Patent Document ID: 8427488
Application ID: 13409213
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A parallax image generating apparatus comprising a CPU and a memory, the CPU configured to: receive an input image; derive a parallax vector corresponding to a first pixel of the input image from the input image and depth information associated with the first pixel; generate an intermediate image by assigning a pixel value of the first pixel to a pixel of a parallax image designated by the parallax vector; calculate first weights for respective pixels of the parallax image, such that the deeper a position of a second pixel of the input image indicated by the depth information, the greater a first weight for a pixel of the parallax image corresponding to the second pixel; set one or more candidate blocks near a shade-forming-area pixel of the intermediate image, to which pixel the generating unit assigns no pixels, then calculate sums obtained by multiplying, by respective first weights, pixel values of pixels included in the candidate block, and set a reference block among one or more candidate blocks in a decreasing order of the sums; search a target block similar to the reference block in the input image and/or the intermediate image; interpolate a pixel value of the shade-forming-area pixel based on a position of the shade-forming-area pixel relative to the target block; and obtain a parallax image having interpolated values.