Object-Aware Computational Integral Imaging for Improved Object Depth Estimation and Stereo Matching Training

Depth estimation is an active area of research in computer vision. When restricted to passive imaging, it is frequently approached as a stereo matching problem. Due to significant advancements in deep learning, stereo matching models have seen substantial development. Most stereo matching models utilize supervised learning, relying on disparity maps as ground truth, typically obtained via active imaging systems. In this work, we introduce a passive multi-view framework for generating ground-truth depth data for stereo matching models using Computational Integral Imaging (CII). Using CII, we extract object depths from multi-view images obtained via a passive camera array and use these depths as training targets, eliminating the need for active depth acquisition. To improve the robustness and accuracy of CII-based depth extraction, we propose an object-aware formulation that incorporates pretrained object segmentation into the depth extraction process. This enables more reliable depth estimation for objects with complex appearances and challenging scene contexts such as occlusions. Furthermore, we exploit the camera array as a multi-stereo acquisition system, generating diverse stereo pairs with varying baselines and viewing orientations. The resulting training data expose stereo matching models to a broader range of geometric configurations than conventional stereo datasets. Our results demonstrate that this approach enhances the generalization capabilities of stereo matching models.