Edge-preserving single depth image interpolation

Depth image upsampling is an important issue in three-dimensional (3D) applications. However, edge blurring artifacts are still challenging problems in depth image upsampling, resulting in jagged artifacts in synthesized views which produce unpleasant visual perception. In this paper, an edge-preserving single depth image interpolation (ESDI) method is proposed. Specifically, local planar hypothesis (LPH) assuming that depth in natural scene are clustered as local planar planes is first explored. Then finite candidates generation (FCG) is proposed to generate limited discrete values satisfied with LPH to interpolated pixels. At last, the optimal combination of candidates is formulated as an energy minimization problem with a constraint in gradient domain, solved by iterated conditional modes (ICM) algorithm. Experiments demonstrate that ESDI achieves high resolution (HR) depth image with clear and sharp edges, and produces synthesized views with desirable quality.