Segmentation driven image noise reduction filter
First Claim
1. A method for reducing noise in a discrete pixel image, the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) shrinking a first initial image and a second initial image by a given factor to produce a first shrunken image and a second shrunken image;
(b) determining a threshold for a parameter associated with the second shrunken image;
(c) determining one or more indicated regions of the second shrunken image in which the parameter exceeds the threshold;
(d) determining one or more selected regions in the first shrunken image which correspond in part with the one or more indicated regions of the second shrunken image;
(e) processing the first shrunken image to reduce image noise by selectively processing the one or more selected regions of the first shrunken image and differentially processing one or more non-selected regions of the first shrunken image such that a processed image results;
(f) expanding the processed image by the given factor to produce an expanded image; and
(g) blending the one or more selected regions in the expanded image with one or more corresponding regions of the first initial image.
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Abstract
A technique for reducing noise in pixel images includes shrinking a first image and a second, related, image, and processing the first shrunken image with a novel segmentation-based filtering technique which utilizes image data from the second shrunken image to help identify structures within the image. After the structures are identified, the first shrunken image is differentially processed to reduce image noise. After processing, the first 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.
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Citations
90 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 a first initial image and a second initial image by a given factor to produce a first shrunken image and a second shrunken image; (b) determining a threshold for a parameter associated with the second shrunken image; (c) determining one or more indicated regions of the second shrunken image in which the parameter exceeds the threshold; (d) determining one or more selected regions in the first shrunken image which correspond in part with the one or more indicated regions of the second shrunken image; (e) processing the first shrunken image to reduce image noise by selectively processing the one or more selected regions of the first shrunken image and differentially processing one or more non-selected regions of the first shrunken image such that a processed image results; (f) expanding the processed image by the given factor to produce an expanded image; and (g) blending the one or more selected regions in the expanded image with one or more corresponding regions of the first initial image. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A method for reducing noise in a discrete pixel image, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) sub-sampling a first initial image containing image data representative of pixels of a reconstructed image and a second initial image containing related image data such that a first shrunken image and a second shrunken image result and such that both the first initial image and the second initial image are shrunk by a given factor to produce the first shrunken image and the second shrunken image; (b) determining one or more first image threshold values based upon a first image parameter; (c) determining one or more second image threshold values based upon a second image parameter; (d) selecting one or more second image regions in which the second image parameter exceeds the one or more second image thresholds values; (e) identifying one or more structural features from image data represented in the first shrunken image such that the structural features correspond to the one or more second image regions and such that the first image parameter exceeds the one or more first image threshold values; (f) smoothing the structural features to enhance a dominant orientation of the structural features; (g) smoothing non-structural region to enhance a homogenization of the non-structural region; (h) sharpening the structural features to enhance the dominant orientation associated with the structural features; (i) expanding the first shrunken image by the given factor such that an expanded image results which has the same dimensions as the first initial image; and (j) blending a fraction of the expanded image with image data from the first initial image. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
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49. 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 a first initial image and of a second initial image to produce a first shrunken image and a second shrunken image, identifying one or more selected regions of the first shrunken image using the second shrunken image and one or more selection criteria, differentially processing the selected regions and one or more non-selected regions 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 to form a final image. - View Dependent Claims (50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67)
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68. 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 a first initial image and of a second initial image to produce a first shrunken image and a second shrunken image, smoothing image data representative of pixels of the first shrunken image, identifying one or more structural features from the smoothed image data using image data from both the first shrunken image and the second shrunken image, orientation smoothing the structural features, homogenization smoothing non-structural regions, orientation sharpening the structural features, expanding the first shrunken image to the same dimensions as the first initial image to form an expanded image, and blending of first initial image data into the expanded image data to form a final image. - View Dependent Claims (69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90)
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Specification