Image processing system, image processing method, and image processing program

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9324135-B2
Application number	US-201213881303-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 16, 2012
Priority date	Jan 20, 2011
Publication date	Apr 26, 2016
Grant date	Apr 26, 2016

Abstract

There is provided an image processing system which can remove jaggies not only from binary images but also from gray scale images, color images and images upscaled by an unknown scaler. When the center pixel of the local area clipped from a processing target image is decided to be the jaggy removal target pixel, a base filter computing means 84 applies a plurality of types of predetermined base filters to the local area. A weight calculating means 85 calculates weights with respect to the plurality of types of base filters based on the feature amount calculated by a principal component analyzing means 82 . Based on a filtering result of each base filter and a weight with respect to each base filter, a filtering result weight computing means 86 updates a pixel value of the center pixel.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An image processing system comprising:
a brightness gradient calculating unit which calculates a brightness gradient of each pixel in a local area clipped from a processing target image;
a principal component analyzing unit which analyzes a principal component of the brightness gradient of each pixel in the local area, and calculates a feature amount which represents a distribution of brightness gradients;
a target pixel deciding unit which, based on a brightness gradient of a center pixel of the local area and the feature amount calculated by the principal component analyzing unit, decides whether or not the center pixel is a jaggy removal target pixel;
a target pixel detail deciding unit which transforms each pixel value of each pixel, which is sampled based on a pixel decided as the jaggy removal target pixel by the target pixel deciding unit, into a frequency domain, and decides whether or not intensity equal to or more than a threshold can be obtained at an arbitrary frequency;
a base filter computing unit which, when the center pixel of the local area is decided to be the jaggy removal target pixel, applies a plurality of types of predetermined base filters to the local area;
a weight calculating unit which calculates a weight with respect to the plurality of types of base filters based on the feature amount calculated by the principal component analyzing unit; and
a filtering result weight computing unit which, based on a result that the plurality of types of base filters is applied to the local area and the weight with respect to the plurality of types of base filters, determines a pixel value of a pixel which is included in a corrected image created as an image by correcting a processing target image and which corresponds to the center pixel of the local area.

2. The image processing system according to claim 1 , wherein:
the principal component analyzing unit calculates a first eigenvector which represents a dominant brightness gradient direction in the local area and a second eigenvector which is vertical to the first eigenvector as the feature amount which represents the distribution of brightness gradients;
the target pixel detail deciding unit decides whether or not the local area the center pixel of which is decided to be the jaggy removal target pixel by the target pixel deciding unit satisfies conditions that brightness values of pixels aligned in a direction of the second eigenvector from the center pixel and pixels aligned in a direction of an inverse vector of the second eigenvector from the center pixel repeat becoming high and low; and
the base filter computing unit applies the plurality of types of predetermined base filters to a local area a center pixel of which is decided to be the jaggy removal target pixel by the target pixel deciding unit and which is decided to satisfy the conditions by the target pixel detail deciding unit.

3. An image processing method comprising:
calculating a brightness gradient of each pixel in a local area clipped from a processing target image;
analyzing a principal component of the brightness gradient of each pixel in the local area, and calculating a feature amount which represents a distribution of brightness gradients;
based on a brightness gradient of a center pixel of the local area and the feature amount, deciding whether or not the center pixel is a jaggy removal target pixel;
transforming each pixel value of each pixel, which is sampled based on a pixel decided as the jaggy removal target pixel, into a frequency domain, and deciding whether or not intensity equal to or more than a threshold can be obtained at an arbitrary frequency;
when the center pixel of the local area is decided to be the jaggy removal target pixel, applying a plurality of types of predetermined base filters to the local area;
calculating a weight with respect to the plurality of types of base filters based on the feature amount; and
based on a result that the plurality of types of base filters is applied to the local area and the weight with respect to the plurality of types of base filters, determining a pixel value of a pixel which is included in a corrected image created as an image by correcting a processing target image and which corresponds to the center pixel of the local area.

4. A non-transitory computer readable information recording medium storing an image processing program causing a computer to execute:
brightness gradient calculation processing of calculating a brightness gradient of each pixel in a local area clipped from a processing target image;
principal component analysis processing of analyzing a principal component of the brightness gradient of each pixel in the local area, and calculating a feature amount which represents a distribution of brightness gradients;
target pixel decision processing of, based on a brightness gradient of a center pixel of the local area and the feature amount calculated in the principal component analysis processing, deciding whether or not the center pixel is a jaggy removal target pixel;
target pixel detail decision processing of transforming each pixel value of each pixel, which is sampled based on a pixel decided as the jaggy removal target pixel in the target pixel decision processing, into a frequency domain, and deciding whether or not intensity equal to or more than a threshold can be obtained at an arbitrary frequency;
base filter computation processing of, when the center pixel of the local area is decided to be the jaggy removal target pixel, applying a plurality of types of predetermined base filters to the local area;
weight calculation processing of calculating a weight with respect to the plurality of types of base filters based on the feature amount calculated in the principal component analysis processing; and
filtering result weight computation processing of, based on a result that the plurality of types of base filters is applied to the local area and the weight with respect to the plurality of types of base filters, determining a pixel value of a pixel which is included in a corrected image created as an image by correcting a processing target image and which corresponds to the center pixel of the local area.

Assignees

• Iketani Akihiko
• Nec Corp

Inventors

• Iketani Akihiko

Classifications

• H04N1/393 Primary

  Enlarging or reducing · CPC title

• H04N1/4092

  Edge or detail enhancement · CPC title

• G06T2207/20192

  Edge enhancement; Edge preservation · CPC title

• H04N1/3935

  with modification of image resolution, i.e. determining the values of picture elements at new relative positions · CPC title

• H04N7/012

  Conversion between an interlaced and a progressive signal (for graphics images G09G2310/0229) · CPC title