Patent ID: 7386192

Claim:
A pattern-matching processing method, comprising: an area generating step for generating a left area and a right area each having a given range from a left image and a right image photographed in stereo; a pixel interpolating step for generating an interpolation pixel between pixels of a plurality of pixels included respectively in the left area and the right area, wherein the pixel interpolating step includes performing a first pixel interpolation between two first adjacent pixels along a first direction in the left area and in the right area, and performing a second pixel interpolation between two second adjacent pixels along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, wherein the second pixel interpolation includes calculating an average value of plural pixels surrounding a position to be interpolated, wherein the plural pixels include both interpolated pixels and non-interpolated pixels, and wherein in calculating the average value, the interpolated pixels among the plural pixels surrounding the position to be interpolated are assigned a weight less than the weight given to the non-interpolated pixels; and a pattern matching step for performing pattern matching using the left area interpolated with the corresponding interpolation pixels and the right area interpolated with the corresponding interpolation pixels.