Learning Raw Image Denoising with Bayer Pattern Unification and Bayer Preserving Augmentation

In this paper, we present new data pre-processing and augmentation techniques for DNN-based raw image denoising. Compared with traditional RGB image denoising, performing this task on direct camera sensor readings presents new challenges such as how to effectively handle various Bayer patterns from different data sources, and subsequently how to perform valid data augmentation with raw images. To address the first problem, we propose a Bayer pattern unification (BayerUnify) method to unify different Bayer patterns. This allows us to fully utilize a heterogeneous dataset to train a single denoising model instead of training one model for each pattern. Furthermore, while it is essential to augment the dataset to improve model generalization and performance, we discovered that it is error-prone to modify raw images by adapting augmentation methods designed for RGB images. Towards this end, we present a Bayer preserving augmentation (BayerAug) method as an effective approach for raw image augmentation. Combining these data processing technqiues with a modified U-Net, our method achieves a PSNR of 52.11 and a SSIM of 0.9969 in NTIRE 2019 Real Image Denoising Challenge, demonstrating the state-of-the-art performance. Our code is available at https://github.com/Jiaming-Liu/BayerUnifyAug.Comment: Accepted by CVPRW 201

Adaptive Image Denoising by Targeted Databases

We propose a data-dependent denoising procedure to restore noisy images. Different from existing denoising algorithms which search for patches from either the noisy image or a generic database, the new algorithm finds patches from a database that contains only relevant patches. We formulate the denoising problem as an optimal filter design problem and make two contributions. First, we determine the basis function of the denoising filter by solving a group sparsity minimization problem. The optimization formulation generalizes existing denoising algorithms and offers systematic analysis of the performance. Improvement methods are proposed to enhance the patch search process. Second, we determine the spectral coefficients of the denoising filter by considering a localized Bayesian prior. The localized prior leverages the similarity of the targeted database, alleviates the intensive Bayesian computation, and links the new method to the classical linear minimum mean squared error estimation. We demonstrate applications of the proposed method in a variety of scenarios, including text images, multiview images and face images. Experimental results show the superiority of the new algorithm over existing methods.Comment: 15 pages, 13 figures, 2 tables, journa

Wavelet based joint denoising of depth and luminance images

In this paper we present a new method for joint denoising of depth and luminance images produced by time-of-flight camera. Here we assume that the sequence does not contain outlier points which can be present in the depth images. Our method first performs estimation of noise and signal covariance matrices and then performs vector denoising. Two versions of the algorithm are presented, depending on the method used for the classification of the image contexts. Denoising results are compared with the ground truth images obtained by averaging of the multiple frames of the still scene

Content adaptive wavelet based method for joint denoising of depth and luminance images

In this paper we present a new method for joint denoising of depth and luminance images produced by time-of-flight camera. Here we assume that the sequence does not contain outlier points which can be present in the depth images. Our method first performs estimation of noise and signal covariance matrices and then performs vector denoising. Luminance image is segmented into similar contexts usina k-means algorithm, which are used for calculation of covariance matrices. Denoising results are compared with the ground truth images obtained by averaging of the multiple frames of the still scene