A blur estimation and detection method for out-of-focus images

With the analysis of the features of image edge based on the defocused model of optical imaging system, a blur estimation and detection method for out-of-focus images is proposed. The essential idea is to estimate the parameter of the point spread function, which reflects the blurriness of image. Based on the notion, the proposed method estimates the parameter values by different straight edges in the image, and the parameter distribution is used to measure the image blurriness. Then it can determine whether an image is blurred or not by comparing with a predetermined threshold. Experiment results show that the proposed blur metric is highly correlated to subjective visual perception, and it can be implemented to estimate and detect the blurriness for out-of-focus images with different scenes.

[1]  John F. Canny,et al.  A Computational Approach to Edge Detection , 1986, IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence.

[2]  Alex Pentland,et al.  A New Sense for Depth of Field , 1985, IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence.

[3]  Muralidhara Subbarao,et al.  Depth recovery from blurred edges , 1988, Proceedings CVPR '88: The Computer Society Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition.

[4]  Wei-Ying Ma,et al.  Blur determination in the compressed domain using DCT information , 1999, Proceedings 1999 International Conference on Image Processing (Cat. 99CH36348).

[5]  Jorge E. Caviedes,et al.  No-reference sharpness metric based on local edge kurtosis , 2002, Proceedings. International Conference on Image Processing.

[6]  Stefan Winkler,et al.  A no-reference perceptual blur metric , 2002, Proceedings. International Conference on Image Processing.

[7]  Zhou Wang,et al.  Multiscale structural similarity for image quality assessment , 2003, The Thrity-Seventh Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems & Computers, 2003.

[8]  Weisi Lin,et al.  A no-reference quality metric for measuring image blur , 2003, Seventh International Symposium on Signal Processing and Its Applications, 2003. Proceedings..

[9]  Franco Oberti,et al.  A new sharpness metric based on local kurtosis, edge and energy information , 2004, Signal Process. Image Commun..

[10]  Nikolay N. Ponomarenko,et al.  TID2008 – A database for evaluation of full-reference visual quality assessment metrics , 2004 .

[11]  Hanghang Tong,et al.  Blur detection for digital images using wavelet transform , 2004, 2004 IEEE International Conference on Multimedia and Expo (ICME) (IEEE Cat. No.04TH8763).

[12]  Stefan Winkler,et al.  Perceptual blur and ringing metrics: application to JPEG2000 , 2004, Signal Process. Image Commun..

[13]  Eero P. Simoncelli,et al.  Image quality assessment: from error visibility to structural similarity , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Image Processing.

[14]  Bradley J Nelson,et al.  Autofocusing in computer microscopy: Selecting the optimal focus algorithm , 2004, Microscopy research and technique.

[15]  V Aslantas A depth estimation algorithm with a single image. , 2007, Optics express.

[16]  Richard Szeliski,et al.  PSF estimation using sharp edge prediction , 2008, 2008 IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition.

[17]  Barry R. Masters,et al.  Digital Image Processing, Third Edition , 2009 .

[18]  Alan C. Bovik,et al.  Mean squared error: Love it or leave it? A new look at Signal Fidelity Measures , 2009, IEEE Signal Processing Magazine.

[19]  Wen Gao,et al.  A no-reference perceptual blur metric using histogram of gradient profile sharpness , 2009, 2009 16th IEEE International Conference on Image Processing (ICIP).

[20]  Lina J. Karam,et al.  A No-Reference Objective Image Sharpness Metric Based on the Notion of Just Noticeable Blur (JNB) , 2009, IEEE Transactions on Image Processing.

[21]  Eric C. Larson,et al.  Most apparent distortion: full-reference image quality assessment and the role of strategy , 2010, J. Electronic Imaging.

[22]  Zhou Wang,et al.  No-reference image sharpness assessment based on local phase coherence measurement , 2010, 2010 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing.

[23]  Judith Redi,et al.  An efficient no-reference metric for perceived blur , 2011, 3rd European Workshop on Visual Information Processing.

[24]  Zhou Wang,et al.  Information Content Weighting for Perceptual Image Quality Assessment , 2011, IEEE Transactions on Image Processing.

[25]  Lina J. Karam,et al.  A No-Reference Image Blur Metric Based on the Cumulative Probability of Blur Detection (CPBD) , 2011, IEEE Transactions on Image Processing.

[26]  Alan C. Bovik,et al.  No-Reference Image Quality Assessment in the Spatial Domain , 2012, IEEE Transactions on Image Processing.

[27]  Xiang Zhu,et al.  Estimating Spatially Varying Defocus Blur From A Single Image , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Image Processing.

[28]  Laurence T. Yang,et al.  DCT-based objective quality assessment metric of 2D/3D image , 2013, Multimedia Tools and Applications.

[29]  Sunghyun Cho,et al.  Edge-based blur kernel estimation using patch priors , 2013, IEEE International Conference on Computational Photography (ICCP).

[30]  Bee Ee Khoo,et al.  Objective blur assessment based on contraction errors of local contrast maps , 2015, Multimedia Tools and Applications.