Regional multifocus image fusion using sparse representation.

Due to the nature of involved optics, the depth of field in imaging systems is usually constricted in the field of view. As a result, we get the image with only parts of the scene in focus. To extend the depth of field, fusing the images at different focus levels is a promising approach. This paper proposes a novel multifocus image fusion approach based on clarity enhanced image segmentation and regional sparse representation. On the one hand, using clarity enhanced image that contains both intensity and clarity information, the proposed method decreases the risk of partitioning the in-focus and out-of-focus pixels in the same region. On the other hand, due to the regional selection of sparse coefficients, the proposed method strengthens its robustness to the distortions and misplacement usually resulting from pixel based coefficients selection. In short, the proposed method combines the merits of regional image fusion and sparse representation based image fusion. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms six recently proposed multifocus image fusion methods. (C) 2013 Optical Society of America