Patent ID: 8548226

Claim:
A stereo image processing apparatus comprising: an image pickup unit configured to take a plurality of image data using a plurality of cameras; an image memory configured to store the plurality of image data taken by the image pickup unit; a calculated disparity storage unit configured to store disparity data obtained based on the plurality of image data; a matching area control unit configured to set a matching area for each pixel based on the disparity data read from the calculated disparity storage unit; a disparity calculating unit configured to perform matching on the image data based on the plurality of image data read from the image memory and the matching area for each pixel set by the matching area control unit to calculate disparity data; wherein the matching area control unit comprises: a filter processing unit configured to smooth the disparity data stored in the calculated disparity storage unit with a steep edge maintained; a disparity gradient calculating unit configured to calculate a disparity gradient based on the disparity data filtered by the filter processing unit; and a matching area calculating unit configured to set a matching, area for each pixel using the disparity gradient calculated by the disparity gradient calculating unit.