Patent ID: 8315426

Claim:
A method for handling occlusion in stereo images, wherein the stereo image includes occluded pixels and visible pixels comprising for each stereo image: determining, for each occluded pixel, an initial disparity value and a likelihood for each initial disparity value using an initial support function, an occlusion map and disparities of the visible pixels neighboring the occluded pixels in the stereo images, wherein the initial support function is a weighted sum of probabilities indicating a likelihood that the disparities of the visible pixels neighboring the occluded pixels are equal to the initial disparity value of the occluded pixel; and determining iteratively, for each occluded pixel, a final disparity value and a likelihood for each final disparity value using the initial disparity value, a final support function and a normalization function, wherein the final support function is a weighted sum of probabilities that indicate a likelihood that the initial disparity values of neighboring occluded pixels are equal to the final disparity value of the occluded pixels, wherein the steps are performed in a processor.