Bayer Image Demosaicking Using Eight-Directional Weights Based on the Gradient of Color Difference

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a new demosaicking algorithm which uses eight-directional weights based on the gradient of color difference (EWGCD) for Bayer image demosaicking. To obtain the interpolation of green (G) pixels, the eight-directional G pixel values are first estimated in red (R)/blue (B) pixels. This estimate is used to calculate the color difference in R/B pixels of the Bayer image in diagonal directions. However, in horizontal and vertical directions, the new estimated G pixels are defined to obtain the color difference. The eight-directional weights of estimated G pixels can be obtained by considering the gradient of the color difference and the gradient of the RGB pixels of the Bayer image. Therefore, the eight-directional weighted values and the first estimated G pixel values are combined to obtain the full G image. Compared with six similar algorithms using the same eighteen McMaster images, the results of the experiment demonstrate that the proposed algorithm has a better performance not only in the subjective visual measurement but also in the assessments of peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) and structural similarity (SSIM) index measurement.

Keywords

• image demosaicking
• gradient of color difference
• eight-directional weights
• minimum Laplacian energy