Generation of an omnidirectional video without invisible areas using image inpainting

Abstract

Omnidirectional cameras usually cannot capture the entire direction of view due to a blind side. Thus, such an invisible part decreases realistic sensation in a telepresence system. In this study, an omnidirectional video without invisible areas is generated by filling in the missing region using an image inpainting technique for highly realistic sensation in telepresence. This paper proposes a new method that successfully inpaints a missing region by compensating for the change in appearance of textures caused by the camera motion and determining a searching area for similar textures considering the camera motion and the shape of the scene around the missing region. In experiments, the effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated by inpainting missing regions in a real image sequence captured with an omnidirectional camera and generating an omnidirectional video without invisible areas. © Springer-Verlag 2010.