Irradiance Preserving Image Interpolation

In this paper we present a new image up scaling (single image super resolution) algorithm. It is based on the refinement of a simple pixel decimation followed by an optimization step maximizing the smoothness of the second order derivatives of the image intensity while keeping the sum of the brightness values of each subdivided pixel (i.e. the estimated irradiance on the area) constant. The method is physically grounded and creates images that appear very sharp and with reduced artifacts. Subjective and objective tests demonstrate the high quality of the results obtained.