Image-to-Image Mapping by Iterative Denoising Across Image Degradations

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing image processing systems struggle to efficiently remove various image degradations such as motion blur, lens blur, image noise, and compression artifacts without requiring task-specific hyper-parameter tuning and separate neural networks for each task, often leading to inefficient resource consumption and suboptimal performance.

Innovation Solution

A multi-task diffusion model is trained to perform multiple image-to-image translation tasks, including colorization, inpainting, and de-blurring, by iteratively generating a forward diffusion process to add noise and a reverse diffusion process to denoise images, using a single neural network architecture that does not require task-specific adjustments.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If separate neural networks are used for each image degradation task, then task-specific performance can be optimized, but device complexity and resource consumption increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvetask-specific performanceVSAvoidmultiple neural networks
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements a single neural network architecture that can perform multiple image degradation tasks including deblurring, denoising, and JPEG artifact removal. The network uses a unified diffusion model with task-agnostic components that can handle different degradation types through a single interface, eliminating the need for separate specialized networks while maintaining effective performance across all tasks

Inventive Principle:
Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

2Reliability

If task-specific hyper-parameter tuning is performed for each task, then optimization for each task improves, but ease of operation and time consumption increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvetask optimizationVSAvoidhyper-parameter tuning
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The patent employs a unified set of hyper-parameters for the diffusion model that work across all image degradation tasks without requiring task-specific adjustment. The diffusion process uses consistent noise scheduling, learning rates, and architectural parameters that generalize effectively to deblurring, denoising, and compression artifact removal, eliminating the need for extensive hyper-parameter tuning for each individual task

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

3Manufacturing precision

If iterative diffusion processes are used for image enhancement, then image quality improves, but productivity and training time increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveimage qualityVSAvoidtraining iterations
Core Design Contradiction:
Manufacturing precisionVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent performs preliminary action by pre-training the diffusion model on a large dataset of degraded and clean image pairs before deployment. This pre-training establishes strong initial representations and convergence characteristics that reduce the number of iterative refinement steps needed during actual image enhancement operations, thereby improving processing speed while maintaining high image quality

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentUS12387096B2Image-to-image mapping by iterative de-noising
Publication Date: 2025.08.12 GOOGLE LLC
  • US12387096B2 patent drawing
  • US12387096B2 patent drawing
  • US12387096B2 patent drawing

AI summary

A method includes receiving training data comprising a plurality of pairs of images. Each pair comprises a noisy image and a denoised version of the noisy image. The method also includes training a multi-task diffusion model to perform a plurality of image-to-image translation tasks, wherein the training comprises iteratively generating a forward diffusion process by predicting, at each iteration in a sequence of iterations and based on a current noisy estimate of the denoised version of the noisy image, noise data for a next noisy estimate of the denoised version of the noisy image, updating, at each iteration, the current noisy estimate to the next noisy estimate by combining the current noisy estimate with the predicted noise data, and determining a reverse diffusion process by inverting the forward diffusion process to predict the denoised version of the noisy image. The method additionally includes providing the trained diffusion model.