Demosaicing (iDem)

Most modern digital camera sensors measure the light intensity of each pixel in just one part of the visible spectrum. The result is that every pixel captures just one colour component (for instance, red, green and blue, see figure at right). Demosaicing is the process of calculating the colours lost in each pixel of the sensor; it is a numerical process built into digital cameras but it can also be performed by a computer (digital development).

Imatrics has developed its own technology in this field: Imatrics Demosaicing (iDem). Our R&D team has explored the application of highly cost-effective demosaicing algorithms, ranging from very low cost solutions (camera-embedded, Spanish patent [1]) to very high quality solutions (computerised digital development).

Comparison of the outcome of an industry-standard demosaicing algorithm (left) with iDem (right) (image from [2])

[1] P200502100, J. Portilla, C. Dorronsoro y D. Otaduy, "Método de predicción lineal óptima para la reconstrucción de la imagen en cámaras digitales con sensor de mosaico" 19 Aug 2005, OEPM, Spain

[2] J Portilla, D Otaduy, C Dorronsoro, "Low-Complexity Linear Demosaicing Using Joint Spatial-Chromatic Image Statistics", 12th IEEE Int'l Conf on Image Processing, Genoa, Italy. Sept 2005