A Novel Recursive Algorithm For Detail-Preserving Impulse Noise Removal

Removing impulse noise from digital images without altering image details is a central problem in image processing. There is a huge number of filters in the literature that deal with this problem. In the state-of-the-art filters, the removal of impulse noise is usually carried out in two main steps: detection and estimation. In this paper, we show that we can take any impulse noise removal approach, where the noise detection and estimation processes are separable, and enhance its detail preservation capability. Unlike the classical recursive implementation which performs sequential row-by-row scanning, the proposed algorithm maximizes the contribution of noise-free neighbors in detecting and correcting the noisy pixels. Simulation results using standard test images demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm in preserving image details.