Superresolution enhancment of peripheral regions in nonlinear lens geometries

A digital image acquisition device, comprising:

• a non-linear, wide-angled lens and an imaging sensor configured to capture digital images of scenes containing one or more off-center peripheral regions, including an initial distorted image with a large field of view;
• a processor;
• a memory having code embedded therein for programming the processor to perform a method of enhancing a scene containing one or more off-center peripheral regions, wherein the method comprises:
• acquiring the initial distorted image with the large field of view, including using the non-linear, wide-angled lens and the imaging sensor;
• determining and extracting an off-center region of interest (ROI) within said initial distorted image;
• applying a geometric correction to reconstruct the off-center ROI into an approximately rectangular frame of reference as a first reconstructed ROI;
• determining, on a pixel-by-pixel basis, a quality of reconstructed pixels within said first reconstructed ROI;
• wherein, within the first reconstructed ROI, a first plurality of pixels have quality measures above a threshold, and a second plurality of pixels have quality measures below the threshold;
• and
• acquiring one or more additional initially distorted images, and extracting and reconstructing matching additional ROIs to combine with pixels of said first reconstructed ROI using a super-resolution technique to provide one or more enhanced ROIs.

One or more non-transitory, processor-readable storage media having code embedded therein for programming a processor to perform a method of enhancing a scene captured with a non-linear, wide-angled lens and containing one or more off-center peripheral regions, wherein

• the method comprising:
• determining and extracting an off-center region of interest (ROI) within an acquired image;
• applying a geometric correction to reconstruct the off-center ROI into an approximately rectangular frame of reference as a first reconstructed ROI;
• determining, on a pixel-by-pixel basis, a quality of reconstructed pixels within said first reconstructed ROI;
• wherein, within the first reconstructed ROI, a first plurality of pixels have quality measures above a threshold, and a second plurality of pixels have quality measures below the threshold;
• and
• acquiring one or more additional initially distorted images, and extracting and reconstructing matching additional ROIs to combine with the second plurality of pixels of said first reconstructed ROI using a super-resolution technique to provide one or more enhanced ROIs.