Patents Examined by Hose M Torres
  • Patent number: 9786062
    Abstract: The disclosure provides an approach for estimating depth in a scene. According to one aspect, regions where the depth estimation is expected to perform well may first be identified in full-resolution epipolar-plane images (EPIs) generated from a plurality of images of the scene. Depth estimates for EPI-pixels with high edge confidence are determined by testing a number of discrete depth hypotheses and picking depths that lead to highest color density of sampled EPI-pixels. The depth estimate may also be propagated throughout the EPIs. This process of depth estimation and propagation may be iterated until all EPI-pixels with high edge confidence have been processed, and all EPIs may also be processed in this manner. The EPIs are then iteratively downsampled to coarser resolutions, at which edge confidence for EPI-pixels not yet processed are determined, depth estimates of EPI-pixels with high edge confidence made, and depth estimates propagated throughout the EPIs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2017
    Assignees: Disney Enterprises, Inc., ETH Zurich (Eidgenoessische Technische Hochschule Zurich)
    Inventors: Alexander Sorkine-Hornung, Changil Kim, Henning Zimmer, Yael Pritch, Markus Gross