Deconvolution of digital images

• US 9,508,116 B2
• Filed: 04/16/2014
• Issued: 11/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/12/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bhagwan, Varun, Liu, Timothy, Ormont, Justin, Underwood, Heather
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Jayesh A
• Application Number:
  US14/254,705
• Publication Number:
  US 20140226878A1
• Time in Patent Office: 958 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/146 the method including quality enhancement steps
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10004 Still image; Photographic image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10024 Color image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/10 Selection of transformation methods according to the characteristics of the input images
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/14 Transformations for image registration, e.g. adjusting or mapping for alignment of images
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/73 Deblurring; Sharpening
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/20 Image preprocessing
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/10 Character recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/1607 Correcting image deformation, e.g. trapezoidal deformation caused by perspective
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/166 using acquisition arrangements

Abstract

A method for deconvolution of digital images includes obtaining a degraded image from a digital sensor, a processor accepting output from the digital sensor and recognizing a distorted element within the image. The distorted element is compared with a true shape of the element to produce a degrading function. The degrading function is deconvolved from at least a portion of the image to improve image quality of the image. A method of indirectly decoding a barcode includes obtaining an image of a barcode using an optical sensor in a mobile computing device, the image comprising barcode marks and a textual character. The textual character is optically recognized and an image degrading characteristic is identified from the textual character. Compensating for the image degrading characteristic renders previously undecodable barcode marks decodable. A system for deconvolution of digital images is also included.

Claims

1. A method of indirectly decoding a barcode comprises:

obtaining an image of a barcode using an optical sensor in a mobile computing device, the image comprising barcode marks and textual characters;

recognizing distorted text within the image by performing optical character recognition on the distorted text to produce an optically recognized textual character;

comparing the optically recognized textual character with the distorted text from which the optically recognized character was recognized to produce a degrading function; and

deconvolving the degrading function from at least a portion of the image to improve the image quality.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

overlaying the optically recognized textual character on portions of the image from which the optically recognized textual character was recognized; and

comparing the optically recognized textual character with the portions of the image from which the optically recognized textual character was recognized to produce the degrading function which represents an image degrading characteristic.

3. The method of claim 2, in which comparing the optically recognized textual character with the portions of the image from which the optically recognized textual character was recognized comprises performing a fast Fourier transform.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising quantifying the degrading function as a point spread function.

5. The method of claim 1, in which the textual character is associated with the barcode marks and contains the same information that is encoded in the barcode marks.

6. The method of claim 1, in which information decoded from the barcode marks is verified against the optically recognized textual character.

7. A system for deconvolution of digital images comprising:

an optical sensor for acquiring an image of a scene;

an element identification module for identification of distorted text within the image using optical character recognition on the distorted text to produce an optically recognized character;

a degrading function calculation module for calculating a degrading function from the difference between portions of the image which contain the distorted text and corresponding undistorted text; and

a deconvolution module for deconvolving the degrading function from at least a portion of the image and outputting an enhanced image.

8. The system of claim 7, in which the element identification module obtained the corresponding undistorted texted from a known element library that comprises alpha numeric characters in a plurality of fonts.

9. A computer program product for image enhancement by deconvolution, the computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code configured to recognize distorted text within a degraded image by performing optical character recognition on the distorted text to produce an optically recognized character;

computer readable program code configured to then compare the optically recognized character with the distorted text from which the optically recognized character was recognized to produce a degrading function; and

computer readable program code configured to deconvolve the degrading function from at least a portion of the image to improve the image quality.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, further comprising:

computer readable program code configured to overlay the optically recognized character on portions of the image from which the optically recognized character was recognized.

11. The computer program product of claim 9, in which comparing the optically recognized character with the distorted text comprises performing a fast Fourier transform.

12. The computer program product of claim 9, further comprising computer readable program code configured to quantify the degrading function as a point spread function.

13. The computer program product of claim 9, in which the distorted text is associated with barcode marks in the image and contains the same information that is encoded in the barcode marks, and further comprising computer readable program code configured to verify information decoded from the barcode marks against the optically recognized character.