US2011/00268009 A1 describes a method to compute an intermediate image at an intermediate view from a stereo image for viewing on a multiview display. The intermediate view refers to a view at relative position in the range of views comprising the left view and the right view. The method computes left disparity data and right disparity data from the stereo image, the stereo image comprising a left image and a right data. The method generates a left intermediate image for the intermediate view, using the left image and the left disparity data. The method generates a right intermediate image for the intermediate view, using the right image and the right disparity data. The final intermediate image is then generated by blending the left intermediate image and the right intermediate image.
A drawback of the prior art method is that it also generates visible image artifacts in the intermediate image, the most notable image artifacts being image detail blur and occlusion artifacts. Visibility of the artifacts varies with intermediate view and with content of the stereo image. Detail blur is typically most visible for a stereo image containing much detail and at views in between the left view and the right view. A cause of detail blur lies in imperfect mixing of the generated left intermediate image and the right intermediate image. Occlusion artifacts are most visible for a stereo image containing large depth transitions, most notably at lateral views, thus at the left of the left view and at the right of the right view. A cause of occlusion artifacts lies in imperfect extrapolation of the left image or of the right image.
In the prior art method, image quality is suboptimal as the intermediate image suffers from image artifacts that vary with the intermediate view and with the content of stereo image. Improvement of the image quality of the intermediate image is desired.
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