Patent ID: 8817069

Claim:
A method of filling occluded areas of a depth or disparity map estimated from at least two images and consisting of a matrix of pixels forming a set of lines and columns, each pixel of the map being associated with a depth or disparity value, called pixel value, and any pixel of an occluded area, called invalid pixel, being associated with a pixel value identifiable as being invalid, said method comprising: a step of processing each line of the map, pixel by pixel, in a predefined direction; and a step of assigning a pixel value to each invalid pixel Pi encountered on a current line, said pixel value being determined as a function of the values associated with the pixels in a predefined vicinity around a chosen pixel or being a predefined default value, comprising if there is a last valid pixel P 0 that precedes the invalid pixel Pi on the current line, and there are one or more valid pixels that follow the invalid pixel Pi on the current line, searching among said valid pixels that follow the invalid pixel Pi for a first valid pixel P 1 the value V(P 1 ) of which corresponds to a greater depth or a lesser disparity relative to the value V(P 0 ) of the last valid pixel P 0 , and if said pixel P 1 is found choosing said pixel P 1 as said chosen pixel; if there is a valid pixel P 0 and there are one or more said valid pixels that follow the invalid pixel Pi but there is no valid pixel P 1 , choosing the first valid pixel P 2 that follows the invalid pixel Pi as said chosen pixel, if there is no valid pixel P 0 but there are one or more said valid pixels that follow the invalid pixel Pi, choosing the first valid pixel P 2 that follows the invalid pixel Pi as said chosen pixel, if there is a valid pixel P 0 but there is no valid pixel P 2 , choosing said last valid pixel P 0 as said chosen pixel, and said assigned pixel value being a predefined default value Vd if there is no valid pixel P 0 and no valid pixel P 2 .