Disney patents AI method to make 2D images look 3D
Disney has filed a patent for a computer method that turns flat images into 3D stereo pairs using machine learning. The system first guesses how deep each part of the image is, then uses a second set of models to fix blurry or unclear areas by deciding what belongs in the front and what is in the back.
In the filing’s own words
The present invention sets forth a technique for performing stereo conversion. This technique includes generating, using a first set of machine learning models, a predicted depth map for an input image based on one or more depth values associated with pixels within the input image, determining one or more uncertainty regions associated with the depth map, wherein each uncertainty region identifies a different area of the input image having one or more pixels that can be in multiple depth layers on the input image, processing, using a second set of machine learning models, the depth map and the one or more uncertainty regions to determine, for each pixel in one of the one or more uncertainty regions, a foreground context and a background context for that pixel based on the depth map, and generating an output image based on the foreground context and background context.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A computer-implemented method for performing stereo conversion, the computer-implemented method comprising: generating, using a first set of machine learning models, a depth map for an input image based on one or more depth values associated with pixels within the input image; determining one or more uncertainty regions associated with the depth map, wherein each uncertainty region identifies a different area of the input image having one or more pixels that can be in multiple depth layers on the input image; processing, using a second set of machine learning models, the depth map and the one or more uncertainty regions to determine, for each pixel in one of the one or more uncertainty regions, a foreground context and a background context for that pixel based on the depth map; and generating an output image based on the foreground context and background context for each pixel in the one or more uncertainty regions, wherein the output image forms a stereo pair with the input image.
Facts
- Company
- Disney (DISNEY ENTERPRISES, INC.)
- Official title
- MULTI-LAYER REPRESENTATIONS FOR ARTISTICALLY CONTROLLABLE STEREO CONVERSION
- Publication number
- US20260311353A1
- Application number
- 19173633
- Filed
- Apr 8, 2025
- Published
- Oct 8, 2026
- Inventors
- 6
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
G06T 7/50 Physics & computingG06T 3/18 Physics & computingG06T 5/50 Physics & computingG06T 5/77 Physics & computingG06T 2207/20221 Physics & computingMore from Disney in AI & software
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.