Color image zooming on the Bayer pattern

Abstract

A zooming framework suitable for single-sensor digital cameras is introduced and analyzed in this paper. The proposed framework is capable of zooming and enlarging data acquired by single-sensor cameras that employ the Bayer pattern as a color filter array (CFA). The approach allows for operations on noise-free data at the hardware level. Complexity and cost implementation are thus greatly reduced. The proposed zooming framework employs: 1) a spectral model to preserve spectral characteristics of the enlarged CFA image and 2) an adaptive edge-sensing mechanism capable of tracking the underlying structural content of the Bayer data. The framework readably unifies numerous solutions which differ in design characteristics, computational efficiency, and performance. Simulation studies indicate that the new zooming approach produces sharp, visually pleasing outputs and it yields excellent performance, in terms of both subjective and objective image quality measures.