Temporal enhancement of graph-based depth estimation method

Abstract

This paper presents the temporal enhancement of the graph-based depth estimation method, designed for multiview systems with arbitrarily located cameras. The primary goal of the proposed enhancement is to increase the quality of estimated depth maps and simultaneously decrease the time of estimation. The method consists of two stages: the temporal enhancement of segmentation required in used depth estimation method, and the exploitation of depth information from the previous frame in the energy function minimization. Performed experiments show that for all tested sequences the quality of estimated depth maps was increased. Even if only one cycle of optimization is used in proposed method, the quality is higher than for unmodified method, apart from number of cycles. Therefore, use of proposed enhancement allows estimating depth of better quality even with 40% reduction of estimation time.