IMAGE QUALITY ESTIMATION USING A REFERENCE IMAGE PORTION

• US 20150332123A1
• Filed: 05/14/2014
• Published: 11/19/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Reibman, Amy Ruth, Liu, Zhu, Begeja, Lee, Renger, Bernard S., Gibbon, David Crawford, Shahraray, Behzad, Gopalan, Raghuraman, Zavesky, Eric
• Granted Patent: US 10,026,010 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/22 Matching criteria, e.g. proximity measures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/24 Classification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30168 Image quality inspection
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0002 Inspection of images, e.g. flaw detection
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/462 Salient features, e.g. scale invariant feature transforms [SIFT]
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/751 Comparing pixel values or logical combinations thereof, or feature values having positional relevance, e.g. template matching

Abstract

A particular method includes receiving a set of images, where each image of the set of images is related to a common scene. The method also includes determining a first subset of pixels of a first image of the set, where the first subset of pixels corresponds to a second subset of pixels of a second image of the set. The method further includes generating a first image quality estimate of the first image based on a comparison of the first subset of pixels and the second subset of pixels

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a device comprising a processor, a set of images, wherein each image of the set of images is related to a common scene;

determining, by the device, a first subset of pixels of a first image of the set, wherein the first subset of pixels corresponds to a second subset of pixels of a second image of the set; and

generating, by the device, a first image quality estimate of the first image based on a comparison of the first subset of pixels and the second subset of pixels.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising comparing pixels of the first image to pixels of the second image to identify a feature of the common scene that is represented in the first image and in the second image.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first subset of pixels corresponds to the feature in the first image and the second subset of pixels corresponds to the feature in the second image.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising aligning the first image and the second image based on the feature.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a third quality image estimate of a third image of the set based on a comparison of a third subset of pixels of the third image and the second subset of pixels; and

performing a comparison of the first image quality estimate to the third quality image estimate.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising designating the first image or the third image as a preferred image based on the comparison.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising determining that the first image quality estimate and the third image quality estimate satisfy an image quality threshold.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one image of the set is captured by a camera.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one image of the set is downloaded via a network.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first image corresponds to a different viewpoint of the common scene than the second image.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the first image has a different resolution than the second image.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first image and the second image are captured by different devices.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the first image has a different color space than the second image.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

comparing the first image quality estimate to a threshold; and

generating an indication that the first image has an acceptable image quality based on the first image quality satisfying the threshold.

15. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a memory storing instructions executable by the processor to perform operations comprising;

receiving a set of images, wherein each image of the set of images is related to a common scene;

identifying a feature of the common scene that is represented in each image of the set of images;

determining a first subset of pixels of a first image of the set and a second subset of pixels of a second image of the set, wherein the first subset of pixels and the second subset of pixels correspond to the feature; and

generating a first image quality estimate of the first image based on a comparison of the first subset of pixels and the second subset of pixels.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise generating a third quality image estimate of a third image of the set based on a comparison of a third subset of pixels of the third image and the second subset of pixels.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise:

performing a comparison of the first image quality estimate to the third quality image estimate; and

designating the first image or the third image as a preferred image based on the comparison.

18. A computer-readable storage device storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform operations comprising:

receiving a set of images, wherein each image of the set of images is related to a common scene and is captured by a particular device;

determining a first subset of pixels of a first image of the set, wherein the first subset of pixels corresponds to a second subset of pixels of a second image of the set; and

generating a first image quality estimate of the first image based on a comparison of the first subset of pixels and the second subset of pixels.

19. The computer-readable storage device of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise comparing pixels of the first image to pixels of the second image to identify a feature of the common scene that is represented in the first image and in the second image, wherein the first subset of pixels corresponds to the feature in the first image and the second subset of pixels corresponds to the feature in the second image.

20. The computer-readable storage device of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise:

generating a third quality image estimate of a third image of the set based on a comparison of a third subset of pixels of the third image and the second subset of pixels;

performing a comparison of the first image quality estimate to the third quality image estimate; and

designating the first image or the third image as a preferred image based on the comparison.