Image Quality Improvements Based on Motion-Based Deblurring for Single-Photon Imaging

Kiyotaka Iwabuchi,Yusuke Kameda,Takayuki Hamamoto

doi:10.1109/access.2021.3059293

Abstract

Photon counting imaging can be used to capture clearly photon-limited scenes. In photon counting imaging, information on incident photons is obtained as binary frames (bit-plane frames), which are transformed into a multi-bit image in the reconstruction process. In this process, it is necessary to apply a deblurring method to enable the capture of dynamic scenes without motion blur. In this article, a deblurring method for the high-quality bit-plane frame reconstruction of dynamic scenes is proposed. The proposed method involves the deblurring of units of object motion within a scene through the application of motion compensation to pixels sharing the same motions. This method achieves more efficient motion blur suppression than the application of simple deblurring to pixel block or spatial region units. It also applies a novel technique for accurate motion estimation from the bit-plane frame even in photon-limited situations through the statistical evaluation of the temporal variation of photon incidence. In addition to deblurring, our experimental results also revealed that the proposed method can be applied for denoising, which improves the peak signal-to-noise ratio by 1.2 dB. In summary, the proposed method for bit-plane reconstruction achieves high quality imaging even in photon-limited dynamic scenes.

Highlights

The development of methods for obtaining high-quality images in photon-limited situations would be useful in several fields, including medicine, security, and science [1]–[4]
An improvement in PSNR of 1.2 dB was achieved compared to the case where only deblurring was performed
In this article, we proposed a deblurring method for single-photon imaging using ‘‘partially deblurred images’’ to suppress motion blur in a scene in blocks of common pixel motion

Summary

Introduction

The development of methods for obtaining high-quality images in photon-limited situations would be useful in several fields, including medicine, security, and science [1]–[4]. Relative to a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor, which has been generally used in recent years, imaging devices with single-photon detection sensitivity, such as single-photon avalanche diodes (SPAD) sensors [5] and quanta image sensors (QIS) [6], have significant advantages in terms of high sensitivity and temporal resolution under photon-limited imaging conditions [7], [8]. Such imaging devices could be used for consumer imaging applications [9]. Another advantage of photon counting imaging is the ability to choose the reconstruction method depending on the application [11]

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Conclusion