Vector-valued image regularization with PDEs: a common framework for different applications

In this paper, we focus on techniques for vector-valued image regularization, based on variational methods and PDEs. Starting from the study of PDE-based formalisms previously proposed in the literature for the regularization of scalar and vector-valued data, we propose a unifying expression that gathers the majority of these previous frameworks into a single generic anisotropic diffusion equation. On one hand, the resulting expression provides a simple interpretation of the regularization process in terms of local filtering with spatially adaptive Gaussian kernels. On the other hand, it naturally disassembles any regularization scheme into the smoothing process itself and the underlying geometry that drives…