A fast implementation algorithm of TV inpainting model based on operator splitting method

In this paper, we propose a fast algorithm to solve the well known total variation (TV) inpainting model. Classically, the Euler–Lagrange equation deduced from TV inpainting model is solved by the gradient descent method and discretized by an explicit scheme, which produces a slow inpainting process. Sometimes an implicit scheme is also used to tackle the problem. Although the implicit scheme is several times faster than the explicit one, it is still too slow in many practical applications. In this paper, we propose to use an operator splitting method by adding new variables in the Euler–Lagrange equation of TV inpainting model such that the equation is split into a few very simple subproblems. Then we solve these subproblems by an alternate iteration. Numerically, the proposed algorithm is very easy to implement. In the numerical experiments, we mainly compare our algorithm with the existing implicit TV inpainting algorithms. It is shown that our algorithm is about ten to twenty times faster than the implicit TV inpainting algorithms with similar inpainting quality. The comparison of our algorithm with harmonic inpainting algorithm also shows some advantages and disadvantages of the TV inpainting model.

► We propose a fast algorithm to solve the well known total variation (TV) inpainting model.
► We split the original problem into a few very simple subproblems using an operator splitting method.
► We solve the subproblems by alternate iteration.