This paper uses robust statistics and curvelet transform to learn a general-purpose no-reference (NR) image quality assessment (IQA) model. The new approach, here called M1, competes with the Curvelet Quality Assessment proposed in 2014 (Curvelet2014). The central idea is to use descriptors based on robust statistics to extract features and predict the human opinion about degraded images. To show the consistency of the method the model is tested with 3 different datasets, LIVE IQA, TID2013 and CSIQ. To test evaluation, it is used the Wilcoxon test to verify the statistical significance of results and promote an accurate comparison between new model M1 and Curvelet2014. The results show a gain when robust statistics are used as descriptor.
The first use of FDCT in NR IQA proposals was made by @cite_2 , using only the finest layer for feature extraction. The architecture 2-stages SVM was introduced by Moorthy and Bovik @cite_11 applied to features extracted from natural scenes. This architecture was used in by @cite_10 @cite_8 @cite_17 @cite_4 with different features.
@cite_4 @cite_8 @cite_17 @cite_2 @cite_10 @cite_11
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We develop an efficient general-purpose blind no-reference image quality assessment (IQA) algorithm using a natural scene statistics (NSS) model of discrete cosine transform (DCT) coefficients. The algorithm is computationally appealing, given the availability of platforms optimized for DCT computation. The approach relies on a simple Bayesian inference model to predict image quality scores given certain extracted features. The features are based on an NSS model of the image DCT coefficients. The estimated parameters of the model are utilized to form features that are indicative of perceptual quality. These features are used in a simple Bayesian inference approach to predict quality scores. The resulting algorithm, which we name BLIINDS-II, requires minimal training and adopts a simple probabilistic model for score prediction. Given the extracted features from a test image, the quality score that maximizes the probability of the empirically determined inference model is chosen as the predicted quality score of that image. When tested on the LIVE IQA database, BLIINDS-II is shown to correlate highly with human judgments of quality, at a level that is competitive with the popular SSIM index. Contrast is a very important characteristic for visual perception of image quality. Some No-Reference Image Quality Assessment Algorithm NR-IQA metrics for Contrast-Distorted Images (CDI) have been proposed in the literature, e.g. Reduced-reference Image Quality Metric for Contrast-changed images (RIQMC) and NR-IQA for Contrast-Distorted Images (NR-IQACDI). Here, we intend to improve the assessment results of images available in databases such as TID2013 and CSIQ. Most of the NR-IQA metrics (e.g. NR-IQACDI) designed for CDI adopt features available in the spatial domain. This paper proposes to compliment it with feature in Curvelet domain which is powerful in capturing multiscale and multidirectional information in an image. We employed the Natural Scene Statistics (NSS) features in Curvelet domain originally recommended by (2014) which were found useful in the assessment of the quality of image distorted by compression, noise and blurring. Experiments were then conducted to assess the effect of incorporating these NSS features. The experimental results based on K-fold cross validation (K ranged from 2 to 10) and statistical test showed that the performance of NRIQACDI was improved. Future works include improvements of NRIQACDI, exploration of feature fusion methods and using a suitable feature selection method. We propose a natural scene statistic-based distortion-generic blind no-reference (NR) image quality assessment (IQA) model that operates in the spatial domain. The new model, dubbed blind referenceless image spatial quality evaluator (BRISQUE) does not compute distortion-specific features, such as ringing, blur, or blocking, but instead uses scene statistics of locally normalized luminance coefficients to quantify possible losses of “naturalness” in the image due to the presence of distortions, thereby leading to a holistic measure of quality. The underlying features used derive from the empirical distribution of locally normalized luminances and products of locally normalized luminances under a spatial natural scene statistic model. No transformation to another coordinate frame (DCT, wavelet, etc.) is required, distinguishing it from prior NR IQA approaches. Despite its simplicity, we are able to show that BRISQUE is statistically better than the full-reference peak signal-to-noise ratio and the structural similarity index, and is highly competitive with respect to all present-day distortion-generic NR IQA algorithms. BRISQUE has very low computational complexity, making it well suited for real time applications. BRISQUE features may be used for distortion-identification as well. To illustrate a new practical application of BRISQUE, we describe how a nonblind image denoising algorithm can be augmented with BRISQUE in order to perform blind image denoising. Results show that BRISQUE augmentation leads to performance improvements over state-of-the-art methods. A software release of BRISQUE is available online: http: live.ece.utexas.edu research quality BRISQUE_release.zip for public use and evaluation. In this paper, we propose a new general Quality Assessment method based on the curvelet transform, called Curvelet No-Reference (CNR) model, which can estimate levels of noise, blur and JPEG 2000 compression of natural images. The peak coordinate of the curvelet coefficient histogram occupies distinctive regions depending on how the image was modified from the original. During training, we associate peak positions with known filter levels. In the prediction stage, the filter levels of new images are estimated from the training data, with no access to the reference images. We tested CNR both on our own image dataset and on LIVE [4]. Results demonstrate that CNR does a better job at predicting noise and blur levels among several methods, including SSIM [1] and PSNR. We also present an accelerated version of CNR that does not sacrifice prediction accuracy on natural images. We develop an efficient general-purpose blind no-reference image quality assessment (IQA) algorithm that utilizes curvelet domain features of phase congruency values and local spectral entropy values in distorted images. A 2-stage framework of distortion classification followed by quality assessment is used for mapping feature vectors to prediction scores. We utilize a support vector machine (SVM) to train an image distortion and quality prediction model. The resulting algorithm which we name Phase Congruency and Spectral Entropy based Quality (PCSEQ) index is capable of assessing the quality of distorted images across multiple distortion categories. We explain the advantages of phase congruency features and spectral entropy features. We also thoroughly test the algorithm on the LIVE IQA databse and find that PCSEQ correlates well with human judgments of quality. It is superior to the full-reference (FR) IQA algorithm SSIM and several top-performance no-reference (NR) IQA methods such as DIIVINE and SSEQ. We also tested PCSEQ on the TID2008 database to ascertain whether it has performance that is database independent. Present day no-reference no-reference image quality assessment (NR IQA) algorithms usually assume that the distortion affecting the image is known. This is a limiting assumption for practical applications, since in a majority of cases the distortions in the image are unknown. We propose a new two-step framework for no-reference image quality assessment based on natural scene statistics (NSS). Once trained, the framework does not require any knowledge of the distorting process and the framework is modular in that it can be extended to any number of distortions. We describe the framework for blind image quality assessment and a version of this framework-the blind image quality index (BIQI) is evaluated on the LIVE image quality assessment database. A software release of BIQI has been made available online: http: live.ece.utexas.edu research quality BIQI_release.zip.