Apparatus and method for smoothing images
First Claim
Patent Images
1. Apparatus for one-directional time domain smoothing of a current image which was preceded by a sequence of images, the apparatus comprising:
- apparatus for computing a difference function between the raw value of an individual pixel of the current image and a smoothed preceding image value corresponding to at least one pixels of at least one preceding image; and
apparatus for generating a smoothed pixel value for the individual pixel of the current image by computing a weighted sum of the smoothed preceding image value and of the raw value of the individual pixel of the current image wherein the weights are a function of said difference function and of at least one characteristic of at least a portion of the current image other than the difference between the individual pixel value and at least one pixels of at least one preceding image.
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Abstract
Apparatus for image noise reduction which employs an adaptive, acuity-preserving, multi-directional and multi dimensional smoothing method. The method and apparatus of the present invention are applicable, inter alia, for (a) adaptive spatial noise reduction in still images, (b) adaptive temporal noise reduction in time changing image sequences, and (c) adaptive spatio-temporal noise reduction by combining the first two approaches (a) and (b).
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Citations
32 Claims
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1. Apparatus for one-directional time domain smoothing of a current image which was preceded by a sequence of images, the apparatus comprising:
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apparatus for computing a difference function between the raw value of an individual pixel of the current image and a smoothed preceding image value corresponding to at least one pixels of at least one preceding image; and apparatus for generating a smoothed pixel value for the individual pixel of the current image by computing a weighted sum of the smoothed preceding image value and of the raw value of the individual pixel of the current image wherein the weights are a function of said difference function and of at least one characteristic of at least a portion of the current image other than the difference between the individual pixel value and at least one pixels of at least one preceding image.
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2. A method for one-directional time domain smoothing of a current image which was preceded by a sequence of images, the method comprising:
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computing a difference function between the raw value of an individual pixel of the current image and a smoothed preceding image value corresponding to at least one pixels of at least one preceding image; and generating a smoothed preceding image pixel value for the individual pixel of the current image by computing a weighted sum of the smoothed value and of the raw value of the individual pixel of the current image wherein the weights are a function of said difference function and of at least one characteristic of at least a portion of the current image other than the difference between the individual pixel value and at least one pixels of at least one preceding image. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method for acuity-preserving image smoothing comprising:
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proceeding along at least a portion of a first dimension of received image pixels in a first direction and recursively computing a first sequence of estimated pixel values from the received image pixels defined along the first direction; proceeding along at least a portion of the first dimension of received image pixels in a second direction and recursively computing a second sequence of estimated pixel values from the received image pixels defined along the second direction; and for at least one individual pixel along the first dimension, computing an improved estimated pixel value for the individual pixel based on a data dependent combination of at least estimated pixel values in the first and second sequences. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. Apparatus for acuity-preserving image smoothing comprising:
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a first-direction recursive pixel value estimator operative to proceed along at least a portion of a first dimension of received image pixels in a first direction and to recursively compute a first sequence of estimated pixel values from the received image pixels defined along the first direction; a second-direction recursive pixel value estimator operative to proceed along at least a portion of the first dimension of received image pixels in a second direction and to recursively compute a second sequence of estimated pixel values from the received image pixels defined along the second direction; and a data dependent pixel value estimator operative, for at least one individual pixel along the first dimension, to compute an improved estimated pixel value for the individual pixel based on a data dependent combination of at least estimated pixel values in the first and second sequences. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32)
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Specification