Virtual Viewpoint Imaging With Synchronized Foreground And Background Streams
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for generating virtual viewpoint content using multiple viewpoint images fail to effectively associate foreground and background images captured at different time points, hindering accurate 3D shape estimation.
Innovation Solution
A system with synchronized imaging using a time server to synchronize multiple cameras, a front-end server for data reconstruction and format conversion, and a back-end server for rendering, allowing for the generation of virtual viewpoint images based on synchronized multiple viewpoint images.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If foreground image and background image are individually obtained in different time points, then the imaging process can be simplified and processing time reduced, but the process of estimating 3D shape cannot be performed accurately due to lack of time synchronization
Solution Approach 1:
A time synchronization mechanism acts as an intermediary between the foreground image acquisition system and background image acquisition system. This mediator ensures that images from different time points are correctly associated through time information, enabling accurate 3D shape estimation while maintaining independent processing of foreground and background images.
Solution Approach 2:
Time synchronization information is prepared and attached to each image data stream in advance. This preliminary action ensures that when foreground and background images are processed independently at different times, the time information is already in place to enable accurate association and 3D shape estimation without requiring complex real-time coordination.
2Manufacturing precision
If multiple cameras perform synchronous imaging from different viewpoints, then virtual viewpoint content can be generated with high quality, but the system complexity increases due to need for time synchronization and coordinate transformation
Solution Approach 1:
The imaging system is segmented into independent camera units, each capturing images from its own viewpoint. Time synchronization information is segmented and attached to each camera's image data independently. This segmentation allows each camera to operate autonomously while maintaining overall synchronization through the time information carried with each image stream.
Solution Approach 2:
Time synchronization information serves as an intermediary that mediates between the independent camera systems. This intermediary enables coordinate transformation and image association without requiring complex real-time communication or coordination between cameras, thus reducing overall system complexity while maintaining high image quality.
3Measurement precision
If foreground and background images are associated based on time information, then accurate 3D shape estimation becomes possible, but the data processing load increases due to time information handling and image association
Solution Approach 1:
Time synchronization information is prepared and attached to image data streams in advance during the imaging process. This preliminary action eliminates the need for complex real-time time matching and image association operations, reducing data processing complexity while enabling accurate 3D shape estimation through straightforward time-based association.
Data Source
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AI summary
An information processing apparatus for a system generates a virtual viewpoint image based on image data obtained by performing imaging from a plurality of directions using a plurality of cameras. The information processing apparatus includes an obtaining unit configured to obtain a foreground image based on an object region including a predetermined object in a captured image for generating a virtual viewpoint image and a background image based on a region different from the object region in the captured image, wherein the obtained foreground image and the obtained background image having different frame rates, and an output unit configured to output the foreground image and the background image which are obtained by the obtaining unit and which are associated with each other.