Occlusions

Definition

Occlusion regions mark disparity discontinuity jumps, which can be used to improve stereo image encoding and transmission, segmentation, motion analysis, and object identification processes which must preserve object boundaries.

In early stereo image research, the segmentation into visible and occlusion regions is treated as a secondary process, postponed until matching is completed and smoothing is underway. Techniques are also proposed that indirectly address the occlusion problem by minimizing spurious mismatches resulting from occlusion regions and discontinuities. It has been pointed out that occlusion areas must be identified and incorporated into matching process. By using Bayesian reasoning, they derive an energy function based on pixel intensity as the matching feature. Dynamic programming is then used to find a minimal-energy solution.

Techniques based on dynamic programming have been used for the purpose of disparity estimation and simultaneous occlusion...