Edge-preserving filtering of images with low photon counts

IEEE Trans Pattern Anal Mach Intell. 2008 Jun;30(6):1014-27. doi: 10.1109/TPAMI.2008.16.

Abstract

Edge-preserving filters such as local M-smoothers or bilateral filtering are usually designed for Gaussian noise. This paper investigates how these filters can be adapted in order to efficiently deal with Poissonian noise. In addition, the issue of photometry invariance is addressed by changing the way filter coefficients are normalized. The proposed normalization is additive, instead of being multiplicative, and leads to a strong connection with anisotropic diffusion. Experiments show that ensuring the photometry invariance leads to comparable denoising performances in terms of the root mean square error computed on the signal.

Publication types

  • Evaluation Study

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms*
  • Artificial Intelligence*
  • Image Enhancement / methods*
  • Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / methods*
  • Imaging, Three-Dimensional / methods*
  • Pattern Recognition, Automated / methods*
  • Photons
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted*