A combined first and second order variational approach for image reconstruction

In this paper we study a variational problem in the space of functions of bounded Hessian. Our model constitutes a straightforward higher-order extension of the well known ROF functional (total variation minimisation) to which we add a non-smooth second order regulariser. It combines convex functions of the total variation and the total variation of the first derivatives. In what follows, we prove existence and uniqueness of minimisers of the combined model and present the numerical solution of the corresponding discretised problem by employing the split Bregman method. The paper is furnished with applications of our model to image denoising, deblurring as well as image inpainting. The obtained numerical results are compared with results obtained from total generalised variation (TGV), infimal convolution and Euler's elastica, three other state of the art higher-order models. The numerical discussion confirms that the proposed higher-order model competes with models of its kind in avoiding the creation of undesirable artifacts and blocky-like structures in the reconstructed images -- a known disadvantage of the ROF model -- while being simple and efficiently numerically solvable.Comment: 34 pages, 89 figure

Introducing anisotropic tensor to high order variational model for image restoration

Second order total variation (SOTV) models have advantages for image restoration over their first order counterparts including their ability to remove the staircase artefact in the restored image. However, such models tend to blur the reconstructed image when discretised for numerical solution [1–5]. To overcome this drawback, we introduce a new tensor weighted second order (TWSO) model for image restoration. Specifically, we develop a novel regulariser for the SOTV model that uses the Frobenius norm of the product of the isotropic SOTV Hessian matrix and an anisotropic tensor. We then adapt the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) to solve the proposed model by breaking down the original problem into several subproblems. All the subproblems have closed-forms and can be solved efficiently. The proposed method is compared with state-of-the-art approaches such as tensor-based anisotropic diffusion, total generalised variation, and Euler's elastica. We validate the proposed TWSO model using extensive experimental results on a large number of images from the Berkeley BSDS500. We also demonstrate that our method effectively reduces both the staircase and blurring effects and outperforms existing approaches for image inpainting and denoising applications

ADI splitting schemes for a fourth-order nonlinear partial differential equation from image processing

We present directional operator splitting schemes for the numerical solution of a fourth-order, nonlinear partial differential evolution equation which arises in image processing. This equation constitutes the H−1-gradient flow of the total variation and represents a prototype of higher-order equations of similar type which are popular in imaging for denoising, deblurring and inpainting problems. The efficient numerical solution of this equation is very challenging due to the stiffness of most numerical schemes. We show that the combination of directional splitting schemes with implicit time-stepping provides a stable and computationally cheap numerical realisation of the equation