Fast multisensor infrared image super-resolution scheme with multiple regression models

High resolution (HR) infrared (IR) images play an important role in many areas. However, it is difficult to obtain images at a desired resolution level because of the limitation of hardware and image environment. Therefore, improving the spatial resolution of infrared images has become more and more urgent. Methods based on sparse coding have been successfully used in single-image super-resolution (SR) reconstruction. However, the existing sparse representation-based SR method for infrared (IR) images usually encounter three problems. First, IR images always lack detailed information, which leads to unsatisfying IR image reconstruction results with conventional method. Second, the existing dictionary learning methods in SR aim at learning a universal and over-complete dictionary to represent various image structures. A large number of different structural patterns exist in an image, whereas one dictionary is not capable of capturing all of the different structures. Finally, the optimization for dictionary learning and image reconstruction requires a highly intensive computation, which restricts the practical application in real-time systems. To overcome these problems, we propose a fast IR image SR scheme. Firstly, we integrate the information from visible (VI) images and IR images to improve the resolution of IR images because images acquired by different sensors provide complementary information for the same scene. Second, we divide the training patches into several clusters, then the multiple dictionaries are learned for each cluster in order to provide each patch with a more accurate dictionary. Finally, we propose an method of Soft-assignment based Multiple Regression (SMR). SMR reconstructs the high resolution (HR) patch by the dictionaries corresponding to its K nearest training patch clusters. The method has a low level of computational complexity and may be readily suitable for real-time processing applications. Numerous experiments validate that this scheme brings better results in terms of quantization and visual perception than many state-of-the-art methods, while at the same time maintains a relatively low level of time complexity. Since the main computation of this scheme is matrix multiplication, it will be easily implemented in FPGA system.     

A new framework for remote sensing image super-resolution: Sparse representation-based method by processing dictionaries with multi-type features

Remote sensing images play an important role in many practical applications, however, due to the physical limitations of remote sensing devices, it is difficult to obtain images at an expecting high resolution level. Acquiring high-resolution(HR) images from the original low-resolution(LR) ones with super-resolution(SR) methods has always been an attractive proposition in embedded systems including various kinds of tablet PC and smart phone. SR methods based on sparse representation have been successfully used in processing remote sensing images, however, they have two major problems in common. First, they use only one type of image features to represent the low resolution(LR) images. However, one single type of features cannot accurately represent an image due to the diverse structures of the image, as a result, artifacts would be produced simultaneously. Second, many dictionary learning methods try to build a universal dictionary with only one single type of features. However, apparently, a dictionary with a single type of features is not enough to capture the different structures of a remote sensing image, without any doubt, the resultant image would turn out to be a poor one. To overcome the problems above, we propose a new framework for remote sensing image super resolution: sparse representation-based SR method by processing dictionaries with multi-type features. First, in order to represent the remote sensing image more accurately, different types of features are extracted from images. Second, to achieve a better performance, various dictionaries with multi-type features are learned to capture the essential structures of the image. Then, it’s proposed to adaptively control the weights of the high resolution(HR) patches obtained by different dictionaries. Numerous experiments validate that this proposed framework brings better results in terms of both objective quantitation and visual perception than other compared algorithms.     

小波域中双稀疏的单幅图像超分辨

目的 过去几年,基于稀疏表示的单幅图像超分辨获得了广泛的研究,提出了一种小波域中双稀疏的图像超分辨方法。方法 由小波域中高频图像的稀疏性及高频图像块在空间冗余字典下表示系数的稀疏性,建立了双稀疏的超分辨模型,恢复出高分辨率图像的细节系数;然后利用小波的多尺度性及低分辨率图像可作为高分辨率图像低频系数的逼近的假设,超分辨图像由低分辨率图像的小波分解和估计的高分辨率图像的高频系数经过二层逆小波变换来重构。结果 通过大量的实验发现,双稀疏的方法不仅较好地恢复了图像的局部纹理与边缘,且在噪声图像的超分辨上也获得了不错的效果。结论 与现在流行的使用稀疏表示的超分辨方法相比,双稀疏的方法对噪声图像的超分辨效果更好,且计算复杂度减小。     

Locally affine patch mapping and global refinement for image super-resolution

This paper deals with the super-resolution (SR) problem based on a single low-resolution (LR) image. Inspired by the local tangent space alignment algorithm in [16] for nonlinear dimensionality reduction of manifolds, we propose a novel patch-learning method using locally affine patch mapping (LAPM) to solve the SR problem. This approach maps the patch manifold of low-resolution image to the patch manifold of the corresponding high-resolution (HR) image. This patch mapping is learned by a training set of pairs of LR/HR images, utilizing the affine equivalence between the local low-dimensional coordinates of the two manifolds. The latent HR image of the input (an LR image) is estimated by the HR patches which are generated by the proposed patch mapping on the LR patches of the input. We also give a simple analysis of the reconstruction errors of the algorithm LAPM. Furthermore we propose a global refinement technique to improve the estimated HR image. Numerical results are given to show the efficiency of our proposed methods by comparing these methods with other existing algorithms.     

Learning graph-constrained cascade regressors for single image super-resolution

Learning cascade regression has been shown an effective strategy to further enhance the perceptual quality of resulted high-resolution (HR) images. However, previous cascade regression-based SR methods have two obvious weaknesses: (1)edge structures cannot be preserved well when applying texture features to represent low-resolution (LR) images, and (2)the local manifold structures spanned by the LR-HR feature spaces cannot be revealed by the learned local linear mappings. To alleviate the aforementioned problems, a novel example regression-based super-resolution (SR) approach called learning graph-constrained cascade regressors (LGCCR) is presented, which learns a group of multi-round residual regressors in a unique way. Specifically, we improve the edge preservation capability by synthesizing the whole HR image rather than local image patches, which facilitates to extract the edge features to represent LR images. Moreover, we utilize a graph-constrained regression model to build the local linear regressors, where each local linear regressor responds to an anchored atom in the learned over-complete dictionary. Both quantitative and qualitative quality evaluations on seven benchmark databases indicate the superiority of the proposed LGCCR-based SR approach in comparing with other state-of-the-art SR predecessors.

     

基于残差的图像超分辨率重建

提出一种基于图像残差的超分辨率重建算法.以原高分辨率图像与插值放大后图像之间的图像残差与低分辨率图像样本特征作为样本对,对其进行K均值分类,并对每类样本对采用KSVD(K-singular value decomposition)方法进行训练获得高、低分辨率字典对,然后根据测试样本与类中心的欧氏距离选择字典对,以与测试样本相近的多个类别所重建的结果加权获得图像残差,并结合低分辨率图像的插值结果获得高分辨率图像.实验结果表明,提出的方法具有更高的重建质量,且采用训练样本分类和相近类别的重建结果的加权和有利于提高图像重建质量.     

Joint patch clustering-based dictionary learning for multimodal image fusion

Constructing a good dictionary is the key to a successful image fusion technique in sparsity-based models. An efficient dictionary learning method based on a joint patch clustering is proposed for multimodal image fusion. To construct an over-complete dictionary to ensure sufficient number of useful atoms for representing a fused image, which conveys image information from different sensor modalities, all patches from different source images are clustered together with their structural similarities. For constructing a compact but informative dictionary, only a few principal components that effectively describe each of joint patch clusters are selected and combined to form the over-complete dictionary. Finally, sparse coefficients are estimated by a simultaneous orthogonal matching pursuit algorithm to represent multimodal images with the common dictionary learned by the proposed method. The experimental results with various pairs of source images validate effectiveness of the proposed method for image fusion task.     

利用双通道卷积神经网络的图像超分辨率算法

目的 图像超分辨率算法在实际应用中有着较为广泛的需求和研究。然而传统基于样本的超分辨率算法均使用简单的图像梯度特征表征低分辨率图像块,这些特征难以有效地区分不同的低分辨率图像块。针对此问题,在传统基于样本超分辨率算法的基础上,提出双通道卷积神经网络学习低分辨率与高分辨率图像块相似度进行图像超分辨率的算法。方法 首先利用深度卷积神经网络学习得到有效的低分辨率与高分辨率图像块之间相似性度量,然后根据输入低分辨率图像块与高分辨率图像块字典基元的相似度重构出对应的高分辨率图像块。结果 本文算法在Set5和Set14数据集上放大3倍情况下分别取得了平均峰值信噪比(PSNR)为32.53 dB与29.17 dB的效果。结论 本文算法从低分辨率与高分辨率图像块相似度学习角度解决图像超分辨率问题,可以更好地保持结果图像中的边缘信息,减弱结果中的振铃现象。本文算法可以很好地适用于自然场景图像的超分辨率增强任务。     

Image super-resolution by dictionary concatenation and sparse representation with approximate L0 norm minimization

This paper proposes a different image super-resolution (SR) reconstruction scheme, based on the newly advanced results of sparse representation and the recently presented SR methods via this model. Firstly, we online learn a subsidiary dictionary with the degradation estimation of the given low-resolution image, and concatenate it with main one offline learned from many natural images with high quality. This strategy can strengthen the expressive ability of dictionary atoms. Secondly, the conventional matching pursuit algorithms commonly use a fixed sparsity threshold for sparse decomposition of all image patches, which is not optimal and even introduces annoying artifacts. Alternatively, we employ the approximate L₀ norm minimization to decompose accurately the patch over its dictionary. Thus the coefficients of representation with variant number of nonzero items can exactly weight atoms for those complicated local structures of image. Experimental results show that the proposed method produces high-resolution images that are competitive or superior in quality to results generated by similar techniques.     

结合支持向量回归和图像自相似的单幅图像超分辨率算法

目的 基于学习的单幅图像超分辨率算法是借助实例训练库由一幅低分辨率图像产生高分辨率图像。提出一种基于图像块自相似性和对非线性映射拟合较好的支持向量回归模型的单幅超分辨率方法,该方法不需使用外部图像训练库。方法 首先根据输入的低分辨率图像建立图像金字塔及包含低/高分辨率图像块对的集合;然后在低/高分辨率图像块对的集合中寻找与输入低分辨率图像块的相似块,利用支持向量回归模型学习这些低分辨率相似块和其对应的高分辨率图像块的中心像素之间的映射关系,进而得到未知高分辨率图像块的中心像素。结果 为了验证本文设计算法的有效性,选取结构和纹理不同的7幅彩色高分辨率图像,对其进行高斯模糊的2倍下采样后所得的低分辨率图像进行超分辨率重构,与双三次插值、基于稀疏表示及基于支持向量回归这3个超分辨率方法重建的高分辨率图像进行比较,峰值信噪比平均依次提升了2.37 dB、0.70 dB和0.57 dB。结论 实验结果表明,本文设计的算法能够很好地实现图像的超分辨率重构,特别是对纹理结构相似度高的图像具有更好的重构效果。     

An image fusion framework using novel dictionary based sparse representation

Image fusion is an important technique which aims to produce a synthetic result by leveraging the cross information available in the existing data. Sparse Representation (SR) is a powerful signal processing theory used in wide variety of applications like image denoising, compression and fusion. Construction of a proper dictionary with reduced computational efficiency is a major challenge in these applications. Owing to the above criterion, we propose a supervised dictionary learning approach for the fusion algorithm. Initially, gradient information is obtained for each patch of the training data set. Then, the edge strength and information content are measured for the gradient patches. A selection rule is finally employed to select the patches with better focus features for training the over complete dictionary. By the above process, the number of input patches for dictionary training is reduced to a greater extent. At the fusion step, the globally learned dictionary is used to represent the given set of source image patches. Experimental results with various source image pairs demonstrate that the proposed fusion framework gives better visual quality and competes with the existing methodologies quantitatively.     

人脸图像超分辨率非线性算法

研究单幅人脸图像的超分辨率重构算法。采用马尔可夫网络模型描述重构机制,对输入的低分辨率图像,以及训练用高分辨率图像和对应的低分辨率图像进行分块,并使图像基本对齐,构造训练图像集。针对简化马尔可夫网络计算的需要以及训练集人脸图像的差异,在块坐标限位操作的基础上,提出了一种非线性样本搜索算法,降低了搜索空间复杂度,提高了匹配效率和相关性。算法利用搜索到的高分辨率图像分块样本,直接输出超分辨率图像。分析和实验证实,与传统学习算法相比,该文方法具有输出质量好、效率高的特点。     

Image super-resolution by estimating the enhancement weight of self example and external missing patches

Image super-resolution (SR) is the process of generating a high-resolution (HR) image using one or more low-resolution (LR) inputs. Many SR methods have been proposed, but generating the small-scale structure of an SR image remains a challenging task. We hence propose a single-image SR algorithm that combines the benefits of both internal and external SR methods. First, we estimate the enhancement weights of each LR-HR image patch pair. Next, we multiply each patch by the estimated enhancement weight to generate an initial SR patch. We then employ a method to recover the missing information from the high-resolution patches and create that missing information to generate a final SR image. We then employ iterative back-projection to further enhance visual quality. The method is compared qualitatively and quantitatively with several state-of-the-art methods, and the experimental results indicate that the proposed framework provides high contrast and better visual quality, particularly for non-smooth texture areas.     

人脸图像超分辨率非线性学习算法

针对一般学习算法效率低下的问题,提出一种马尔可夫网络模型下的非线性学习算法。对输入的低分辨率图像以及训练用高分辨率图像和对应的低分辨率图像进行分块,并使图像基本对齐,构造训练图像集,利用训练集人脸图像的差异,采用块坐标限位操作技术,给出一种非线性样本搜索算法,降低搜索空间复杂度,提高了匹配效率和相关性。利用搜索到的高分辨率图像分块样本,直接输出超分辨率图像。分析和实验证实,与传统学习算法相比,该方法具有输出质量好、效率高的特点。     

一种基于学习的非线性人脸图像超分辨率算法

提出了一种单幅人脸图像的超分辨率重构算法。该算法采用马尔可夫网络模型描述重构机制,对输入的低分辨率图像,以及训练用高分辨率图像和对应的低分辨率图像进行分块,并使图像基本对齐,构造训练图像集。针对简化马尔可夫网络计算的需要以及训练集人脸图像的差异,在采用块坐标限位操作的基础上,使用了一种非线性样本搜索算法,降低了搜索空间复杂度,提高了匹配效率和相关性。算法利用搜索到的高分辨率图像分块样本,直接输出超分辨率图像。分析和实验表明,与传统学习算法相比,该方法具有输出质量好、效率高的特点。     

基于马尔可夫网络人脸图像超分辨率非线性算法*

研究单幅人脸图像的超分辨率重构算法。采用马尔可夫网络模型描述重构机制,对输入的低分辨率图像,以及训练用高分辨率图像和对应的低分辨率图像进行分块,并使图像基本对齐,构造训练图像集。针对简化马尔可夫网络计算的需要以及训练集人脸图像的差异,在采用块坐标限位操作的基础上,提出了一种非线性样本搜索算法,降低了搜索空间复杂度,提高了匹配效率和相关性。算法利用搜索到的高分辨率图像分块样本,直接输出超分辨率图像。分析和实验证实,与传统学习算法相比,本方法具有输出质量好、效率高的特点。     

An image fusion framework using morphology and sparse representation

Image fusion is the process which aims to integrate the relevant and complementary information from a set of images into a single comprehensive image. Sparse representation (SR) is a powerful technique used in a wide variety of applications like denoising, compression and fusion. Building a compact and informative dictionary is the principal challenge in these applications. Hence, we propose a supervised classification based learning technique for the fusion algorithm. As an initial step, each patch of the training data set is pre-classified based on their gradient dominant direction. Then, a dictionary is learned using K-SVD algorithm. With this universal dictionary, sparse coefficients are estimated using greedy OMP algorithm to represent the given set of source images in the dominant direction. Finally, the Euclidean norm is used as a distance measure to reconstruct the fused image. Experimental results on different types of source images demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm with conventional methods in terms of visual and quantitative evaluations.

     

稀疏系数独立可调的单图超分辨率重建

针对基于学习的超分辨率重建图像边缘锐度较好但伪影较明显的问题,提出一种改进的稀疏系数独立可调的超分算法以消除伪影。由于字典训练阶段高分辨率图像和低分辨率图像均已知,认为高维图像空间和低维图像空间对应的稀疏系数不同,故此阶段运用在线字典学习方法分开训练生成较精确的高分字典和低分字典;而在图像重建阶段低分图像已知而高分图像未知,认为两空间的稀疏系数是近似相同的。通过在这两个阶段设置不同的正则化参数,可独立地调整相应的稀疏系数以获得最好的超分效果。实验结果表明,目标高分图像峰值信噪比(PSNR)相比稀疏编码超分方法平均提高了0.45 dB,同时结构相似性(SSIM)指标增加了0.011。超分图像有效地抑制了伪影,并能够较好地恢复图像边缘锐度和纹理细节,提升了超分效果。     

基于图像块分类的图像超分辨率重建

针对当前图像超分辨率重建算法中存在的字典单一而导致重建图像质量不佳的问题，提出一种将图像块分类与图像卡通纹理分解相结合的单幅图像超分辨率重建算法。首先，将图像分块，并将图像块分为边缘类、纹理类和平滑类三类，其中纹理类用形态成分分析（MCA）算法分解为卡通部分和纹理部分；然后，对边缘类、卡通部分和纹理部分分别训练高低分辨率字典；最后，求解稀疏系数并与高分辨率字典重建图像块。仿真结果显示，与基于稀疏表示的超分辨率重建（SCSR）算法和单幅图像超分辨率重建（SISR）算法相比，所提算法的峰值信噪比（PNSR）值分别提高了0.26 dB和0.14 dB，表明该算法的重建效果更好，重建图像纹理细节更丰富。     

Efficient single image super-resolution via graph-constrained least squares regression

We explore in this paper an efficient algorithmic solution to single image super-resolution (SR). We propose the gCLSR, namely graph-Constrained Least Squares Regression, to super-resolve a high-resolution (HR) image from a single low-resolution (LR) observation. The basic idea of gCLSR is to learn a projection matrix mapping the LR image patch to the HR image patch space while preserving the intrinsic geometric structure of the original HR image patch manifold. Even if gCLSR resembles other manifold learning-based SR methods in preserving the local geometric structure of HR and LR image patch manifolds, the innovation of gCLSR lies in that it preserves the intrinsic geometric structure of the original HR image patch manifold rather than the LR image patch manifold, which may be contaminated by image degeneration (e.g., blurring, down-sampling and noise). Upon acquiring the projection matrix, the target HR image can be simply super-resolved from a single LR image without the need of HR-LR training pairs, which favors resource-limited applications. Experiments on images from the public database show that gCLSR method can achieve competitive quality as state-of-the-art methods, while gCLSR is much more efficient in computation than some state-of-the-art methods.