2011 Volume 23 Issue 4 Pages 528-540
In recent years, with the spread of digital cameras and development of the image processing technology, it has become possible to take a panoramic photograph easely. There is a rapidly growing need for panoramic images, for example, for recording the progress or products of construction works, because the panoramic image makes it possible to represent a wide range of scenery in one picture. However, it is unfavorable if the panoramic image contains a heavy machine or workers having nothing to do with the structure during the construction or at the completion in carrying out precise progress control or minute quality control. This study proposes a method to automatically generate a plane panoramic image by finding out the optimum image for the background out of plural digital images in time-series, and removing movable objects in the end, using the time series characteristics of the digital moving image shot freehand with a digital video camera. First, alignment is performed for the frame image obtained from a digital moving image. Next, STV (Spatio Temporal Volume) is generated from the frame image after calibration. Finally, a plane panoramic image is generated, from which the movable objects are removed, by estimating the picture elements in the background from EPI (Epipolar Plane Image) of STV. Finally, the validity of the proposed method and the usability of the plane panoramic images are verified.
