Perceptual error criteria and restoration of images with stack filters

The present approach to the MAE-based design of stack filters for image restoration does not always produce the desired visual result. Thus, in this paper, a new stack filter design algorithm is developed. It is based upon a weighted mean absolute error (WMAE) criterion instead of the traditional MAE criterion that assigns the same weights to all errors. The weights in the WMAE criterion are designed with the visible differences predictor (VDP), which can estimate the sensitivity of the human visual system to changes in images. Experiments with this WMAE approach show that the stack filters it produces perform significantly better in image processing applications than those designed with the MAE approach.