Integrating Multiresolution Image Acquisition and Coarse-to-fine Surface Reconstruction from Stereo

This paper is concerned with the problem of surface reconstruction from stereo images for large scenes having large depth ranges, where it is necessary to aim cameras in different directions and to fixate at different objects. This paper presents an approach to acquiring coarse structural information about the scene in the vicinity of the next fixation point during the current fixation, and utilizing this information for surface reconstruction in the vicinity of the next fixation point. The approach involves processing of peripheral, low resolution parts of the current images away from the image center, in addition to accurate surface estimation from the central, high resolution parts Containing the fixated object. The processing of the low resolution parts yields coarse surface estimates to be refined after the cameras have refixated, and the parts of the scene around the new fixation point (currently a t low resolution) are imaged more sharply. The coarse estimates are obtained from both stereo and focus. The choice as to which estimate is actually used depends on which one is determined to be more accurate in the given situation. Thus, the approach presented also involves dynamic integration of the use of stereo and focus as sources of depth information, in addition to integrating multiresolution image acquisition and their coarse-to-fine processing.