Self-organizing tree map for eliminating impulse noise with random intensity distributions

A new method is proposed to eliminate impulse noise with a random intensity distribution in digital images. The method is based on impulse noise detection by means of a self-organizing tree map (SOTM) and a class of noise-exclusive adaptive filters. The SOTM classifies the image pixels into clusters and locates the cluster centers that represent the mean intensities of the impulse noise. Based on the detected impulse noise, the noise-exclusive filters are applied only to the corrupted pixels, using the true neighborhood information to estimate the pixel values. The filtering scheme presented can suppress impulse noise effectively while preserving image edges and fine details. Experimental results demonstrate that the performance of the noise-exclusive adaptive filters are superior to that of the traditional median filter family. © 1998 SPIE and IS&T. [S1017-9909(98)00401-2]