10,635 research outputs found
Convolutional Deblurring for Natural Imaging
In this paper, we propose a novel design of image deblurring in the form of
one-shot convolution filtering that can directly convolve with naturally
blurred images for restoration. The problem of optical blurring is a common
disadvantage to many imaging applications that suffer from optical
imperfections. Despite numerous deconvolution methods that blindly estimate
blurring in either inclusive or exclusive forms, they are practically
challenging due to high computational cost and low image reconstruction
quality. Both conditions of high accuracy and high speed are prerequisites for
high-throughput imaging platforms in digital archiving. In such platforms,
deblurring is required after image acquisition before being stored, previewed,
or processed for high-level interpretation. Therefore, on-the-fly correction of
such images is important to avoid possible time delays, mitigate computational
expenses, and increase image perception quality. We bridge this gap by
synthesizing a deconvolution kernel as a linear combination of Finite Impulse
Response (FIR) even-derivative filters that can be directly convolved with
blurry input images to boost the frequency fall-off of the Point Spread
Function (PSF) associated with the optical blur. We employ a Gaussian low-pass
filter to decouple the image denoising problem for image edge deblurring.
Furthermore, we propose a blind approach to estimate the PSF statistics for two
Gaussian and Laplacian models that are common in many imaging pipelines.
Thorough experiments are designed to test and validate the efficiency of the
proposed method using 2054 naturally blurred images across six imaging
applications and seven state-of-the-art deconvolution methods.Comment: 15 pages, for publication in IEEE Transaction Image Processin
Image blur estimation based on the average cone of ratio in the wavelet domain
In this paper, we propose a new algorithm for objective blur estimation using wavelet decomposition. The central idea of our method is to estimate blur as a function of the center of gravity of the average cone ratio (ACR) histogram. The key properties of ACR are twofold: it is powerful in estimating local edge regularity, and it is nearly insensitive to noise. We use these properties to estimate the blurriness of the image, irrespective of the level of noise. In particular, the center of gravity of the ACR histogram is a blur metric. The method is applicable both in case where the reference image is available and when there is no reference. The results demonstrate a consistent performance of the proposed metric for a wide class of natural images and in a wide range of out of focus blurriness. Moreover, the proposed method shows a remarkable insensitivity to noise compared to other wavelet domain methods
Face recognition technologies for evidential evaluation of video traces
Human recognition from video traces is an important task in forensic investigations and evidence evaluations. Compared with other biometric traits, face is one of the most popularly used modalities for human recognition due to the fact that its collection is non-intrusive and requires less cooperation from the subjects. Moreover, face images taken at a long distance can still provide reasonable resolution, while most biometric modalities, such as iris and fingerprint, do not have this merit. In this chapter, we discuss automatic face recognition technologies for evidential evaluations of video traces. We first introduce the general concepts in both forensic and automatic face recognition , then analyse the difficulties in face recognition from videos . We summarise and categorise the approaches for handling different uncontrollable factors in difficult recognition conditions. Finally we discuss some challenges and trends in face recognition research in both forensics and biometrics . Given its merits tested in many deployed systems and great potential in other emerging applications, considerable research and development efforts are expected to be devoted in face recognition in the near future
A deep learning framework for quality assessment and restoration in video endoscopy
Endoscopy is a routine imaging technique used for both diagnosis and
minimally invasive surgical treatment. Artifacts such as motion blur, bubbles,
specular reflections, floating objects and pixel saturation impede the visual
interpretation and the automated analysis of endoscopy videos. Given the
widespread use of endoscopy in different clinical applications, we contend that
the robust and reliable identification of such artifacts and the automated
restoration of corrupted video frames is a fundamental medical imaging problem.
Existing state-of-the-art methods only deal with the detection and restoration
of selected artifacts. However, typically endoscopy videos contain numerous
artifacts which motivates to establish a comprehensive solution.
We propose a fully automatic framework that can: 1) detect and classify six
different primary artifacts, 2) provide a quality score for each frame and 3)
restore mildly corrupted frames. To detect different artifacts our framework
exploits fast multi-scale, single stage convolutional neural network detector.
We introduce a quality metric to assess frame quality and predict image
restoration success. Generative adversarial networks with carefully chosen
regularization are finally used to restore corrupted frames.
Our detector yields the highest mean average precision (mAP at 5% threshold)
of 49.0 and the lowest computational time of 88 ms allowing for accurate
real-time processing. Our restoration models for blind deblurring, saturation
correction and inpainting demonstrate significant improvements over previous
methods. On a set of 10 test videos we show that our approach preserves an
average of 68.7% which is 25% more frames than that retained from the raw
videos.Comment: 14 page
Restoration of Atmospheric Turbulence Degraded Video using Kurtosis Minimization and Motion Compensation
In this thesis work, the background of atmospheric turbulence degradation in imaging was reviewed and two aspects are highlighted: blurring and geometric distortion. The turbulence burring parameter is determined by the atmospheric turbulence condition that is often unknown; therefore, a blur identification technique was developed that is based on a higher order statistics (HOS). It was observed that the kurtosis generally increases as an image becomes blurred (smoothed). Such an observation was interpreted in the frequency domain in terms of phase correlation. Kurtosis minimization based blur identification is built upon this observation. It was shown that kurtosis minimization is effective in identifying the blurring parameter directly from the degraded image. Kurtosis minimization is a general method for blur identification. It has been tested on a variety of blurs such as Gaussian blur, out of focus blur as well as motion blur. To compensate for the geometric distortion, earlier work on the turbulent motion compensation was extended to deal with situations in which there is camera/object motion. Trajectory smoothing is used to suppress the turbulent motion while preserving the real motion. Though the scintillation effect of atmospheric turbulence is not considered separately, it can be handled the same way as multiple frame denoising while motion trajectories are built.Ph.D.Committee Chair: Mersereau, Russell; Committee Co-Chair: Smith, Mark; Committee Member: Lanterman, Aaron; Committee Member: Wang, May; Committee Member: Tannenbaum, Allen; Committee Member: Williams, Dougla
UG^2: a Video Benchmark for Assessing the Impact of Image Restoration and Enhancement on Automatic Visual Recognition
Advances in image restoration and enhancement techniques have led to
discussion about how such algorithmscan be applied as a pre-processing step to
improve automatic visual recognition. In principle, techniques like deblurring
and super-resolution should yield improvements by de-emphasizing noise and
increasing signal in an input image. But the historically divergent goals of
the computational photography and visual recognition communities have created a
significant need for more work in this direction. To facilitate new research,
we introduce a new benchmark dataset called UG^2, which contains three
difficult real-world scenarios: uncontrolled videos taken by UAVs and manned
gliders, as well as controlled videos taken on the ground. Over 160,000
annotated frames forhundreds of ImageNet classes are available, which are used
for baseline experiments that assess the impact of known and unknown image
artifacts and other conditions on common deep learning-based object
classification approaches. Further, current image restoration and enhancement
techniques are evaluated by determining whether or not theyimprove baseline
classification performance. Results showthat there is plenty of room for
algorithmic innovation, making this dataset a useful tool going forward.Comment: Supplemental material: https://goo.gl/vVM1xe, Dataset:
https://goo.gl/AjA6En, CVPR 2018 Prize Challenge: ug2challenge.or
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