Continuous digital zooming using local self-similarity-based super-resolution for an asymmetric dual camera system

J Opt Soc Am A Opt Image Sci Vis. 2017 Jun 1;34(6):991-1003. doi: 10.1364/JOSAA.34.000991.

Abstract

This paper presents a digital zooming method using a super-resolution (SR) algorithm based on the local self-similarity between the wide- and tele-view images acquired by an asymmetric dual camera system. The proposed SR algorithm consists of four steps: (i) registration of an optically zoomed image to the wide-view image, (ii) restoration of the central region of the zoomed wide-view image, (iii) restoration of the boundary region of the zoomed wide-view image, and (iv) fusion of the results from steps (ii) and (iii). Since an asymmetric dual camera system acquires different-resolution images on the same scene due to the different optical specifications, the proposed method can restore the low-resolution wide-view image using the ideal high-frequency component estimated from the optically zoomed image. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can provide significantly improved high-resolution wide-view images compared to existing single-image-based SR methods.