Area based interpolation for image scaling
First Claim
1. A method for image scaling by area based interpolation, comprising the steps of:
- representing a section of an image as a function of a continuous variable;
taking the integral of a curve for each area of said section, where the size of each area is determined by the sampling size of a first sampling cell;
sampling said image at a first, low resolution with respect to said first sampling cell, wherein a pixel value is determined for each area of said section;
resampling said image at a second, higher resolution with respect to a second sampling cell that has a finer spacing than that of said first sampling cell; and
taking the integral of a curve for each area of said section, where the size of each area is determined by the sampling size of said second sampling cell.
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Abstract
A technique, referred to as area-based interpolation, performs image interpolation. The system determines a curve by the pixel value at a location by taking the integral of a curve over a small area, where the size of the area is determined by the sampling size of a sampling cell. When the image is resampled with respect to a sampling cell that has a finer spacing, the system integrates the polynomial using a finer integration area. In accordance with the invention, the relation between the reintegrated, resampled high resolution image and the low resolution image is a function of an up-sampler, followed by a linear filter. The coefficients of the filter are independent of the data, but are dependent on the family of curves used. If the system models by, for example, a third degree or fourth degree polynomial everywhere in the image, then that model determines the number of coefficients that are in the filter. Once the up-sampling factor and degree of the polynomial are determined, the filter coefficients are fixed, and can be calculated by solving a set of linear equations. It is not necessary to determine these values on an image-by-image basis. The system calculates the filter once and the consistency constraint is then satisfied for all image scaling.
46 Citations
25 Claims
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1. A method for image scaling by area based interpolation, comprising the steps of:
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representing a section of an image as a function of a continuous variable; taking the integral of a curve for each area of said section, where the size of each area is determined by the sampling size of a first sampling cell; sampling said image at a first, low resolution with respect to said first sampling cell, wherein a pixel value is determined for each area of said section; resampling said image at a second, higher resolution with respect to a second sampling cell that has a finer spacing than that of said first sampling cell; and taking the integral of a curve for each area of said section, where the size of each area is determined by the sampling size of said second sampling cell. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method for image scaling by area based interpolation, comprising the steps of:
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receiving low resolution image data having light values for pixels of a sampling cell; using the light values for each pixel of the sampling cell to determine an approximation curve that closely approximates a true curve that matches the light intensity across the surface of the sampling cell, such that the equation;
##EQU11## is satisfied;
where I(u,v) represents a waveform of an image;xmn is an output of a low resolution acquisition device for waveform I(u,v); Lmn is the area occupied by the sensor at the region Rm,n ; and outputting high resolution image data based on the approximation curve. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10)
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11. An apparatus for scaling an image by area based interpolation, the apparatus comprising:
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means for representing a section of an image as a function of a continuous variable; a first integrator for taking the integral of a curve for each area of said section, where the size of each area is determined by the sampling size of a first sampling cell; means for sampling said image at a first, low resolution with respect to said first sampling cell, wherein a pixel value is determined for each area of said section; means for resampling said image at a second, higher resolution with respect to a second sampling cell that has a finer spacing than that of said first sampling cell; and a second integrator for taking the integral of a curve for each area of said section, where the size of each area is determined by the sampling size of said second sampling cell. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. An apparatus for image scaling by area based interpolation, comprising:
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means for receiving low resolution image data having light values for pixels of a sampling cell; means for determining an approximation curve from the light values for each pixel of the sampling cell from the low resolution image, wherein the approximation curve closely approximates a true curve that matches the light intensity across the surface of the sampling cell, such that the equation;
##EQU12## is satisfied;
where I(u,v) represents a waveform of an image;xmn is an output of a low resolution acquisition device for waveform I(u,v); Lmn is the area occupied by the sensor at the region Rm,n ; and means for outputting high resolution image data based on the approximation curve. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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21. An apparatus for image scaling by area based interpolation, comprising:
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an input to receive first resolution image data having light values for pixels of a sampling cell; a curve approximator adapted to determine an approximation curve from the light values for each pixel of the sampling cell from the first resolution image, wherein the approximation curve closely approximates a true curve that matches the light intensity across the surface of the sampling cell; an integrator adapted to integrate the approximation curve in a small region to determine the area underneath the approximation curve in the smaller region, using the integrated value to scale the first resolution image to a second resolution image; and an output adapted to output the second resolution image data. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification