Depth map upsampling using joint edge-guided convolutional neural network for virtual view synthesizing

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In texture-plus-depth format of three-dimensional visual data, both texture and depth maps are required to synthesize a desired view via depth-image-based rendering. However, the depth maps captured or estimated always exist with low resolution compared to their corresponding texture images. We introduce a joint edge-guided convolutional neural network that upsamples the resolution of a depth map on the premise of synthesized view quality. The network takes the low-resolution depth map as an input using a joint edge feature extracted from the depth map and the registered texture image as a reference, and then produces a high-resolution depth map. We further use local constraints that preserve smooth regions and sharp edges so as to improve the quality of the depth map and synthesized view. Finally, a global looping optimization is performed with virtual view quality as guidance in the recovery process. We train our model using pairs of depth maps and texture images and then make tests on other depth maps and video sequences. The experimental results demonstrate that our scheme outperforms existing methods both in the quality of the depth maps and synthesized views.