ACCURACY IMPROVEMENTS AND ARTIFACTS REMOVAL IN EDGE BASED IMAGE INTERPOLATION

Abstract

In this paper we analyse the problem of general purpose image upscaling that preserves edge features and natural appearance and we present the results of subjective and objective evaluation of images interpolated using different algorithms. In particular, we consider the well-known NEDI (New Edge Directed Interpolation, Li and Orchard, 2001) method, showing that by modifying it in order to reduce numerical instability and making the region used to estimate the low resolution covariance adaptive, it is possible to obtain relevant improvements in the interpolation quality. The implementation of the new algorithm (iNEDI, improved New Edge Directed Interpolation), even if computationally heavy (as the Li and Orchard’s method), obtained, in both subjective and objective tests, quality scores that are notably higher than those obtained with NEDI and other methods presented in the literature.