Image superresolution through edge extraction and contrast enhancement
First Claim
1. A method for generating high-resolution bitmaps from low-resolution bitmaps, comprising the process actions of:
- using a computing device for, magnifying a low-resolution bitmap to form a magnified image;
performing edge detection on the magnified image to produce an edge map;
generating a plurality of image patches of the magnified image;
performing connected components analysis coupled to each of the plurality of image patches and the edge map, to identify one or more foreground and background regions for each image patch, wherein performing connected components analysis further comprises;
determining foreground and background regions of each image patch; and
computing a blending factor based on the mean luminances of the foreground and background regions;
enhancing the contrast of one or more pixels in each of the plurality of image patches, said enhancing depending on whether the pixel is in the foreground or background region; and
producing a high-resolution bitmap from the contrast-enhanced pixels.
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Abstract
A technique for generating high-resolution bitmaps from low-resolution bitmaps. A low-resolution bitmap is magnified to form a magnified image. Edge detection is performed on the magnified image to find high contrast edges. A plurality of image patches of the magnified image are generated. These images patches are analyzed by performing connected components analysis on each of them using the high contrast edges to produce a plurality of foreground and background decisions determining whether a portion of an image patch is a background or a foreground region. Then the contrast of one or more pixels in each of the plurality of image patches is enhanced based on the foreground and background decisions. Finally, the system and method of the invention combines the luminance of the enhanced output pixels with the color values generated by the magnification algorithm. This produces a high-resolution bitmap from the contrast-enhanced pixels.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method for generating high-resolution bitmaps from low-resolution bitmaps, comprising the process actions of:
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using a computing device for, magnifying a low-resolution bitmap to form a magnified image;
performing edge detection on the magnified image to produce an edge map;
generating a plurality of image patches of the magnified image;performing connected components analysis coupled to each of the plurality of image patches and the edge map, to identify one or more foreground and background regions for each image patch, wherein performing connected components analysis further comprises; determining foreground and background regions of each image patch; and computing a blending factor based on the mean luminances of the foreground and background regions; enhancing the contrast of one or more pixels in each of the plurality of image patches, said enhancing depending on whether the pixel is in the foreground or background region; and producing a high-resolution bitmap from the contrast-enhanced pixels. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon for generating a high-resolution bitmap from a low-resolution bitmap, said computer-executable instructions comprising:
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magnifying a low-resolution image to form a magnified image; performing edge detection on the magnified image to produce an edge map; generating a plurality of image patches of the magnified image; performing connected components analysis on each of the plurality of image patches and the edge map, to produce a plurality of foreground/background decisions; enhancing the contrast of one or more pixels in each of the plurality of image patches, said enhancing depending on the foreground/background decisions, wherein the computer-executable instruction for enhancing the contrast of one or more pixels comprises; inputting an image patch; computing foreground and background regions based on the foreground and background decisions;
computing an alpha value based on the mean luminance of the background and foreground region;finding the most representative pixel for the foreground and background regions; and computing the enhanced output pixel luminance from the input pixel luminance using the most representative pixel for the luminance of the foreground or background region and the alpha value; and producing a high-resolution bitmap from the contrast-enhanced pixels.
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14. A system for generating an enhanced image, comprising:
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a general purpose computing device; a computer program encoded on a computer-readable medium comprising program modules executable by the general purpose computing device, wherein the computing device is directed by the program modules of the computer program to, perform edge detection on an image to produce an edge map; generate a plurality of image patches of the image using a plurality of windows applied to the image; perform connected components analysis on each of the plurality of image patches of the image to find all pixels that are connected to the center pixel of the image patch whose path of connection does not cross an edge pixel, wherein the program module to perform connected components analysis further comprises a sub-module to;
determine foreground and background regions of each image patch; andcompute a blending factor based on the mean luminances of the foreground and the background regions; enhance the contrast of one or more pixels in each of the plurality of image patches, said enhancing depending on the results of connected components analysis; and produce an enhanced image from the contrast-enhanced pixels. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification