Patent ID: 11960639
Assignee: MINE ONE GMBH
Field: Audio-visual technology (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G  H | IPC G  H

Claim 0:
1. A video communication method that enables a user to view a remote scene in a manner that gives the user a visual impression of being present with respect to the remote scene, the method comprising:
capturing images of the remote scene, the capturing comprising utilizing at least two cameras each having a view of the remote scene;
executing a feature correspondence function by detecting common features between corresponding images captured by the respective cameras and measuring a relative distance in image space between the common features, to generate disparity values, wherein the feature correspondence function utilizes a disparity histogram-based method of integrating data and determining correspondence, and wherein the disparity histogram-based method comprises constructing at least two disparity histograms per a given set of pixels, for use in evaluating validity of disparity values;
generating a data representation, representative of the captured images and the corresponding disparity values;
reconstructing a synthetic view of the remote scene, based on the representation; and
displaying the synthetic view to the first user on a display screen used by the first user;
the capturing, detecting, generating, reconstructing and displaying being executed such that:
(a) the user is provided the visual impression of looking through his display screen as a physical window to the remote scene, and
(b) the user is provided an immersive visual experience of the remote scene;
wherein utilizing a disparity histogram-based method comprises constructing at least two disparity histograms indicating the relative probability of a given disparity value being correct for a given pixel;
wherein at least one of the disparity histograms functions as a Probability Density Function (PDF) of disparity for the given pixel, in which higher values indicate a higher probability of the corresponding disparity range being valid for the given pixel; and
wherein one axis of at least one of the disparity histograms indicates a given disparity range, and a second axis of the at least one disparity histogram indicates the number of pixels in a kernel surrounding the central pixel in question that are voting for the given disparity range.