A Fast Initialization Method for Edge-based Registration Using an Inclination Constraint

We propose a hybrid camera pose estimation method using an inclination sensor value and correspondence-free line segments. In this method, possible azimuths of the camera pose are hypothesized by a voting method under an inclination constraint. Then some camera positions for each possible azimuth are calculated based on the detected line segments that affirmatively voted for the azimuth. Finally, the most consistent one is selected as the camera pose out of the multiple sets of the camera positions and azimuths. Unlike many other tracking methods, our method does not use past information but rather estimates the camera pose using only present information. This feature is useful for an initialization measure of registration in augmented reality (AR) systems. This paper describes the details of the method and shows its effectiveness with experiments in which the method is actually used in an AR application.