Patent Document ID: 8447135
Application ID: 13038731
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A computer-implemented method for using a degraded first image to generate a second image, the second image being a stationary point of an Euler's elastica energy defined using the first and second images, the method comprising finding a stationary point of an augmented Lagrangian function, obtained from the Euler's elastica energy using a plurality of supplementary variables and Lagrange multipliers; wherein the Euler's elastica energy is of the form: ∫ Ω ⁢ ( a + b ⁡ ( ∇ · ∇ u  ∇ u  ) 2 ) ⁢ ⁢  ∇ u  + η s ⁢ ∫ Γ ⁢  u - u 0  s , where: (i) a, b and η are parameters which are greater than zero, and s is a parameter which is greater than or equal to 1; (ii) the first image is a set of values u 0 defined at a set of respective points Γ, and the second image is a set of values u defined at a set of respective points Ω, where the set of points Ωcomprises the set of points Γ; and (iii) ∫ Ω ⁢ ⁢ and ⁢ ⁢ ∫ Γ denote respectively the integrals over the sets of points Ω and Γ.