Images De-noising with Mapshrink Estimate and Dual-threshold in Curvelet Domain

Wang Xinchun#, Hong Ming*, Yang Yongfeng*

#

Department of Physical and Electronics, Chuxiong Normal University Yunnan China * Department of Communication Engineering, Yunnan University Yunnan China transform has a lot of data redundancy. Therefore, we can obtain more rapid velocity and less data redundancy by improving the first generation [10] to the second generation. First, in the two-dimensional space R 2 , defining x as a spatial position parameter, as a frequency domain parameter, and r & as polar coordinate parameters in the frequency domain as well. W (r ) and V (r ) are smooth nonnegative radius window and corner window, respectively. They must satisfy (1) and (2) at the same time.

AbstractMapshrink algorithm is widely used in the image processing of wavelet Domain, and Curvelet transform is a new multi-scale transform theory with multi-direction. By applying Mapshrink to Curvelet Domain and analyzing single threshold de-noising method existing problem, this paper proposes a de-noising method with dual threshold, combining global threshold and local threshold, which not only retains the quality of global threshold in keeping the general gray scale of an image but also preserves the advantage in edge detail maintenance of local self-adaptive method. Based on the experimental results, this method is much more effective than de-noising method of global threshold or self-adaptive threshold in Curvelet Domain. Keywordscurvelet transform; global threshold; local adaptivethreshold; max posteriori estimate; dual threshold

W
j =

(2 j r ) = 1 ,

r (3 / 4,3 / 2)

(1) (2)

I. INTRODUCTION Curvelet transform[1] is one of the sparsest methods to represent the edge curve of an image. Curvelet transform combines the anisotropy of ridgelet transform and the multi-scale characteristic of wavelet transform [2-3] and the curvelet transform can represent more characteristic information of an image during processing. Curvelet transform is a function analysis method of multiresolution, band-pass, multi-direction and it possesses three characteristics of representation of optimal images, which have been pointed out by the physiological research. It has prominent advantages on the sparse representation of smooth area and the edge of an image. Mapshrink algorithm [4-7] was put forward by Liu and Moulin according to the de-noising theory in the wavelet domain. The method gains a reasonable threshold by making use of the Bayesian maximum posteriori probability estimate theory and analysis decomposition coefficients of each layer in the wavelet domain, combined with the likelihood function and prior probability function. Consequently, it filters with soft or hard threshold methods. The paper introduces the mapshrink algorithm into curvelet domain and analyzes the defects of global threshold [8] de-noising based on the mapshrink algorithm in the curvelet domain. II. CURVELET TRANSFORM Wavelet transform is a ridge wavelet transform [9] added with binary square windows, namely, it performs the ridge transform after dividing a curve into short enough segments to approximate a straight line. But the

V
j =

(t l ) = 1 ,

l (1 / 2,1 / 2)

As for j j0 with all scales, defining its Fourier frequency-domain window 2 j / 2 (3) U j (r , ) = 2 3 j / 4W (2 j r )V ( ) 2

Where j / 2 represents the integral part of

j/2.
~ 2 j/2

~ 2j

Figure 1. Segments chart in the wavelet frequency domain.

We can see from the above definition that U j is wedgeshaped window in the polar coordinate. As illustrated in Figure 1, the shaded area represents a wedge-shaped window and is the support area of the curvelet. According to above definitions, we specified the mother curvelet as j ( x) and its Fourier transform as
j j ( x ) = U j ( ) . On the scale of 2 , all curvelets could

be obtained by the rotation and translation of j ( x) . We introduced equally spaced rotation angle sequences

978-1-4244-5555-3/10/$26.00 2010 IEEE

l = 2 2 j / 2 l , ( l = 0,1,2and 0 l < 2 ) and displacement parameter series k = (k1, k2 ) Z 2 . We defined as a direction angle of 2 j scale and the curvelet whose location is ( j,k) 1 xk =R (k1 2j , k2 2j / 2)
l

III. MAPSHRINK(MAX POSTERIORI ESTIMATE ATROPHY)

ALGORITHM

is

( j ,l ) j ,l ,k ( x) = j [ R ( x x k )] .
k

Hence

the

curvelet

transform in the frequency domain can be defined easily as the product of j ,l ,k and f L2 ( R 2 ) , namely
c ( j , l , k ) = f , j ,l ,k = 2 f ( x ) j ,l ,k ( x )dx
R

(4)

If obtaining curvelet coefficient y = w + n , where symbols denote a noisy image, a real image and independently and identically distributed Gaussian noise respectively. The probability density function of n is Pn (n) and it obeys the distribution N (0, 2 ) . Map estimation is a means of obtaining the estimate ( y ) of real coefficient from the observing coefficient y , so that making the posteriori probability density P| y ( | y)

Curvelet, similar to wavelet theory, also includes components of rough and fine scale. Introducing a lowpass window W0 ,that satisfies | W ( r ) |2 + | W ( 2 j r ) |2 = 1 ,
0

j 0

reach its most. Where, the priori probability of the curvelet parameter of the real signal obeys Laplace distribution
P ( ) = 2 1 exp 2 X X

(9)

for ( k1 , k 2 ) Z , defining curvelet on rough scale

j0 , k ( x ) = j0 ( x 2 j0 k ) j ( ) = 2 j0 W0 ( 2 j0 ) 0

(5)

So curvelet on rough scale doesnt take on directional properties. We defined a local window in Cartesian ~ ~ coordinates U j ,l ( ) = W j ( )V j ( ) , where
~ W ( ) = 2j +1 ( ) 2j ( ) j 2 j / 2 2 V j ( ) = V 1

The distribution has only a model parameter the standard deviation of the edge X . On the assumption that the probability density function of the noise coefficient n is zero-mean Gaussian distribution. 1 n2 (10) Pn (n) = exp( 2 ) 2 2 To make the posterior probability[12] most, we get

(6)

( y ) = arg max P ( y ) P ( )

(11)

We introduced equally spaced slope series j/2 j /2 tan i= 2 j / 2 l , l = 2 , ,2 1, synthesizing the above ~ definitions can be expressed as U j, l
U j ,l ( ) = W j ( )V j ( Sl ) ,
~

Introducing (9), (10) into (11) and log the right side of the equation. 2 ( y )2 (12) ) ( y) = arg max( X 2 2 Differentiating the right side of the equation and letting the derivative equals zero. 2 2 (13) ( y) = y | |' X Making use of | |' = sign( ) , on the assumption of that and y are of the same positive and negative, so

where

is

shear

matrix

1 0 . So the discrete curvelet is defined as and S = tan 1 ~ 1 T (7) c ( j , l , k ) = f ( ) U j ( S j ) exp[ i < S b , > ]d

Because the shear matrix S (k 12 j , k 2 2 j / 2 ) is not l a normal matrix, the fast Fourier algorithm cannot be applied. Therefore, the above formula is also expressed as ~ (8) c ( j, l , k ) = f ( S ) U j ( ) exp[ i < b, >]d

( y ) =| y | sign ( y )

2 2

sign ( y )

(14)

The transform of the discrete curvelet can be realized with the local Fourier transform. Details are referred to in Ref [11]. Coefficient distribution obtained by the curvelet transform: The higher the image layer contains more highfrequency information and noise; Coefficients of each layer is the same order of magnitude, however, coefficient distribution matrixes still have differences in different angles matrixes. The curvelet coefficients distribution in the rough-scale is not directional, however, coefficients in fine-scale are obtained through the band-pass filter in the frequency domain of the image and the coefficients of each ring are placed inside a layer, stored as a direction block matrix.

According to Donohos threshold denoising theory we assume 2 2 / X as the threshold[13]. So we can obtain estimate of MAP.
( y ) = sign( y ) | y |

2 2 X

(15)

Estimate of the noise in smaller-scale curvelet coefficients has larger signal variance. We adopt median(| y | median(| y |)) (16) =
0.6745

to estimate noise standard deviation . There has little difference between large-scale noise and details of high frequency of coefficients. Noise standard deviation can be estimated by the following formula.

median(| y |) 0.6745

(17)
T1 T2

In each measure and each angle matrix we can obtain the estimation of variance y by the means of maximum likelihood estimation method.

y2 =
2

1 N2

y
y i s

(18)
A

C B

Where N is the number of angle matrix coefficients, so the estimation of the edge standard deviation X is
X = max( y 2 2 ,0)

(19)

Figure 2. Schematic diagram of dual-threshold denoising

IV. DENOISING METHOD OF DUAL-THRESHOLD The thought of the denoising method of dual-threshold is to process fine-scale coefficients in the curvelet domain by using two thresholds T1 and T2. It is generally considered that the coefficients of the main information of an image are larger. Edge coefficients and noise coefficients are very close. The method maintains the main information and the edge information of an image while filtering the noise out. As noise figures are generally located above the 3rd layer of coefficients from the curvelet transform, the paper processes the curvelet coefficient matrix in every direction respectively, applies Mapshrink algorithm to determine the threshold T1 and maintains the coefficients more than T1 as the primary information of an image. All of these are based on the image coefficients above the 3rd layer obtained by the method of the 2nd generation of discrete curvelet transform. The coefficients less than T1 contain edge and noise coefficients of an image. Because it is generally considered that most edge coefficients are larger than the surrounding noise ones, the paper introduces the second threshold T2. The paper applies a locally self-adaptive approach to set T1. T2 is determined by locally statistical properties of sliding window according to the curvelet coefficients. Following is the detail steps to determine T2. In each directional matrix of each layer in the curvelet domain we have the coefficients to be discriminated of a center and take a small sliding window as the center. Arranging the coefficients in the local sliding window in descending order, and T2 is determined equally to the Nth coefficient, where N is set according to noise distribution characteristics of the different layers. Once T2 is determined, we can distinguish coefficients less than T1, one by one. For those more than T2 the paper considers they are the edge information of the image and they should remain. Contrarily, for those less than T2 the paper considers they are noise information and they are assigned zero.

Figure 2 shows the absolute value of some row of curvelet coefficients at some angle in the 4th layer in the curvelet domain. Global threshold de-noising only keeps the coefficients more than T1 and filters out image edge ones less than T1 at A and B. Hence the fringe details are lost. Only using a local self-adaptive method will filter out the value at the place of C with lesser value inside the coefficient block with larger coefficient value. It will lose the primary grey information of an image and result in a decline in gray-scale contrast. The method of the paper not only saves the primary image information at the place C by the means of distinction of T1, but also saves the image edge information at the place A and B by the means of distinction of T2. V. ALGORITHM STEPS This paper is realized based on the MATLAB 7.0. 1) Processing curvelet transform for an image containg noise with function curvelab2.0. 2) According to above algorithm (15)-(19) determining the overall threshold T1. 3) Setting a local sliding window with the size of m*m (let m = 2s 1 in the simulation, where s is the number of the layers. Arranging the coefficients in local sliding window in descending order so T2 is equal to the value of the Nth ( N = m 2 * p%) coefficient. The paper sets p = 10 . m=2*s-1; % set the size of the windows B= C{s}{ }; % take the angle matrix of each layer [m,n]=size(B); N=round(m*m*(100-p)/100) ; for i=1:m for j=1:n D=B(i-(ch-1)/2:i+(ch-1)/2,j-(ch-1)/2:j+(ch-1)/2); k=sort(D(:)); % arrangement in ascending order T2=k(N); % set the value of T2 end end 4) Distinguishing elements of the coefficient matrix at each angle on each layer above 3rd obtained by curvelet transform. for layers s=4:6 for Angle matrix number =1:size c{s}

for the number of coefficient in matrix i=1:size c{s}{ }(:) if the coefficient is more than T1, remain it; else the coefficient is less than T1, calculate the threshold T2 in the m*m window as the center of the data if the coefficient is more than T2, remain it; else assign it zero. end end end end end

VII. CONCLUSION The paper puts forward a dual-threshold de-nosing method based on Mapshrink algorithm to denoise images, introduces Mapshrink algorithm into curvelet domain and achieves a very satisfactory result combined with local self-adaptive method. The method of the paper can excellently filter out Gaussian noise, Poisson noise and multiplicative noise, etc. It can be widely applied in other multi-scale analyses to improve information loss problem using single threshold and can achieve good results.

5) Inversion curvelet-transform the processed highlayer coefficients and unprocessed bottom-layer (1-3) ones to obtain the image after de-noising. VI. ANALYSIS OF THE EXPERIMETNAL RESULTS This paper, by adding two different types of noise respectively, carried out two sets of comparative tests and obtained two sets of experimental pictures effect and data. Now, we analyze the results by contrasting the effect and data after denoising by using the following methods: (a) using local adaptive threshold solely in curvelet domain, (b) using global threshold solely (c) dual-threshold proposed by the paper. Figure 3(A) is one of Lenas pictures of 512*512. Figure 3(B) is the image by adding Gaussian white noise of mean 0 and variance = 30 to Figure 3(A). Figure 3(C) is the image after denoising 3(B) by using local adaptive threshold solely in curvelet domain. 3(D) is the image after denoising 3(B) by using global threshold solely based on Mapshrink algorithm in curvelet domain. 3(E) is the one after denoising 3(B) by using the method in the paper. 3(F) is the image after adding multiplicative noise of mean 0 and variance = 50 into 3(A). 3(G) is the image after denoising 3(F) using local self-adaptive threshold algorithm solely in the curvelet domain. 3(H) is the image after denoising 3(F) using Mapshrink algorithm with global threshold in the curvelet domain solely. 3(I) is the image after denoising 3(F) using the method of the paper. 3(D) and 3(G) obtained after denoising by using global self-adaptive threshold solely lose a part of crucial image coefficients and the grey information of the image decreases a little but detail information is reserved more. 3(D) and 3(H) after denoising using global threshold solely make the grey contrast of the image strengthened. However, due to filtering out of some of the edge details of the image, the edges are not clear enough. 3(E) and 3(I) using the method of the paper retain stronger gray contrast of the image, but also retains the edge details of the image, and have a very good visual effect. Therefore, the method of the paper has the highest power signal noise ratio (PSNR) of the four. The method of the papers effect is obviously superior to single threshold method for Gaussian noise, Poisson noise and multiplicative noise. It has an excellent visual effect globally.

A Original image

B Additive noise image

C Local single threshold

D Global single threshold

E The method of the paper

F. Multiplicative noise image

G Local single threshold

H Global single threshold

Figure 3. The conclusion of the experiment

TABLE I F PEAK PSNR COMPARISON

Method Noise

[5]

Noisy image
18.0271 19.7469

Local threshold
25.986 26.9298

Global threshold
27.6787 27.4042

Method of the paper

29.4271 29.7697

[6]

Gaussian noise Multiplicative noise

[7]

[8]

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