Patent Document ID: 6011875
Application ID: 09069232
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A method of enhancing the spatial resolution of a multispectral digital image of the type wherein a higher spatial resolution panchromatic image is merged with a plurality of lower spatial resolution spectral band images, comprising the steps of: a) simulating a lower spatial resolution panchromatic image; b) performing a Gram-Schmidt transformation on the simulated lower spatial resolution panchromatic image and the plurality of lower spatial resolution spectral band images, employing the simulated lower spatial resolution panchromatic image as the first band in the Gram-Schmidt transformation, to produce a plurality of transformed bands; c) adjusting the statistics of the higher spatial resolution panchromatic image to match the statistics of the first transform band resulting from the Gram-Schmidt transformation to produce a modified higher spatial resolution panchromatic image; d) substituting the modified higher spatial resolution panchromatic image for the first transform band resulting from the Gram-Schmidt transformation to produce a new set of transform bands; and e) inverse Gram-Schmidt transforming the new set of transform bands to produce the enhanced spatial resolution multispectral digital image.