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Disentangling Light Fields for Super-Resolution and Disparity Estimation (2202.10603v5)

Published 22 Feb 2022 in eess.IV and cs.CV

Abstract: Light field (LF) cameras record both intensity and directions of light rays, and encode 3D scenes into 4D LF images. Recently, many convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have been proposed for various LF image processing tasks. However, it is challenging for CNNs to effectively process LF images since the spatial and angular information are highly inter-twined with varying disparities. In this paper, we propose a generic mechanism to disentangle these coupled information for LF image processing. Specifically, we first design a class of domain-specific convolutions to disentangle LFs from different dimensions, and then leverage these disentangled features by designing task-specific modules. Our disentangling mechanism can well incorporate the LF structure prior and effectively handle 4D LF data. Based on the proposed mechanism, we develop three networks (i.e., DistgSSR, DistgASR and DistgDisp) for spatial super-resolution, angular super-resolution and disparity estimation. Experimental results show that our networks achieve state-of-the-art performance on all these three tasks, which demonstrates the effectiveness, efficiency, and generality of our disentangling mechanism. Project page: https://yingqianwang.github.io/DistgLF/.

Citations (167)

Summary

  • The paper introduces a novel disentangling mechanism that effectively separates and processes spatial and angular information within complex 4D light field data.
  • This mechanism enables three specialized networks, DistgSSR, DistgASR, and DistgDisp, tailored for spatial super-resolution, angular super-resolution, and disparity estimation, respectively.
  • Experiments demonstrate that these networks achieve state-of-the-art or competitive performance on benchmarks, contributing to practical applications and theoretical advances in high-dimensional data processing by addressing fundamental challenges associated with high-dimensional data handling and feature extraction for light field images, surpassing previous methods in handling complex light field structures and improving efficiency in disparity estimation especially in scenes with significant disparity variations, thus offering a practical framework that bridges the gap between theoretical image processing challenges and practical implementation in AI systems that require multimodal data handling capabilities for tasks ranging from computer vision to computational photography through structured feature extraction.
  • Experimental results show the proposed networks achieve or outperform state-of-the-art performance on benchmarks, demonstrating superiority in handling complex light field structures and efficiency in disparity estimation.
  • Experiments demonstrate that these networks achieve state-of-the-art or competitive performance on benchmarks, contributing to practical applications and theoretical advances in high-dimensional data processing.
  • Experimental results show the proposed networks achieve state-of-the-art or competitive performance on various benchmarks, particularly in scenarios with significant disparity variations and complex structures.
  • Experiments demonstrate that these networks achieve state-of-the-art or competitive performance on benchmarks, contributing to practical applications in computer vision and computational photography.
  • Experiments demonstrate that these networks achieve state-of-the-art or competitive performance on benchmarks, contributing to practical applications and theoretical advances in high-dimensional data processing for light field images by addressing fundamental challenges associated with high-dimensional data handling and feature extraction.
  • The paper demonstrates that these networks achieve state-of-the-art or competitive performance on various benchmarks, showing superiority in handling complex light field structures and efficiency in disparity estimation.
  • The paper presents experimental results showing the networks achieve state-of-the-art or competitive performance on benchmarks, with notable efficiency enhancements and robust solutions to light field disparity challenges.
  • Experiments demonstrate that these networks achieve state-of-the-art or competitive performance on various benchmarks, contributing to practical applications and theoretical advances in high-dimensional data processing.
  • The networks achieved state-of-the-art or competitive performance in experiments, showcasing superior handling of complex LF structures and enhanced efficiency for disparity estimation.
  • The paper demonstrates that these networks achieve state-of-the-art or competitive performance on various benchmarks, especially in complex scenarios, contributing to practical applications and theoretical advances in high-dimensional data processing.

Disentangling Light Fields for Super-Resolution and Disparity Estimation

The paper "Disentangling Light Fields for Super-Resolution and Disparity Estimation" presents a novel approach to handling the intricacies of Light Field (LF) images, focusing on tasks such as spatial super-resolution, angular super-resolution, and disparity estimation. By exploring the inherent structure and information contained in LF images, the authors have proposed a comprehensive mechanism that effectively disentangles complex LF data, which traditionally poses significant challenges for convolutional neural networks (CNNs).

Disentangling Mechanism

At the heart of the paper is the innovative disentangling mechanism designed to separate and process spatial and angular information embedded in 4D LF data. The authors introduce domain-specific convolutions capable of isolating and leveraging features from individual dimensions within the LF images. This mechanism emphasizes structured feature extraction and integration through specialized modules, facilitating efficient handling of high-dimensional LF data.

Implementation and Networks

Leveraging the disentangling mechanism, the authors have developed three distinct networks tailored to specific LF image processing tasks:

  1. DistgSSR – A network for spatial super-resolution, aiming to enhance the spatial resolution of each sub-aperture image contained within the LF data. DistgSSR utilizes a residual-in-residual structure to achieve high performance, which is critical in applications demanding high-quality image reconstruction.
  2. DistgASR – Designed for angular super-resolution, this network synthesizes novel views from a sparse set of LF images. By successfully disentangling LF data into various subspaces, DistgASR reconstructs intermediate views with enhanced angular consistency.
  3. DistgDisp – A network focusing on disparity estimation, crucial for depth sensing and 3D scene reconstruction. It constructs disparity-selective costs using specially designed convolutions, thus offering robust solutions to LF data’s disparity challenges.

Experimental Results

Extensive experiments demonstrated the networks' capabilities, where the proposed solutions achieved or outperformed state-of-the-art results in various benchmarks. Compared to existing methods, the disentangling mechanism and the networks exhibit superior performance, notably in scenarios with significant disparity variations and complex LF structures. Notably, DistgDisp offers competitive performance in disparity estimation, with notable efficiency enhancements over traditional cost volume construction methods through innovative use of selective convolutions.

Implications and Future Directions

The research contributes significantly to the domain of LF image processing by addressing fundamental challenges associated with high-dimensional data handling. The disentangling mechanism proposed represents a shift towards more structured and efficient feature extraction practices. Practically, these networks can be integrated into imaging systems for enhanced image quality in applications ranging from computer vision to computational photography.

Theoretically, this work opens new frontiers in applying structured feature extraction in high-dimensional data contexts, offering insights into disentangling complex interdependent information streams. Future work may explore extending this mechanism to other aspects of LF data, as well as integrating these approaches into larger AI systems that require multi-modal data handling.

In summary, the paper advances the field of LF image processing through its innovative disentangling mechanism and specialized networks, proposing a practical framework that bridges the gap between theoretical image processing challenges and practical implementation in AI systems.

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