A hardware device (20) for stereo image matching of a pair of images captured by a pair of cameras (12, 14) is disclosed. The device comprises an input or inputs for receiving the image pixel data of the pair of images; logic that is arranged to implement a Symmetric Dynamic Programming Stereo (SDPS) matching algorithm; memory for at least a portion of the algorithm data processing; and an output or outputs for the disparity map data. The SDPS matching algorithm is arranged to calculate an optimal depth profile for corresponding pairs of scan lines of the image pixel data and process the image pixel data to generate disparity map data (26). A real-time stereo image matching system for stereo image matching of a pair of images captured by a pair of cameras (12, 14) including the above described hardware device is disclosed. The system can be in the form of a computer expansion card (10) for running on a host computer (11). The computer expansion card comprises an external device interface (16) for receiving the image pixel data (13, 15) of the pair of images from the cameras and the above described hardware device (20). The hardware device communicates with the external device interface and the computer expansion card further comprises a host computer interface that is arranged to enable communication between the hardware device and the host computer. The hardware device is controllable by the host computer and is arranged to transfer the image pixel data and the disparity map data to the host computer.
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