A theoretical study on an accurate reconstruction of multiview images based on the Viterbi algorithm

Abstract

Utilizing the Viterbi algorithm, a forward dynamic programming technique, and a compact disparity graph representation, reconstruction of intermediate views is made possible, including those objects whose views are occluded from various viewpoints. Based on the camera configuration for the capture of multiview images, and the one-to-one correspondence between a real world point and its multiview images, a number of geometric constraints are generated and taken advantaged of. In our proposal, the Viterbi algorithm is used to compute a dense disparity field for every pixel on the left extreme view and consistently for those pixels on the right extreme view. Thus even objects, present in one extreme view but not the other, can be accurately projected onto an intermediate frame. Furthermore, in the presence of obstructed-revealed-obstructed (ORO) objects, whose views are obstructed in both extreme views but revealed in some intermediate views, a third image composed of all ORO objects is incorporated. The large set of multiview images are then reduced to a maximum of three images along with their dense disparity maps, thus accounting for all objects viewable from a range of viewpoints. A simple view interpolation procedure is developed for accurate construction of all intermediate images, whether the originally captured ones or virtually added ones.