Patent ID: 8311089

Claim:
A method for making a computer to function as multi-view video compression coding device, using first picture of an object shot by first camera and second picture of an object shot by second camera, the first camera and the second camera being placed so that those optical axes become parallel to the Z-axis and are in relative position (tx, ty, 0) on the XY plane, said method comprising: first step of selecting an arbitrary point on the object, second step of deriving first picture coordinate (x, y) obtained by projecting the arbitrary point in the first picture, and second picture coordinate (x′, y′) obtained by projecting the arbitrary point in the second picture, third step of selecting first block including the arbitrary point for the first picture, fourth step of determining depth distance Z of the arbitrary point, and unit normal vector (nx, ny, nz) of the arbitrary point in the surface of the object, fifth step of moving the first block by disparity vector based on relative position (tx, ty, 0) and depth distance Z, assuming the first picture coordinate (x, y) as origin, transforming the first block by linear transformation matrix based on relative position (tx, ty, 0), depth distance Z, unit normal vector (nx, ny, nz) and the second picture coordinate (x′, y′), then, matching the first block to block of the second picture, sixth step of repeating said fourth step and said fifth step while changing the depth distance Z and the unit normal vector (nx, ny, nz) arbitrarily, searching for the second block of the second picture which is most similar to the first block of the moved and transformed first picture, and as a result, deriving depth distance Z and unit normal vector (nx, ny, nz), seventh step of deriving a prediction error between the moved and deformed first block of P-picture and the second block of the I-picture which is most similar to the first block, and then, coding the prediction error, and eighth step of adding the depth distance Z and the unit normal vector (nx, ny, nz) to coded data.