Systems in accordance with embodiments of the invention can perform parallax detection and correction in images captured using array cameras. Due to the different viewpoints of the cameras, parallax results in variations in the position of objects within the captured images of the scene. Methods in accordance with embodiments of the invention provide an accurate account of the pixel disparity due to parallax between the different cameras in the array, so that appropriate scene-dependent geometric shifts can be applied to the pixels of the captured images when performing super-resolution processing. In a number of embodiments, generating depth estimates considers the similarity of pixels in multiple spectral channels. In certain embodiments, generating depth estimates involves generating a confidence map indicating the reliability of depth estimates.

A camera system for use in a mobile handheld computing and communication device with a front side with a display screen and a back side has two separate and independent cameras positioned on the back side of the device, wherein the cameras have a physical separation between them of substantially the same separation as between the eyes on a human face and, wherein the camera system creates a 3D-Like image of an object for storage and for viewing on a display screen.

An image processing apparatus processes a first image and a second image so as to detect a corresponding pixel in the second image which corresponds to a target pixel in the first image. The first image has a first parameter value, and the second image has a second parameter value different from the first parameter value. The first parameter value and the second parameter value are values of optical parameters of image capturing systems used to capture the first image and the second image. The image processing apparatus includes an area setter that sets a two-dimensional search area as a partial area in which the corresponding pixel is to be searched in the second image, based on a predetermined range in which each of the first and second parameter values can change, and a detector that detects the corresponding pixel by searching the two-dimensional search area.

A system and methods for a CODEC driving a real-time light field display for multi-dimensional video streaming, interactive gaming and other light field display applications is provided applying a layered scene decomposition strategy. Multi-dimensional scene data is divided into a plurality of data layers of increasing depths as the distance between a given layer and the display surface increases. Data layers which are sampled using an effective resolution function to determine a suitable sampling rate and rendered using hybrid rendering, such as perspective and oblique rendering, to encode light fields corresponding to each data layer. The resulting compressed, (layered) core representation of the multi-dimensional scene data is produced at predictable rates, reconstructed and merged at the light field display in real-time by applying view synthesis protocols, including edge adaptive interpolation, to reconstruct pixel arrays in stages (e.g. columns then rows) from reference elemental images.

Multiple clients (viewers) are allowed to share their VR spaces for communication with one another. A server-distributed stream including a video stream obtained by encoding a background image is received from a server. A client-transmitted stream including representative image meta information for displaying a representative image of another client is received from another client apparatus. The video stream is decoded to obtain the background image. The image data of the representative image is generated on the basis of the representative image meta information. Display image data is obtained by synthesizing the representative image on the background image.

On the basis of a first imaging signal corresponding to a first viewpoint and including white pixels and color component pixels and a second imaging signal corresponding to a second viewpoint different from the first viewpoint and including fewer white pixels than the first imaging signal to increase a rate of the color component pixels in the second imaging signal, a parallax detecting section detects a parallax of the second viewpoint with respect to the first viewpoint. A parallax compensating section performs parallax compensation for the imaging signal for the second viewpoint on the basis of the detected parallax to generate a parallax-compensated color difference signal for the first viewpoint. A fallback determining section and a signal selecting section selects a parallax-compensated second color difference signal or a color difference signal for the first viewpoint to obtain a high-sensitivity captured image while suppressing degradation of the image quality performance.

Methods and apparatus for collecting user feedback information from viewers of content are described. Feedback information is received from viewers of content. The feedback indicates, based on head tracking information in some embodiments, where users are looking in a simulated environment during different times of a content presentation, e.g., different frame times. The feedback information is used to prioritize different portions of an environment represented by the captured image content. Resolution allocation is performed based on the feedback information and the content re-encoded based on the resolution allocation. The resolution allocation may and normally does change as the priority of different portions of the environment change.

A method for rendering an image, called a final image, from at least one image acquired by a camera array, is provided. According to such a method, the determination of a color value for at least one pixel of the final image, called a current pixel, comprises: for at least one initial image acquired by the camera array, obtaining a color value of a pixel associated with said current pixel within said at least one initial image, acquiring at least one color value called a real color value; computing at least one interpolated color value, from said at least one real color value; determining the color value for said current pixel, as a function of said at least one real color value and said at least one interpolated color value.

An information processing device extracts an image of a marker from a photographed image, and obtains a position of a representative point of the marker in a three-dimensional space. Meanwhile, a position and an attitude corresponding to a time of photographing the image are estimated on the basis of an output value of a sensor included in a target object. A weight given to positional information of each marker is determined by using a target object model on the basis of the estimation, and positional information of the target object is calculated. Further, final positional information is obtained by synthesizing estimated positional information at a predetermined ratio, and the final positional information is output and fed back for a next estimation.

There are achieved an apparatus and a method for switching a color image-based composite image and a black-and-white image-based composite image at an optimum timing such that it is difficult for an observer to notice the switching of the images. A color image and a black-and-white image captured from different viewpoints are input to generate either of the following two types of composite images of (a) a color image-based composite image in which a position of the black-and-white image is adjusted to coincide with a position of the color image and (b) a black-and-white image-based composite image in which the position of the color image is adjusted to coincide with the position of the black-and-white image, by switching between the two types of composite images on the basis of a predetermined reference image switching threshold. In this configuration, a hysteresis is set as the reference image switching threshold, and the hysteresis is changed according to a situation. Thus, reference images can be switched at an optimum timing such that it is difficult for an observer to notice the switching of the reference images.