Color stereoscopic images requiring only one color image

Utilizing remote color stereoscopic scenes typically requires the acquisition, transmission, and processing of two color images. However, the amount of information transmitted and processed is large, compared to either monocular images or monochrome stereo images. Existing approaches to this challenge focus on compression and optimization. This paper introduces an innovative complementary approach to the presentation of a color stereoscopic scene, specialized for human perception. It relies on the hypothesis that a stereo pair consisting of one monochromatic image and one color image (a MIX stereo pair) will be perceived by a human observer as a 3-D color scene. Taking advantage of color redundancy, this presentation of a monochromatic-color pair allows for a drastic reduction in the required bandwidth, even before any compression method is employed. Herein we describe controlled psychophysical experiments on up to 15 subjects. These experiments tested both color and depth perception using various combinations of color and monochromatic images. The results show that subjects perceived 3-D color images even when they were presented with only one color image in a stereoscopic pair, with no depth perception degradation and only limited color degradation. This confirms the hypothesis and validates the new approach. (c) 2007 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.