Automatic picture detail detection in the presence of random noise

Abstract

This paper is intended to be a companion to the paper in this issue by Cherry, et al., entitled "An Experimental Study of the Possible Bandwidth Compression of Visual Image Signals." It concerns particularly that part of the visual signal compression process carried out by the "picture detail detector." The purpose of this detector is to make a continuous running examination of a scanned video signal, in real time and to make successive decisions concerning the location of essential sample points. These points are the boundaries between successive step functions which adequately represent a reduced form of the picture suitable for encoding in a compression scheme. "Suitable here means an adequate representation of the picture as judged by eye. The device is based upon a statistical inference process which effectively leads to discrimination between the video signal and the background random noise based upon the fact that the statistical properties of successive picture points are different for the picture itself and for the noise.