Comparison Between an HVS Inspired Linear Filter and the Bilateral Filter in Performing "Vision at a Glance" through Smoothing with Edge Preservation

Abstract

We propose that the Magno (M)-channel filter, belonging to the extended classical receptive field (ECRF) model, provides us with "vision at a glance", by performing smoothing with edge preservation. We compare the performance of the M-channel filter with the well-known bilateral filter in achieving such "vision at a glance" which is akin to image preprocessing in the computer vision domain. We find that at higher noise levels, the M-channel filter performs better than the bilateral filter in terms of reducing noise while preserving edge details. The M-channel filter is also significantly simpler and therefore faster than the bilateral filter. Overall, the M-channel filter enables us to model, simulate and arrive at a better understanding of some of the initial mechanisms in visual pathway, while simultaneously providing a fast, biologically inspired algorithm for digital image preprocessing.