Single camera-based full depth map estimation using color shifting property of a multiple color-filter aperture

A multiple color-filter aperture (MCA) camera can provide depth information as well as color and intensity in the single-camera framework, where the MCA generates misalignment between color channels depending on the distance of a region-of-interest. In this paper, we present a single camera-based estimation of the full depth map using the color shifting property of the MCA. For estimating the color shifting vectors (CSVs) among red, green, and blue color channels, edges are extracted at each color channel. At the edge, we estimate CSVs using normalized cross correlation combined with color shifting mask map. A full depth map is then generated by depth interpolation using the matting Laplacian method from sparsely estimated CSVs at an edge location. Experimental results show that the proposed method can not only estimate the full depth map but also correct the misaligned color image to generate photorealistic color images using a single camera equipped with MCA.