Computationally efficient noise reduction filter
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for reducing noise in a discrete pixel image, the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) shrinking an initial image by a given factor to produce a shrunken image;
(b) processing the shrunken image to reduce image noise by selectively processing one or more selected regions of the shrunken image and differentially processing one or more non-selected regions of the shrunken image such that a processed image results;
(c) expanding the processed image by the given factor to produce an expanded image; and
(d) blending one or more selected regions of the expanded image with one or more corresponding regions of the initial image.
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Abstract
A technique for reducing noise in pixel images includes shrinking initial image data, and processing the shrunken image with known segmentation-based filtering techniques which identify and differentially process structures within the image. After processing, the shrunken image is enlarged to the dimensions of the initial data, subsequently processed if necessary and the final image is displayed or analyzed. The resulting technique is versatile and provides greatly improved computational efficiency while maintaining image quality and robustness.
32 Citations
67 Claims
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1. A method for reducing noise in a discrete pixel image, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) shrinking an initial image by a given factor to produce a shrunken image;
(b) processing the shrunken image to reduce image noise by selectively processing one or more selected regions of the shrunken image and differentially processing one or more non-selected regions of the shrunken image such that a processed image results;
(c) expanding the processed image by the given factor to produce an expanded image; and
(d) blending one or more selected regions of the expanded image with one or more corresponding regions of the initial image. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method for reducing noise in a discrete pixel image, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) sub-sampling an initial image containing image data representative of pixels of a reconstructed image such that a shrunken image results and where the initial image is shrunk by a factor greater than one;
(b) identifying structural features from image data represented in the shrunken image;
(c) smoothing the structural features to enhance the dominant orientation of the structural features;
(d) smoothing non-structural region to enhance the homogenization of the non-structural region;
(e) sharpening the structural features to enhance the dominant orientation associated with the structural features;
(f) expanding the shrunken image by the factor such that an expanded image results which has the same dimensions as the initial image; and
(g) blending a fraction of the expanded image with image data from the first initial image. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A system for reducing noise in a discrete pixel image, the system comprising:
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an output device for producing a reconstructed image based upon processed image data; and
a signal processing circuit configured to provide processed image data by sub-sampling image data representative of pixels of an initial image to produce a shrunken image, identifying one or more selected regions of the shrunken image using one or more selection criteria, processing the selected regions and the non-selected regions in different manners to create a processed image, expanding the processed image to the same dimensions as the initial image, and blending a fraction of the expanded image data with the initial image data. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49)
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50. A system for reducing noise in a discrete pixel image, the system comprising:
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an output device for producing a reconstructed image based upon processed image data; and
a signal processing circuit configured to provide processed image data by sub-sampling image data representative of pixels of an initial image to produce a shrunken image, smoothing image data representative of pixels of the shrunken image, identifying one or more structural features from the smoothed image data, orientation smoothing the structural features, homogenization smoothing non-structural regions, orientation sharpening the structural features, expanding the shrunken image to the same dimensions as the initial image to form an expanded image, and blending of the initial image data into the expanded image data. - View Dependent Claims (51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67)
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Specification