Geometry-Aware Neighborhood Search for Learning Local Models for Image Reconstruction

Local learning of sparse image models has proven to be very effective to solve inverse problems in many computer vision applications. To learn such models, the data samples are often clustered using the K-means algorithm with the Euclidean distance as a dissimilarity metric. However, the Euclidean distance may not always be a good dissimilarity measure for comparing data samples lying on a manifold. In this paper, we propose two algorithms for determining a local subset of training samples from which a good local model can be computed for reconstructing a given input test sample, where we take into account the underlying geometry of the data. The first algorithm, called Adaptive Geometry-driven Nearest Neighbor search (AGNN), is an adaptive scheme which can be seen as an out-of-sample extension of the replicator graph clustering method for local model learning. The second method, called Geometry-driven Overlapping Clusters (GOC), is a less complex nonadaptive alternative for training subset selection. The proposed AGNN and GOC methods are evaluated in image super-resolution, deblurring and denoising applications and shown to outperform spectral clustering, soft clustering, and geodesic distance based subset selection in most settings.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures and 5 table

Simultaneous Codeword Optimization (SimCO) for Dictionary Update and Learning

We consider the data-driven dictionary learning problem. The goal is to seek an over-complete dictionary from which every training signal can be best approximated by a linear combination of only a few codewords. This task is often achieved by iteratively executing two operations: sparse coding and dictionary update. In the literature, there are two benchmark mechanisms to update a dictionary. The first approach, such as the MOD algorithm, is characterized by searching for the optimal codewords while fixing the sparse coefficients. In the second approach, represented by the K-SVD method, one codeword and the related sparse coefficients are simultaneously updated while all other codewords and coefficients remain unchanged. We propose a novel framework that generalizes the aforementioned two methods. The unique feature of our approach is that one can update an arbitrary set of codewords and the corresponding sparse coefficients simultaneously: when sparse coefficients are fixed, the underlying optimization problem is similar to that in the MOD algorithm; when only one codeword is selected for update, it can be proved that the proposed algorithm is equivalent to the K-SVD method; and more importantly, our method allows us to update all codewords and all sparse coefficients simultaneously, hence the term simultaneous codeword optimization (SimCO). Under the proposed framework, we design two algorithms, namely, primitive and regularized SimCO. We implement these two algorithms based on a simple gradient descent mechanism. Simulations are provided to demonstrate the performance of the proposed algorithms, as compared with two baseline algorithms MOD and K-SVD. Results show that regularized SimCO is particularly appealing in terms of both learning performance and running speed.Comment: 13 page

Bias-Reduction in Variational Regularization

The aim of this paper is to introduce and study a two-step debiasing method for variational regularization. After solving the standard variational problem, the key idea is to add a consecutive debiasing step minimizing the data fidelity on an appropriate set, the so-called model manifold. The latter is defined by Bregman distances or infimal convolutions thereof, using the (uniquely defined) subgradient appearing in the optimality condition of the variational method. For particular settings, such as anisotropic $\ell^1$ and TV-type regularization, previously used debiasing techniques are shown to be special cases. The proposed approach is however easily applicable to a wider range of regularizations. The two-step debiasing is shown to be well-defined and to optimally reduce bias in a certain setting. In addition to visual and PSNR-based evaluations, different notions of bias and variance decompositions are investigated in numerical studies. The improvements offered by the proposed scheme are demonstrated and its performance is shown to be comparable to optimal results obtained with Bregman iterations.Comment: Accepted by JMI

Learning Co-Sparse Analysis Operators with Separable Structures

In the co-sparse analysis model a set of filters is applied to a signal out of the signal class of interest yielding sparse filter responses. As such, it may serve as a prior in inverse problems, or for structural analysis of signals that are known to belong to the signal class. The more the model is adapted to the class, the more reliable it is for these purposes. The task of learning such operators for a given class is therefore a crucial problem. In many applications, it is also required that the filter responses are obtained in a timely manner, which can be achieved by filters with a separable structure. Not only can operators of this sort be efficiently used for computing the filter responses, but they also have the advantage that less training samples are required to obtain a reliable estimate of the operator. The first contribution of this work is to give theoretical evidence for this claim by providing an upper bound for the sample complexity of the learning process. The second is a stochastic gradient descent (SGD) method designed to learn an analysis operator with separable structures, which includes a novel and efficient step size selection rule. Numerical experiments are provided that link the sample complexity to the convergence speed of the SGD algorithm.Comment: 11 pages double column, 4 figures, 3 table

Constrained Overcomplete Analysis Operator Learning for Cosparse Signal Modelling

We consider the problem of learning a low-dimensional signal model from a collection of training samples. The mainstream approach would be to learn an overcomplete dictionary to provide good approximations of the training samples using sparse synthesis coefficients. This famous sparse model has a less well known counterpart, in analysis form, called the cosparse analysis model. In this new model, signals are characterised by their parsimony in a transformed domain using an overcomplete (linear) analysis operator. We propose to learn an analysis operator from a training corpus using a constrained optimisation framework based on L1 optimisation. The reason for introducing a constraint in the optimisation framework is to exclude trivial solutions. Although there is no final answer here for which constraint is the most relevant constraint, we investigate some conventional constraints in the model adaptation field and use the uniformly normalised tight frame (UNTF) for this purpose. We then derive a practical learning algorithm, based on projected subgradients and Douglas-Rachford splitting technique, and demonstrate its ability to robustly recover a ground truth analysis operator, when provided with a clean training set, of sufficient size. We also find an analysis operator for images, using some noisy cosparse signals, which is indeed a more realistic experiment. As the derived optimisation problem is not a convex program, we often find a local minimum using such variational methods. Some local optimality conditions are derived for two different settings, providing preliminary theoretical support for the well-posedness of the learning problem under appropriate conditions.Comment: 29 pages, 13 figures, accepted to be published in TS