Use of monocular groupings and occlusion analysis in a hierarchical stereo system

A hierarchical stereo system is described that uses structural descriptions up to the surface level. Surface descriptions are computed from monocular images, by using a perceptual grouping technique. Occlusion can be a major problem in stereo analysis and is often not treated explicitly. An analysis is presented of occlusion effects in stereo, and it is shown how structural descriptions can be used to deal with them. Experimental results are given for scenes with curved objects and significant occlusions