IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD, IMAGE PROCESSOR, INTEGRATED CIRCUIT, AND RECORDING MEDIUM

• US 20110222783A1
• Filed: 03/10/2011
• Published: 09/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sovereign Peak Ventures, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Sakaguchi, Satoshi, Matsunobu, Toru, Takita, Kenji
• Granted Patent: US 8,483,515 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/218
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/403 Edge-driven scaling; Edge-based scaling
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/4053 based on super-resolution, i.e. the output image resolution being higher than the sensor resolution

Abstract

An image processor generates an output image of a resolution higher than a resolution of an input image, using the input image. The image processor includes: an obtaining unit configured to obtain an edge strength of one of the input image and an image corresponding to the input image; a calculating unit configured to calculate, based on the edge strength, J that is a count of data items to be used for generating a synthesized image to be used in generating the output image, where J is an integer equal to or larger than 2; and a generating unit configured to generate the synthesized image by synthesizing J data items, and generate the output image using the synthesized image.

Claims

1. An image processing method of generating an output image of a resolution higher than a resolution of an input image, using the input image, said method comprising:

obtaining an edge strength of one of the input image and an image corresponding to the input image;

calculating, based on the edge strength, J that is a count of data items to be used for generating a synthesized image to be used in generating the output image, where J is an integer equal to or larger than 2; and

generating the synthesized image by synthesizing J data items, and generating the output image using the synthesized image.

2. The image processing method according to claim 1,

wherein in said calculating of J, a larger J is calculated as the edge strength is greater, and a smaller J is calculated as the edge strength is smaller.

3. The image processing method according to claim 1, further comprising:

enlarging the input image to generate an enlarged image; and

selecting, from K first training data items in a training database, L first training data items respectively corresponding to L second training data items similar to first feature data indicating a feature of a target block included in the enlarged image, the training database storing K pairs of training data items of the K first training data items and K second training data items that are respectively associated with the K first training data items, each of the first training data items being obtained from a high-frequency component of a training image, and each of the second training data items being obtained from at least a low-frequency component of the training image, where K is an integer equal to or larger than 2, and L satisfies 2≦

L≦

K,

wherein the data items synthesized in the synthesizing are the first training data items, and

in said generating, the synthesized image is generated by synthesizing J first training data items from among the L first training data items, and the output image is generated by adding the synthesized image to the enlarged image, where J satisfies 2≦

J≦

L.

4. The image processing method according to claim 3, further comprising

extracting the first feature data from the target block.

5. The image processing method according to claim 3,

wherein in said selecting, a similarity between the first feature data and each of the K second training data items is calculated, and the L first training data items which respectively correspond to the top L second training data items having higher similarities to the first feature data are selected.

6. The image processing method according to claim 3,

wherein the synthesized image is larger than the target block,

said image processing method further comprises

calculating, based on the edge strength, a region size that is a size of an overlap region obtained by synthesizing at least parts of a plurality of synthesized images including the synthesized image, the overlap region being equal to or smaller than the synthesized image and larger than the target block, and

in said generating, the synthesized image of the calculated region size among the synthesized images is added to the enlarged image.

7. The image processing method according to claim 6,

wherein in said calculating of a region size, a larger region size is calculated as the edge strength is greater.

8. The image processing method according to claim 6,

wherein in said generating, a weighted sum of the enlarged image and the synthesized image of the region size is calculated, based on the region size.

9. The image processing method according to claim 3,

wherein in said obtaining, the edge strength is obtained by calculating an edge strength of a block image that is a part of the input image, and

the target block is an image obtained by enlarging the block image.

10. The image processing method according to claim 3,

wherein in said obtaining, the edge strength is obtained by calculating an edge strength based on values obtained by a difference between the target block and each of the L first training data items.

11. The image processing method according to claim 3,

wherein the first feature data is an image of a medium-frequency component in the target block.

12. The image processing method according to claim 1,

wherein in said obtaining, the edge strength is obtained by calculating an edge strength of a block image that is a part of the input image, and

in said calculating of J, J that is a count of reference images necessary for generating the synthesized image is calculated based on the edge strength,

said image processing method further comprises

performing a position matching process using the target block in the input image and the J reference images, and

in said generating, the synthesized image is generated by synthesizing respective blocks of the J reference images whose positions match a position of the target block based on displacement amounts obtained by the position matching process, and the output image is generated using the synthesized image.

13. An image processor that generates an output image of a resolution higher than a resolution of an input image, using the input image, said apparatus comprising:

an obtaining unit configured to obtain an edge strength of one of the input image and an image corresponding to the input image;

a calculating unit configured to calculate, based on the edge strength, J that is a count of data items to be used for generating a synthesized image to be used in generating the output image, where J is an integer equal to or larger than 2; and

a generating unit configured to generate the synthesized image by synthesizing J data items, and generate the output image using the synthesized image.

14. An integrated circuit that generates an output image of a resolution higher than a resolution of an input image, using the input image, said integrated circuit comprising:

an obtaining unit configured to obtain an edge strength of one of the input image and an image corresponding to the input image;

a calculating unit configured to calculate, based on the edge strength, J that is a count of data items to be used for generating a synthesized image to be used in generating the output image, where J is an integer equal to or larger than 2; and

a generating unit configured to generate the synthesized image by synthesizing J data items, and generate the output image using the synthesized image.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium on which a program, for an image processor that generates an output image of a resolution higher than a resolution of an input image, using the input image, is stored, the program causing a computer to execute:

obtaining an edge strength of one of the input image and an image corresponding to the input image;

calculating, based on the edge strength, J that is a count of data items to be used for generating a synthesized image to be used in generating the output image, where J is an integer equal to or larger than 2; and

generating the synthesized image by synthesizing J data items, and generating the output image using the synthesized image.