Integration of Intensity Edge Information into the Reaction-diffusion Stereo Algorithm

The present paper proposes a visual integration algorithm that integrates intensity edge information into a stereo algorithm. The stereo algorithm assumes two constraints of continuity and uniqueness on disparity distribution. Since depth discontinuity around object boundaries does not satisfy the continuity constraint, it causes numerous errors in stereo disparity detection. In order to reduce the errors due to the depth discontinuity, we propose a new algorithm that integrates intensity edge information into the stereo algorithm. The stereo algorithm utilizes reaction-diffusion equations, in which diffusion coefficients control the continuity constraint. Thus, we introduce anisotropic diffusion fields into the reaction-diffusion equations; that is, we modulate the diffusion coefficients according to results of edge detection applied to image intensity distribution. We demonstrate how the proposed algorithm works around areas having depth discontinuity and confirm quantitative performance of the algorithm in comparison to other stereo algorithms.