Skin Map-Aided Bilateral Filter for Mobile Image Smoothing

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing image processing technologies face challenges in efficiently smoothing skin in images on mobile devices with limited computational resources while preserving edges and details in non-skin areas.

Innovation Solution

The use of a bilateral filter applied to a downscaled image, combined with a skin map to selectively blend the filtered skin areas with the original image, reduces computational cost and maintains high-quality skin smoothing without compromising non-skin area details.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Manufacturing precision

If a bilateral filter is applied to the entire image at original resolution, then skin smoothing quality is improved, but computational cost increases significantly

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveskin smoothing qualityVSAvoidcomputational cost

Core Design Contradiction:

Manufacturing precisionVSPower

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the image processing task by applying the bilateral filter only to skin regions identified through a skin map, rather than processing the entire image. This segmentation approach maintains high skin smoothing quality while significantly reducing computational cost by excluding non-skin areas from the filtering operation.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces a skin map dimension that overlays probability values on each pixel to indicate skin likelihood. This additional dimension enables selective filtering by providing a criterion for identifying which pixels should undergo bilateral filtering, thereby reducing the effective processing area and computational burden.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #17Another dimension (Dimensionality change)

2Manufacturing precision

If a bilateral filter is applied to smooth skin, then skin surface detail is reduced, but edges and details in non-skin areas may be compromised

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveskin smoothing qualityVSAvoidnon-skin area details

Core Design Contradiction:

Manufacturing precisionVSLoss of information

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies different processing qualities to different regions of the image by using a skin map to identify skin areas. The bilateral filter is applied with appropriate strength to skin regions while non-skin areas are preserved with their original details intact, achieving local quality optimization where smoothing is needed without affecting other regions.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

Solution Approach 2:

The skin map serves as an intermediary layer that mediates between the original image and the filtered output. By computing skin probability for each pixel and using this map to guide the bilateral filtering process, the system selectively applies smoothing only where appropriate, preventing loss of important non-skin details while maintaining skin smoothing quality.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Data Source

PatentUS11645737B2Skin map-aided skin smoothing of images using a bilateral filter

Publication Date: 2023.05.09 INTEL CORP

AI summary

Skin smoothing is applied to images using a bilateral filter and aided by a skin map. In one example a method includes receiving an image having pixels at an original resolution. The image is buffered. The image is downscaled from the original resolution to a lower resolution. A bilateral filter is applied to pixels of the downscaled image. The filtered pixels of the downscaled image are blended with pixels of the image having the original resolution, and the blended image is produced.