• Proceedings of the Korea Contents Association Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.865-869
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• 2009

An image resolution enhancement is mainly utilized as pre-processing technique for various image processing application. It requires to decrease image quality deterioration such as blurring. In this paper, we propose an image resolution enhancement algorithm using low level interpolation. In the proposed algorithm, we calculate an error using low level interpolation, estimate an error image from the calculated error. The estimated error image is added interpolated high resolution image, it become lastly reconstruction image. Our experiments obtained the average PSNR about 1dB which is improved results better than conventional method for sensitive image quality. Also, subjective image quality with edge region is more clearness. The proposed method may be helpful for applications in various multimedia systems such as image restoration.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.426-445
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• 2012

Conventional rate control (RC) schemes for H.264 video coding usually regulate output bit rate to match channel bandwidth by adjusting quantization parameter (QP) at fixed full frame rate, and the passive frame skipping to avoid buffer overflow usually occurs when scene changes or high motions exist in video sequences especially at low bit rate, which degrades spatial-temporal quality and causes jerky effect. In this paper, an active content adaptive frame skipping scheme is proposed instead of passive methods, which skips subjectively trivial frames by structural similarity (SSIM) measurement between the original frame and the interpolated frame via motion vector (MV) copy scheme. The saved bits from skipped frames are allocated to coded key ones to enhance their spatial quality, and the skipped frames are well recovered based on MV copy scheme from adjacent key ones at the decoder side to maintain constant frame rate. Experimental results show that the proposed active SSIM-based frameskip scheme acquires better and more consistent spatial-temporal quality both in objective (PSNR) and subjective (SSIM) sense with low complexity compared to classic fixed frame rate control method JVT-G012 and prior objective metric based frameskip method.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.87-97
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• 2018

Maximum intensity projection (MIP) is a common visualization technique in medical imaging system. A typical method to improve the performance of MIP is empty space leaping, which skips unnecessary area. This research proposes a new method to improve the existing empty space leaping. In order to skip more regions, we introduce a variety of acceleration strategies that use some tolerance given by the user to take part in image quality loss. Each proposed method shows various image quality and speed, and this study compares them to select the best one. Experimental results show that it is most efficient to add a constant tolerance function when the image quality required by the user is low. Conversely, when the user required image quality is high, a function with a low tolerance of volume center is most effective. Applying the proposed method to general MIP visualization can generate a relatively high quality image in a short time.

• Journal of Cardiovascular Imaging
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.108-115
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• 2023

BACKGROUND: Minimizing contrast dose and radiation exposure while maintaining image quality during computed tomography angiography (CTA) for transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is desirable, but not well established. This systematic review compares image quality for low contrast and low kV CTA versus conventional CTA in patients with aortic stenosis undergoing TAVR planning. METHODS: We performed a systematic literature review to identify clinical studies comparing imaging strategies for patients with aortic stenosis undergoing TAVR planning. The primary outcomes of image quality as assessed by the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) were reported as random effects mean difference with 95% confidence interval (CI). RESULTS: We included 6 studies reporting on 353 patients. There was no difference in cardiac SNR (mean difference, -1.42; 95% CI, -5.71 to 2.88; p = 0.52), cardiac CNR (mean difference, -3.83; 95% CI, -9.98 to 2.32; p = 0.22), aortic SNR (mean difference, -0.23; 95% CI, -7.83 to 7.37; p = 0.95), aortic CNR (mean difference, -3.95; 95% CI, -12.03 to 4.13; p = 0.34), and ileofemoral SNR (mean difference, -6.09; 95% CI, -13.80 to 1.62; p = 0.12) between the low dose and conventional protocols. There was a difference in ileofemoral CNR between the low dose and conventional protocols with a mean difference of -9.26 (95% CI, -15.06 to -3.46; p = 0.002). Overall, subjective image quality was similar between the 2 protocols. CONCLUSIONS: This systematic review suggests that low contrast and low kV CTA for TAVR planning provides similar image quality to conventional CTA.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.1814-1828
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• 2021

Low-light image enhancement is a key technique to overcome the quality degradation of photos taken under scotopic vision illumination conditions. The degradation includes low brightness, low contrast, and outstanding noise, which would seriously affect the vision of the human eye recognition ability and subsequent image processing. In this paper, we propose an approach based on deep learning and Retinex theory to enhance the low-light image, which includes image decomposition, illumination prediction, image reconstruction, and image optimization. The first three parts can reconstruct the enhanced image that suffers from low-resolution. To reduce the noise of the enhanced image and improve the image quality, a super-resolution algorithm based on the Laplacian pyramid network is introduced to optimize the image. The Laplacian pyramid network can improve the resolution of the enhanced image through multiple feature extraction and deconvolution operations. Furthermore, a combination loss function is explored in the network training stage to improve the efficiency of the algorithm. Extensive experiments and comprehensive evaluations demonstrate the strength of the proposed method, the result is closer to the real-world scene in lightness, color, and details. Besides, experiments also demonstrate that the proposed method with the single low-light image can achieve the same effect as multi-exposure image fusion algorithm and no ghost is introduced.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Broadcast Engineers Conference
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• 1996.06a
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• pp.175-180
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• 1996

In this paper, a new image segmentation method based on merging of two low contrast neighbor regions iteratively is proposed. It is suitable for very low bit rate coding. The proposed method reduces efficiently contour information and preserves subjective and objective image quality. It consists of image segmentation using 4-level hierarchical structure based on mathematical morphology and 1-level region merging structure using the contrast difference of two adjacent neighbor regions. For each segmented region of the third level, two adjacent neighbor regions having low contrast difference value in fourth level based on contrast difference value is merged iteratively. It preserves image quality and shows the noticeable reduction of the contour information, so that it can improve the bottleneck problem of segmentation-based coding at very low bit rate.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.657-660
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• 2009

An image interpolation is a basis technique for various image processing and is required to minimize approaches for image quality deterioration. In this paper, we propose an improved bilinear interpolation using loss information estimation. In the proposed algorithm, we estimate loss information of low resolution image using down-sampling and interpolation of acquisition low resolution. The estimated loss information is utilized interpolated image, and it decrease image quality deterioration. Our experiments obtained the average PSNR 0.97~1.79dB which is improved results better than conventional method for sensitive image quality. Also, subjective image quality with edge region is more clearness. The proposed method may be helpful for applications in various multimedia systems such as image resolution enhancement and image restoration.

• IEIE Transactions on Smart Processing and Computing
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• v.5 no.5
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• pp.310-318
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• 2016

Emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and the Advanced Driver Assistant System (ADAS) often have image transmission functions with tough constraints, like low power and/or low delay, which require that they adopt line-based, low memory compression methods instead of existing frame-based image compression standards. Bit rate control in the conventional frame-based compression systems requires a lot of hardware resources when the scope of handled data falls at the frame level. On the other hand, attempts to reduce the heavy hardware resource requirement by focusing on line-level processing yield uneven image quality through the frame. In this paper, we propose a bit rate control that maintains consistency in image quality through the frame and improves the legibility of text regions. To find the line characteristics, the proposed bit rate control tests each line for ease of compression and the existence of text. Experiments on the proposed bit rate control show peak signal-to-noise ratios (PSNRs) similar to those of conventional bit rate controls, but with the use of significantly fewer hardware resources.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.23 no.9A
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• pp.2345-2354
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• 1998

There have been many researches to yield higher resolution image quality from the low resolution CCD device. The resolution of it is primary factor for the image quality of digital still camera and in manufacturing price. IN this paper, image enlargement algorithm, which reduces blocking effect of enlarged low resolution image and minimizes ringing and blur effect occurring around edge in linear interpolation, is proposed. This algorithm is composed of gaussian low pass filter which eliminates aliasing, least square spline interpolation and non-linear interpolation based on step edge model.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.71-76
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• 2020

In this paper, we propose a super-resolution method that reconstructs compressed low-resolution images into high-resolution images. We propose a CNN model with a small number of parameters, and even if quantization is applied to the proposed model, super-resolution can be implemented without deteriorating the image quality. To further improve the quality of the compressed low-resolution image, a new degradation model was proposed instead of the existing bicubic degradation model. The proposed degradation model is used only in the training process and can be applied by changing only the parameter values to the original CNN model. In the super-resolution image applying the proposed degradation model, visual artifacts caused by image compression were effectively removed. As a result, our proposed method generates higher PSNR values at compressed images and shows better visual quality, compared to conventional CNN-based SR methods.