Enhancing photograph visual quality using texture and contrast data from near infra-red images
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method for enhancing the visual quality of a visible light image using its corresponding near infra-red image, the method comprising:
- computing a weighted region mask from the visible light image, the weighted region mask indicating areas of the visible light image to be enhanced and the extent of enhancement;
wavelet transforming the visible light image and the near infra-red image into a plurality of low frequency and high frequency subbands;
computing a contrast transferred subband from the low frequency subband of the visible light image and the low frequency subband of the near infra-red image guided by the weighted region mask;
computing texture transferred subbands from the high frequency subbands of the visible light image and the high frequency subbands of the near infra-red image guided by the weighted region mask; and
generating a quality enhanced visible light image from the contrast transferred subband and the texture transferred subbands.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Near infra-red images of natural scenes usually have better contrast and contain rich texture details that may not be perceived in visible light photographs. The contrast and rich texture details form a NIR image corresponding to a visible light image are useful for enhancing the visual quality of the visible light image. To enhance the visual quality of a visible light image using its corresponding near infra-red image, a computer-implemented method computes a weight region mask from the visible light image, transfers contrast data and texture data from the near infra-red image to the visible light image guided by the weighted region mask. The contrast data is computed from the low frequency subbands of the visible light image and corresponding infra-red image after a wavelet transform by matching the histogram of gradient magnitude. The texture data is computed from the high frequency subbands of both images after wavelet transform.
9 Citations
31 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method for enhancing the visual quality of a visible light image using its corresponding near infra-red image, the method comprising:
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computing a weighted region mask from the visible light image, the weighted region mask indicating areas of the visible light image to be enhanced and the extent of enhancement; wavelet transforming the visible light image and the near infra-red image into a plurality of low frequency and high frequency subbands; computing a contrast transferred subband from the low frequency subband of the visible light image and the low frequency subband of the near infra-red image guided by the weighted region mask; computing texture transferred subbands from the high frequency subbands of the visible light image and the high frequency subbands of the near infra-red image guided by the weighted region mask; and generating a quality enhanced visible light image from the contrast transferred subband and the texture transferred subbands. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 31)
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13. A computer program product for enhancing the visual quality of a visible light image using its corresponding near infra-red image, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing computer program code for performing the operations:
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computing a weighted region mask from the visible light image, the weighted region mask indicating areas of the visible light image to be enhanced and the extent of enhancement; wavelet transforming the visible light image and the near infra-red image into a plurality of low frequency and high frequency subbands; computing a contrast transferred subband from the low frequency subband of the visible light image and the low frequency subband of the near infra-red image guided by the weighted region mask; computing texture transferred subbands from the high frequency subbands of the visible light image and the high frequency subbands of the near infra-red image guided by the weighted region mask; and generating a quality enhanced visible light image from the contrast transferred subband and the texture transferred subbands. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A computer system for enhancing a visual quality of a visible light image using its corresponding near infra-red image, the computer system comprising:
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a dual-camera sub-system configured to capture the visible light image and its corresponding near infra-red image simultaneously, the dual-camera sub-system comprising; a first camera configured to capture the visible light image of a scene; a second camera configured to capture the corresponding near infra-red image of the scene; a hot mirror configured to filter natural light received by the dual-camera sub-system; and an optical remote controller configured to trigger the first camera and the second camera simultaneously; and a visual quality enhancement sub-system configured to enhance the visual quality of the visible light image using its corresponding near infra-red image, the visual quality enhancement sub-system coupled to the dual-camera sub-system. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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Specification