scale normalized 3D pose of the 3D object based on the locations, the depth of the reference keypoint and the camera attributes.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 18 , further comprising receiving a constant scale factor corresponding to the 3D object.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 19 , further comprising generating, according to a scale factor, an absolute 3D pose of the 3D object from the scale normalized 3D pose.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 28, 2020
From: IQBAL, UMAR; MOLCHANOV, PAVLO; BREUEL, THOMAS MICHAEL; KAUTZ, JAN
To: NVIDIA CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 054758/0767 →
Continuity (3)
Continuation 16290643 · Mar 1, 2019
Provisional Application 62641510 · Mar 12, 2018
Related Publication 20210117661A1 · Apr 22, 2021
Cited By (1)
US 12,728,887