f(x, y, t) according to the following three cases, which
occur depending on their probability.
• f(x, y, t − 1) ≤ f(x, y, t) ≤ f(x, y, t + 1) or
f(x, y, t + 1) ≤ f(x, y, t) ≤ f(x, y, t − 1) =⇒ the
output of the NR is f(x, y, t)
• f(x, y, t) is the highest=⇒ the output of the NR is
f(x, y, t) − δ
• f(x, y, t) is the lowest=⇒ the output of the NR is
f(x, y, t) + δ
Condition 1.: if f(x,y,t) is in the middle, f(x,y,t) does
not contain noise and no signal processing is neces-
sary for f(x,y,t). The output of the NR is f(x,y,t). Con-
dition 2.: if f(x,y,t) is the highest of the three sig-
nals, f(x,y,t)- is the output of the NR. Condition 3.:
if f(x,y,t) is the lowest of the three signals, f(x,y,t)+ is
the output of the NR. A block diagram of the proposed
signal processing is shown in Figure 5. The proposed
NR comprises two frame memories, one comparer,
one adder, one subtracter, and one selector. The com-
parer has three inputs. It compares f(x,y,t) with the
other two signals, f(x,y,t-1) and f(x,y,t+1). The output
of the comparer is three bits, which represent three
conditions: f(x,y,t) is the highest, f(x,y,t) is in the
middle, and f(x,y,t) is the lowest of the three values
. These three bits are introduced to the selector. This
approach is sufficiently simple to embody as a real-
time noise reducer.
In Figure 5, the top left is the video input of the
NR filter and the bottom right is the output of NR
filter. f(x,y,t-1), f(x,y,t), and f(x,y,t+1) are obtained
with the two frame memories. By comparing f(x,y,t)
with the other two values, the order of f(x,y,t) is ob-
tained. If the value of f(x,y,t) is in the middle (case 1),
f(x,y,t) is the output of the NR. If f(x,y,t) is the high-
est, f(x,y,t)- is the output of NR (case 2). If f(x,y,t) is
the lowest, f(x,y,t)+ is the output of NR. f(x,y,t)- and
f(x,y,t)+ are created by the adder and the subtracter.
The three paths, f(x,y,t), f(x,y,t)-, and f(x,y,t)+, are the
inputs of the selector, and one of them is selected as
the output of the comparer. The block diagram shown
in Figure 5 indicates practical hardware that could im-
plement the proposed algorithm. It is a simple and
compact design for the development of real-time NR
hardware.
5 EXPERIMENT
5.1 Simulation Results
Computer simulations were conducted to compare the
peak signal-to-noise ratios (PSNRs) of the proposed
and conventional NR methods. Figure 7 shows stills
from five video sequences. In Figures 7(a) and (e), the
train and marching people are moving and the cam-
era is panning slowly. In Figure 1(b), the camera was
moved using a circular dolly, whereas in Figure 7(d),
it was dollied in and then zoomed back. The woman
stood at the same place in both sequences and did not
move significantly. Figure7(c) shows a music concert
with flashing lights and confetti.
We preparedtest video sequences by adding Gaus-
sian noise ( = 7) to Figures 7(a)(e). We then compared
the PSNRs of the proposed NR method with those of
conventional NR using computer simulations. Ow-
ing to space limitations, only the results for Figures
7(a) and (b) are presented in Figures 8 and 9. Herein,
the horizontal axis shows the frame number, and the
vertical axis shows the PSNR. The blue lines show
the PSNRs for the videos with added noise compared
with the original videos. These stay constant because
a constant level of noise ( = 7) was added. The yellow
green and purple lines show the results of process-
ing the videos with conventional NR using parame-
ters = 0.2 and 0.5, respectively, whereas the brown
lines show the results of processing the videos using
the proposed method.
Although the conventional NR method reduced
the noise in the videos, its PSNRs are lower than those
for the noisy test videos. This means that it reduced
noise and degraded the resolution. In contrast, the
proposed method (brown lines) always yields PSNRs
higher than those of the noisy test videos, as shown in
both Figures 8 and 9. These results indicate that the
proposed NR method outperforms conventional NR.
5.2 Low Luminace Video
Figure 6 shows the processed result of Figure 2 using
the proposed method three times sequentially. Com-
paring Figure 3 with Figure 6, the image quality of
Figure 6 is better than that of Figure 3. Blur in Figure
6 is less than that in Figure 3 and noise is greatly re-
duced. Note that Figures 2, 3, and 6 are just computer
simulation results.
We apply the proposed method to an actual video.
Figure 10 shows a video frame shot under 3.5 lx il-
lumination by a high-sensitivity video camera. Al-
though 3.5 lx illumination is not sufficient for imag-
ing, noise is not visible. In the video, the doll is rotat-
ing and the hair ornament is curving due to centrifugal
force. Figure 11 shows a video frame shot under 0.4
lx illumination taken by the same video camera. Even
though a high-sensitivity camera is used, noise is visi-
ble everywhere. Figure 12 shows the processed result
of Fig. 10 by the proposed method. Comparing Fig-