An efficient selective perceptual-based super-resolution estimator

In this paper, a selective perceptual-based (SELP) framework is presented to reduce the complexity of popular super-resolution (SR) algorithms while maintaining the desired quality of the enhanced images/video. A perceptual human visual system model is proposed to compute local contrast sensitivity thresholds. The obtained thresholds are used to select which pixels are super-resolved based on the perceived visibility of local edges. Processing only a set of perceptually significant pixels reduces significantly the computational complexity of SR algorithms without losing the achievable visual quality. The proposed SELP framework is integrated into a maximum-a posteriori-based SR algorithm as well as a fast two-stage fusion-restoration SR estimator. Simulation results show a significant reduction on average in computational complexity with comparable signal-to-noise ratio gains and visual quality.