Patent Document ID: 8253825
Application ID: 11579380
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A method of processing image data, by reducing image noise, comprising the following steps: a) obtaining points of the image with respective values associated with the points, b) associating a learning zone, containing a plurality of points, with a reference point of the image, c) and assigning the reference point new values obtained by a weighted statistical estimation, of weighted mean or weighted median type using the values of the points included in the learning zone, the method characterized in that it comprises the following steps: c1) for each current point of the learning zone, valuating a distance between a window around the reference point and a window around the current point based on a resemblance between the values of the points in the reference point window, centered on the reference point, on the one hand and the values of the points in the current point window, of the same format as the reference point window and centered on the current point, on the other hand, c2) and repeating step c1) for all the points of the learning zone in the guise of successive current points by using the distances obtained for all the current points to calculate the weights used in the weighted statistical estimation of step c) wherein said distance is evaluated from the relation: d ⁡ [ W ⁡ ( p , M ) ; W ⁡ ( q , M ) ] = 1 M ⁢ ∑ i = 1 M ⁢  W ⁡ ( p , i ) - W ⁡ ( q , i )  , ⁢ ⁢ with  W ⁡ ( p , i ) - W ⁡ ( q , i )  = 1 2 ⁢ i + 1 ⁢ ∑ j ⁢ ∑ u ⁢ [ W u ⁡ ( p , i ) ⁢ ( j ) - W u ⁡ ( q , i ) ⁢ ( j ) ] 2 , wherein M is an integer such that (2M+1)×(2M+1) is the size, in number of points, of the reference point window, W u (p,i)(j) are the (2i+1) 2 vector values with coordinates u of the points of a current sub-window, of size (2i+1)×(2i+1) included in the reference point window and centered on the reference point p, and W u (q,i)(j) are the (2i+1) 2 vector values with coordinates u of the points of a current sub-window of size (2i+1)×(2i+1), included in the current point window and centered on the current point q, and wherein the steps are carried out by a processing unit.