Preface

摘要

Three-dimensional depth data have turned out to be a key information source for solving a large number of challenging applications. In the past, substantial advances have been demonstrated in acquiring, processing, analyzing, and interpreting depth data. Today, depth data play a vital role in a variety of application areas including biometrics, cultural heritage applications, human action recognition, and 3DTV (e.g., depth-based image rendering). Through the recent development in consumer depth cameras, in particular the low-cost Kinect, a new era of depth data analysis emerged. Affordable depth cameras are changing the landscape of computer vision and related research fields, with profound impact far beyond consumer electronics. The primary objective of this book is to address the challenges in advanced depth acquisition techniques, processing and analyzing depth data, as well to consider novel and challenging applications.