Jinbeum Jang, Sangwoo Park, Jieun Jo, and Joonki Paik. Depth map generation using a single image sensor with phase masks

Jinbeum Jang, Sangwoo Park, Jieun Jo, and Joonki Paik. 2016. 11 p.Conventional stereo matching systems generate a depth map using two or more digital imaging sensors. It is difficult to use the small camera system because of its high costs and bulky sizes. This paper presents a stereo-matching system using a single image sensor with phase masks for the phase difference auto-focusing to solve this problem. A novel pattern of phase mask array is proposed to acquire two pairs of stereo images simultaneously. Furthermore, the raw format sensor output generates a noise-invariant depth map. The proposed method consists of four steps to compute the depth map:(i) acquisition of stereo images using the proposed mask array,
(ii) variational segmentation using merging criteria to simplify the input image,
(iii) disparity map generation using the hierarchical block matching for disparity measurement,
(iv) image matting to fill holes to generate the dense depth map.The proposed system can be used in small digital cameras without additional lenses or sensors.