Perceptual fidelity measure of digital color images

A digital color image quality metric is proposed in this work based on the characteristics of the human visual system. Chromatic coordinates are transformed from spectral cone absorption responses to the opponent-color space. The sensitivity thresholds in each of the color space axes are measured and visual masking models are provided and parameterized. Multiple contrasts are computed by the wavelet coefficients in their corresponding resolutions. The new objective error measure is defined as the aggregate contrast mismatch between the original and compressed images. Experimental results are given to show its consistency with human observation experience and subjective ranking.

[1]  C. J. Smith,et al.  Electrical responses of primate visual system: II. Recordings from single oncells of macaque lateral geniculate nucleus. , 1959, Journal of comparative and physiological psychology.

[2]  M. Cannon,et al.  Perceived contrast in the fovea and periphery. , 1985, Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics and image science.

[3]  C. van den Branden Lambrecht.  A working spatio-temporal model of the human visual system for image restoration and quality assessment applications , 1996, 1996 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing Conference Proceedings.

[4]  P. Lennie,et al.  Chromatic mechanisms in lateral geniculate nucleus of macaque. , 1984, The Journal of physiology.

[5]  H R Wilson,et al.  Further evidence for four mechanisms mediating vision at threshold: sensitivities to complex gratings and aperiodic stimuli. , 1979, Journal of the Optical Society of America.

[6]  S. Hecht,et al.  THE VISUAL DISCRIMINATION OF INTENSITY AND THE WEBER-FECHNER LAW , 1924, The Journal of general physiology.

[7]  M. Georgeson,et al.  Contrast constancy: deblurring in human vision by spatial frequency channels. , 1975, The Journal of physiology.

[8]  Jelena Kovacevic,et al.  Wavelets and Subband Coding , 2013, Prentice Hall Signal Processing Series.

[9]  C.-C. Jay Kuo,et al.  Image quality measurement using the Haar wavelet , 1997, Optics & Photonics.

[10]  R. L. de Valois,et al.  Electrical responses of primate visual system. I. Different layers of macaque lateral geniculate nucleus. , 1958, Journal of comparative and physiological psychology.

[11]  A B Watson,et al.  Perceptual-components architecture for digital video. , 1990, Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics and image science.

[12]  P. O. Bishop,et al.  Spatial vision. , 1971, Annual review of psychology.

[13]  A Bradley,et al.  Contrast dependence and mechanisms of masking interactions among chromatic and luminance gratings. , 1988, Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics and image science.

[14]  F. Campbell,et al.  Orientational selectivity of the human visual system , 1966, The Journal of physiology.

[15]  B. Wandell,et al.  Pattern—color separable pathways predict sensitivity to simple colored patterns , 1996, Vision Research.

[16]  M. L. F. D. Mattiello,et al.  Suprathreshold contrast perception at different luminance levels , 1985, Vision Research.