Image Enhancement for Computational Integral Imaging Reconstruction via Four-Dimensional Image Structure

This paper describes the image enhancement of a computational integral imaging reconstruction method via reconstructing a four-dimensional (4-D) image structure. A computational reconstruction method for high-resolution three-dimensional (3-D) images is highly required in 3-D applications such as 3-D visualization and 3-D object recognition. To improve the visual quality of reconstructed images, we introduce an adjustable parameter to produce a group of 3-D images from a single elemental image array. The adjustable parameter controls overlapping in back projection with a transformation of cropping and translating elemental images. It turns out that the new parameter is an independent parameter from the reconstruction position to reconstruct a 4-D image structure with four axes of x, y, z, and k. The 4-D image structure of the proposed method provides more visual information than existing methods. Computer simulations and optical experiments are carried out to show the feasibility of the proposed method. The results indicate that our method enhances the image quality of 3-D images by providing a 4-D image structure with the adjustable parameter.