• International Journal of Contents
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.9-16
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• 2014

Depth-image-based rendering is generally used in real-time 2D-to-3D conversion for 3DTV. However, inaccurate depth maps cause flickering issues between image frames in a video sequence, resulting in eye fatigue while viewing 3DTV. To resolve this flickering issue, we propose a new 2D-to-3D conversion scheme based on fast and robust depth-map generation from a 2D video sequence. The proposed depth-map generation algorithm divides an input video sequence into several cuts using a color histogram. The initial depth of each cut is assigned based on a hypothesized depth-gradient model. The initial depth map of the current frame is refined using color and motion information. Thereafter, the depth map of the next frame is updated using the difference image to reduce depth flickering. The experimental results confirm that the proposed scheme performs real-time 2D-to-3D conversions effectively and reduces human eye fatigue.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.38C no.5
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• pp.409-419
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• 2013

Kinect released by Microsoft in November 2010 is a motion sensing camera in xbox360 and gives depth and color images. However, Kinect camera also generates holes and noise around object boundaries in the obtained images because it uses infrared pattern. Also, boundary flickering phenomenon occurs. Therefore, we propose a real-time virtual-view video synthesis algorithm which results in a high-quality virtual view by solving these problems. In the proposed algorithm, holes around the boundary are filled by using the joint bilateral filter. Color image is converted into intensity image and then flickering pixels are searched by analyzing the variation of intensity and depth images. Finally, boundary flickering phenomenon can be reduced by converting values of flickering pixels into the maximum pixel value of a previous depth image and virtual views are generated by applying 3D warping technique. Holes existing on regions that are not part of occlusion region are also filled with a center pixel value of the highest reliability block after the final block reliability is calculated by using a block based gradient searching algorithm with block reliability. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm generated the virtual view image in real-time.

• Journal of Broadcast Engineering
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.414-420
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• 2015

The quality of depth images is important in the 3D video system to represent complete 3D contents. However, the original depth image from a depth camera has a low resolution and a flickering problem which shows vibrating depth values in terms of temporal meaning. This problem causes an uncomfortable feeling when we look 3D contents. In order to solve a low resolution problem, we employ 3D warping and a depth weighted joint bilateral filter. A temporal mean filter can be applied to solve the flickering problem while we encounter a residual spectrum problem in the depth image. Thus, after classifying foreground andbackground regions, we use an upsampled depth image for a foreground region and temporal mean image for background region.Test results shows that the proposed method generates a time consistent depth video with a high resolution.

• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.29-37
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• 1999

Murakami and Cavanagh (1998a,b, 1999) reported a jitter aftereffect in a static random noise after a period of adaptation to a patch of dynamic random noise. To a account for this phenomenon. they proposed the retinal slip caused by a small eye movements in the unadapted area, which is usually compensated by the visual system to stabilize images but is unsuppressed due to the adaptation. We tested this hypothesis with new experimental method and stimuli that were supposed to nullify or reduce the effect. However. the aftereffect was still observed even under these stimuls conditions More importantly, the perceived aftereffect was rather different from Murakami and Cavanagh's. After adaptation to a counterphase flickering cosine grating, the adjacent unadapted region seems to move away from the observer during the test period instead of jittering in the frontoparallel plane. We proposed a possible explanation for this new phenomenon noting the severe contrast reduction of the adapted region during flickering period. The aftereffect might be due to the flicker-inducing contrast reduction during adaptation that produces different depth planes for the adapted and unadapted region and its restoration during the test period.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.1023-1033
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• 2014

In this paper, performance improved hole-filling algorithm which includes the boundary noise removing pre-process that can be used for an arbitrary virtual view synthesis has been proposed. Boundary noise occurs due to the boundary mismatch between depth and texture images during the 3D warping process and it usually causes unusual defects in a generated virtual view. Common-hole is impossible to recover by using only a given original view as a reference and most of the conventional algorithms generate unnatural views that include constrained parts of the texture. To remove the boundary noise, we first find occlusion regions and expand these regions to the common-hole region in the synthesized view. Then, we fill the common-hole using the spiral weighted average algorithm and the gradient searching algorithm. The spiral weighted average algorithm keeps the boundary of each object well by using depth information and the gradient searching algorithm preserves the details. We tried to combine strong points of both the spiral weighted average algorithm and the gradient searching algorithm. We also tried to reduce the flickering defect that exists around the filled common-hole region by using a probability mask. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm performs much better than the conventional algorithms.

• Smart Media Journal
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.15-21
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• 2012

Depth information is necessary for various three dimensional contents generation. Depth acquisition techniques can be categorized broadly into two approaches: active, passive depth sensors depending on how to obtain depth information. In this paper, we take a look at several ways of depth acquirement. We present not only depth acquisition methods using discussed ways, but also hybrid methods which combine both approaches to compensate for drawbacks of each approach. Furthermore, we introduce several matching cost functions and post-processing techniques to enhance the temporal consistency and reduce flickering artifacts and discomforts of users caused by inaccurate depth estimation in 3D video.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.37 no.6A
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• pp.497-502
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• 2012

In this paper, we present an immersive videoconferencing system that enables gaze correction between users in the internet protocol TV (IPTV) environment. The proposed system synthesizes the gaze corrected images using the depth estimation and the virtual view synthesis algorithms as one of the most important techniques of 3D video system. The conventional processes, however, causes several problems, especially temporal inconsistency of a depth video. This problem leads to flickering artifacts discomforting viewers. Therefore, in order to reduce the temporal inconsistency problem, we exploit the joint bilateral filter which is extended to the temporal domain. In addition, we apply an outlier reduction operation in the temporal domain. From experimental results, we have verified that the proposed system is sufficient to generate the natural gaze-corrected image and realize immersive videoconferencing.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.34 no.10B
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• pp.1070-1075
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• 2009

In this paper, we propose new depth estimation and intermediate view synthesis algorithms for three-dimensional video generation. In order to improve temporal consistency of the depth map sequence, we add a temporal weighting function to the conventional matching function when we compute the matching cost for estimating the depth information. In addition, we propose a boundary noise removal method in the view synthesis operation. after finding boundary noise areas using the depth map, we replace them with corresponding texture information from the other reference image. Experimental results showed that the proposed algorithm improved temporal consistency of the depth sequence and reduced flickering artifacts in the virtual view. It also improved visual quality of the synthesized virtual views by removing the boundary noise.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.1016-1022
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• 2014

Kinect is a motion sensing camera released by Microsoft in November 2010 for the Xbox360 that is used to produce depth and color images. Because Kinect uses an infrared pattern, it generates holes and noises around an object's boundaries in the obtained images. The flickering phenomenon and unmatched edges also occur. In this paper, we propose a real time virtual-view video synthesis algorithm which results in a high quality virtual view by solving these problems stated above. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm performs much better than the conventional algorithms.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Broadcast Engineers Conference
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• 2012.11a
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• pp.25-28
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• 2012

본 논문에서는 키넥트(Kinect)에서 획득한 깊이 영상의 품질을 향상시키는 기법을 제안한다. 키넥트는 마이크로소프트사에서 출시한 카메라로 깊이 영상과 컬러 영상을 획득 할 수 있다. 하지만 적외선 패턴을 이용한 깊이 영상의 획득 방법의 한계로 인해 객체의 경계 주변으로 홀 및 잡음이 생긴다. 따라서 정확한 깊이 영상을 얻기 위해서는 깊이 영상의 품질 향상이 필수적이다. 일반적으로 깊이 영상의 홀을 채울 때, 인페인팅(inpainting) 또는 결합형 양방향 필터(joint bilateral filter) 등의 기법을 사용한다. 그러나 이러한 기법들의 경우 한 장의 영상만을 이용하기 때문에 객체 경계 주변의 흔들림 현상을 보정할 수 없다. 제안하는 기법에서는 먼저 수행속도가 빠른 가우시안 필터를 이용하여 경계 주변의 홀을 채운다. 이전 프레임의 컬러 영상을 그레이 영상으로 변환한 다음에 그레이 영상과 깊이 영상의 값의 변화를 분석하여 흔들림 화소를 찾아 이전 깊이 영상들 중 최대 화소 값으로 변환함으로써 깊이 영상의 경계 흔들림 현상을 줄일 수 있다. 실험을 통해 제안하는 기법이 기존의 방법들 보다 우수하다는 것을 확인하였다.