Image denoising using mixtures of Gaussian scale mixtures

The local statistical properties of photographic images, when represented in a multi-scale basis, have been described using Gaussian scale mixtures (GSMs). In that model, each spatial neighborhood of coefficients is described as a Gaussian random vector modulated by a random hidden positive scaling variable. Here, we introduce a more powerful model in which neighborhoods of each subband are described as a finite mixture of GSMs. We develop methods to learn the mixing densities and covariance matrices associated with each of the GSM components from a single image, and show that this process naturally segments the image into regions of similar content. The model parameters can also be learned in the presence of additive Gaussian noise, and the resulting fitted model may be used as a prior for Bayesian noise removal. Simulations demonstrate this model substantially outperforms the original GSM model.