Object segmentation using stereo images

Object segmentation is one of the vital tasks in various three-dimensional applications. This paper presents a hybrid object segmentation algorithm to combine intensity segmentation and disparity segmentation in stereoscopic vision system. The disparity maps of the stereo images are firstly estimated by using a foreground-based disparity estimation method. Then the intensity stereo images and their corresponding disparity maps are separately segmented by using region-growing technique. The real segmentation mask can be obtained and the semantic object be extracted by a fusion processing on the intensity and disparity segments. Computer simulations indicate the reliable performance of the proposed algorithm for stereoscopic segmentation.