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Deep Illumination-Enhanced Face Super-Resolution Network for Low-Light Images

Published: 04 March 2022 Publication History
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  • Abstract

    Face images are typically a key component in the fields of security and criminal investigation. However, due to lighting and shooting angles, faces taken under low-light conditions are often difficult to recognize. Face super-resolution (FSR) technology can restore high-resolution faces based on low-resolution inputs. However, existing face super-resolution methods typically rely on prior knowledge of inaccurate faces estimated from low-resolution images. Faces restored by low-light inputs may suffer from problems such as low brightness and many missing details. In this article, we proposed an Illumination-Enhanced Face Super-Resolution (IEFSR) model that can progressively super-resolve low-light faces of 32 × 32 pixels by an upscaling factor of 8. While reconstructing the low-light low-resolution face into a clear and high-quality face, we introduce a coarse low-resolution (LR) restoration network to recover the LR face details hidden in the dark. In the generator, we use a series of style blocks with noise to make the generated faces appear to have a more realistic visual aesthetic. Additionally, we introduce spectrum normalization in the discriminator to improve training stability. Extensive experimental evaluations show that the proposed IEFSR yields visually and metrically more attractive results than existing state-of-the-art FSR methods.

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    Cited By

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    • (2024)Illumination-Aware Low-Light Image Enhancement with Transformer and Auto-Knee CurveACM Transactions on Multimedia Computing, Communications, and Applications10.1145/366465320:8(1-23)Online publication date: 29-Jun-2024
    • (2024)Learning to Hallucinate Face in the DarkIEEE Transactions on Multimedia10.1109/TMM.2023.329480826(2314-2326)Online publication date: 1-Jan-2024
    • (2024)Low-light image enhancement using gamma correction prior in mixed color spacesPattern Recognition10.1016/j.patcog.2023.110001146:COnline publication date: 1-Feb-2024
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    1. Deep Illumination-Enhanced Face Super-Resolution Network for Low-Light Images

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      Published In

      cover image ACM Transactions on Multimedia Computing, Communications, and Applications
      ACM Transactions on Multimedia Computing, Communications, and Applications  Volume 18, Issue 3
      August 2022
      478 pages
      ISSN:1551-6857
      EISSN:1551-6865
      DOI:10.1145/3505208
      Issue’s Table of Contents

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      Association for Computing Machinery

      New York, NY, United States

      Publication History

      Published: 04 March 2022
      Accepted: 01 November 2021
      Revised: 01 October 2021
      Received: 01 May 2021
      Published in TOMM Volume 18, Issue 3

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      Author Tags

      1. Face super-resolution
      2. low-light face images
      3. spectrum normalization
      4. generative adversarial network

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      • Research-article
      • Refereed

      Funding Sources

      • National Natural Science Foundation of China
      • Hunan Provincial Science and Technology Plan Project
      • National Science Foundation of Hunan Province
      • National Social Science Fund of China
      • Postgraduate Scientific Research Innovation Project of Hunan Province
      • Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of Central South University
      • Changsha Municipal Natural Science Foundation

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      • (2024)Illumination-Aware Low-Light Image Enhancement with Transformer and Auto-Knee CurveACM Transactions on Multimedia Computing, Communications, and Applications10.1145/366465320:8(1-23)Online publication date: 29-Jun-2024
      • (2024)Learning to Hallucinate Face in the DarkIEEE Transactions on Multimedia10.1109/TMM.2023.329480826(2314-2326)Online publication date: 1-Jan-2024
      • (2024)Low-light image enhancement using gamma correction prior in mixed color spacesPattern Recognition10.1016/j.patcog.2023.110001146:COnline publication date: 1-Feb-2024
      • (2024)Learning multi-granularity semantic interactive representation for joint low-light image enhancement and super-resolutionInformation Fusion10.1016/j.inffus.2024.102467110(102467)Online publication date: Oct-2024
      • (2024)OEINR-RFHExpert Systems with Applications: An International Journal10.1016/j.eswa.2023.121553237:PCOnline publication date: 1-Feb-2024
      • (2023)Video Super-Resolution Based on Inter-Frame Information Utilization for Intelligent TransportationIEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems10.1109/TITS.2023.323770824:11(13409-13421)Online publication date: 23-Jan-2023
      • (2023)Low-Light Robust Face Image Super-Resolution via Neuro-Fuzzy Inferencing-Based Locality Constrained RepresentationIEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement10.1109/TIM.2023.328053772(1-11)Online publication date: 2023
      • (2023)Approximating global illumination with ambient occlusion and environment light via generative adversarial networksPattern Recognition Letters10.1016/j.patrec.2022.12.007166:C(209-217)Online publication date: 1-Feb-2023
      • (2023)Progressive local-to-global vision transformer for occluded face hallucinationMultimedia Tools and Applications10.1007/s11042-023-15028-283:3(8219-8240)Online publication date: 15-Jun-2023
      • (2023)Noise robust face super-resolution via learning of spatial attentive featuresMultimedia Tools and Applications10.1007/s11042-023-14472-482:16(25449-25465)Online publication date: 21-Feb-2023
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