FLIR Systems, Inc.
Systems and methods for efficient enhanced image filtering by collaborative sharpening in similarity domain

Abstract:

Various techniques are disclosed for reducing noise and enhancing sharpness of an input image. For example, a method includes performing an initial collaborative filtering and sharpening on the input image to generate a pilot image, using the pilot image to derive coefficients that are used to perform a second collaborative filtering on the input image to generate a filtered image. In some embodiments, the collaborative filtering and sharpening is performed using parameters that boost or enhance the differences in pixel values for the same spatial locations of the matched image blocks extracted during the collaborative filtering and sharpening process. Accordingly, the method according to various embodiments performs especially well for images that have weak spatial correlations among mutually similar blocks.