Selective diffusion of filtered edges in images
First Claim
1. A method of analyzing an image, the method comprising:
- receiving, at one or more computer systems, at least one unfiltered image and at least one corresponding filtered image;
receiving, at the one or more computer systems, information indicative of a selection of a first image element of the filtered image;
receiving, at the one or more computer systems, information indicative of a first blurring operator;
applying, with one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems, the first blurring operator to a neighborhood surrounding the first image element to determine a blurred image element, wherein the blurring operator is adapted to reduce a magnitude of a high spatial frequency component of an image spectrum relative to a magnitude of a low spatial frequency component of the image spectrum;
evaluating, with the one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems, an error metric to compare the blurred image element and the first image element with a corresponding image element of the unfiltered image;
generating, with the one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems, an output image including at least a first output image element; and
in response to the error metric satisfying a first criteria, setting, with the one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems, the first output image element to equal the blurred image element.
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Abstract
An edge-preserving diffusion filter maintains the sharp edges in images while smoothing out image noise. An edge-preserving diffusion filter applies an edge-preserving smoothing filter to an image to form a filtered image. The modified image is then blurred by a blurring filter to form a blurred image. The modified image and the blurred image are blended together to form an output image based on an error metric associated with each pixel. The edge-preserving diffusion filter may be utilized to perform a multilevel decomposition of the image. The edge-preserving diffusion filter may be applied to an unfiltered image to produce a base image. The difference between the unfiltered image and the base image defines a detail image. The detail image may be used as the input for recursively generating additional levels of detail. The multilevel decomposition may utilize filter kernels associated with different contrast levels for each iteration.
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Citations
30 Claims
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1. A method of analyzing an image, the method comprising:
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receiving, at one or more computer systems, at least one unfiltered image and at least one corresponding filtered image; receiving, at the one or more computer systems, information indicative of a selection of a first image element of the filtered image; receiving, at the one or more computer systems, information indicative of a first blurring operator; applying, with one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems, the first blurring operator to a neighborhood surrounding the first image element to determine a blurred image element, wherein the blurring operator is adapted to reduce a magnitude of a high spatial frequency component of an image spectrum relative to a magnitude of a low spatial frequency component of the image spectrum; evaluating, with the one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems, an error metric to compare the blurred image element and the first image element with a corresponding image element of the unfiltered image; generating, with the one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems, an output image including at least a first output image element; and in response to the error metric satisfying a first criteria, setting, with the one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems, the first output image element to equal the blurred image element. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method of analyzing an image, the method comprising:
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receiving, at one or more computer systems, at least one unfiltered image; applying, with one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems, a first edge-preserving diffusion filter to the unfiltered image to form a first base image; generating, with the one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems, a first detail image based on differences between the unfiltered image and the first base image; and storing the first base image and at least one detail image in a storage device associated with the one or more computer systems. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A method of analyzing an image, the method comprising:
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receiving, at one or more computer systems, a first image; applying, with one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems, a first filter to the first image to create a filtered image; applying, with the one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems, a first blurring operator to the filtered image to create a blurred image; comparing, with the one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems, each of the filtered image and the blurred image with the first image to identify at least a first portion of the blurred image that is closer to the first image than the filtered image and at least a second portion of the filtered image that is closer to the first image than the blurred image; and creating, with the one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems, an output image including the first portion of the blurred image and the second portion of the filtered image. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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Specification