Efficient Digital Pre-Filtering For Least-Squares Linear Approximation

In this paper we propose a very simple FIR pre-filter based method for near optimal least-squares linear approximation of discrete time signals. A digital pre-processing filter, which we demonstrate to be near-optimal, is applied to the signal before performing the usual linear interpolation. This leads to a non interpolating reconstruction of the signal, with good reconstruction quality and very limited computational cost. The basic formalism adopted to design the pre-filter has been derived from the framework introduced by Blu et Unser in [1]. To demonstrate the usability and the effectiveness of the approach, the proposed method has been applied to the problem of natural image resampling, which is typically applied when the image undergoes successive rotations. The performance obtained are very interesting, and the required computational effort is extremely low

Efficient digital pre-filtering for least squares linear approximation

In this paper we propose a very simple FIR pre-filter for near optimal least-squares linear approximation of discrete time signals. At first, a greedy least square approximation of the desired signal is derived using an efficient digital pre-processing filter, then the usual linear interpolation is applied to obtain the final result. This leads to a non interpolating reconstruction of the signal, with good reconstruction quality and very limited computational cost. The basic formalism adopted to design the pre-filter has been derived from the framework introduced by Blu et Unser. To demonstrate the usability and the effectiveness of the approach, the proposed method has been applied to the problem of natural image resampling, which is typically applied when the image undergoes successive rotations. The performance obtained are very interesting, and the required computational effort is extremely low

Fractional biorthogonal partners in channel equalization and signal interpolation

The concept of biorthogonal partners has been introduced recently by the authors. The work presented here is an extension of some of these results to the case where the upsampling and downsampling ratios are not integers but rational numbers, hence, the name fractional biorthogonal partners. The conditions for the existence of stable and of finite impulse response (FIR) fractional biorthogonal partners are derived. It is also shown that the FIR solutions (when they exist) are not unique. This property is further explored in one of the applications of fractional biorthogonal partners, namely, the fractionally spaced equalization in digital communications. The goal is to construct zero-forcing equalizers (ZFEs) that also combat the channel noise. The performance of these equalizers is assessed through computer simulations. Another application considered is the all-FIR interpolation technique with the minimum amount of oversampling required in the input signal. We also consider the extension of the least squares approximation problem to the setting of fractional biorthogonal partners

A Graphical Model Formulation of Collaborative Filtering Neighbourhood Methods with Fast Maximum Entropy Training

Item neighbourhood methods for collaborative filtering learn a weighted graph over the set of items, where each item is connected to those it is most similar to. The prediction of a user's rating on an item is then given by that rating of neighbouring items, weighted by their similarity. This paper presents a new neighbourhood approach which we call item fields, whereby an undirected graphical model is formed over the item graph. The resulting prediction rule is a simple generalization of the classical approaches, which takes into account non-local information in the graph, allowing its best results to be obtained when using drastically fewer edges than other neighbourhood approaches. A fast approximate maximum entropy training method based on the Bethe approximation is presented, which uses a simple gradient ascent procedure. When using precomputed sufficient statistics on the Movielens datasets, our method is faster than maximum likelihood approaches by two orders of magnitude.Comment: ICML201

Biorthogonal partners and applications

Two digital filters H(z) and F(z) are said to be biorthogonal partners of each other if their cascade H(z)F(z) satisfies the Nyquist or zero-crossing property. Biorthogonal partners arise in many different contexts such as filterbank theory, exact and least squares digital interpolation, and multiresolution theory. They also play a central role in the theory of equalization, especially, fractionally spaced equalizers in digital communications. We first develop several theoretical properties of biorthogonal partners. We also develop conditions for the existence of biorthogonal partners and FIR biorthogonal pairs and establish the connections to the Riesz basis property. We then explain how these results play a role in many of the above-mentioned applications

The curvelet transform for image denoising

We describe approximate digital implementations of two new mathematical transforms, namely, the ridgelet transform and the curvelet transform. Our implementations offer exact reconstruction, stability against perturbations, ease of implementation, and low computational complexity. A central tool is Fourier-domain computation of an approximate digital Radon transform. We introduce a very simple interpolation in the Fourier space which takes Cartesian samples and yields samples on a rectopolar grid, which is a pseudo-polar sampling set based on a concentric squares geometry. Despite the crudeness of our interpolation, the visual performance is surprisingly good. Our ridgelet transform applies to the Radon transform a special overcomplete wavelet pyramid whose wavelets have compact support in the frequency domain. Our curvelet transform uses our ridgelet transform as a component step, and implements curvelet subbands using a filter bank of a` trous wavelet filters. Our philosophy throughout is that transforms should be overcomplete, rather than critically sampled. We apply these digital transforms to the denoising of some standard images embedded in white noise. In the tests reported here, simple thresholding of the curvelet coefficients is very competitive with "state of the art" techniques based on wavelets, including thresholding of decimated or undecimated wavelet transforms and also including tree-based Bayesian posterior mean methods. Moreover, the curvelet reconstructions exhibit higher perceptual quality than wavelet-based reconstructions, offering visually sharper images and, in particular, higher quality recovery of edges and of faint linear and curvilinear features. Existing theory for curvelet and ridgelet transforms suggests that these new approaches can outperform wavelet methods in certain image reconstruction problems. The empirical results reported here are in encouraging agreement