Despite that convolutional neural networks (CNN) have recently demonstrated high-quality reconstruction for single-image super-resolution (SR), recovering natural and realistic texture remains a challenging problem. In this paper, we show that it is possible to recover textures faithful to semantic classes. In particular, we only need to modulate features of a few intermediate layers in a single network conditioned on semantic segmentation probability maps. This is made possible through a novel Spatial Feature Transform (SFT) layer that generates affine transformation parameters for spatial-wise feature modulation. SFT layers can be trained end-to-end together with the SR network using the same loss function. During testing, it accepts an input image of arbitrary size and generates a high-resolution image with just a single forward pass conditioned on the categorical priors. Our final results show that an SR network equipped with SFT can generate more realistic and visually pleasing textures in comparison to state-of-the-art SRGAN [27] and EnhanceNet [38].
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@cite_15: 
@cite_42: In this paper we propose a new method for upsampling images which is capable of generating sharp edges with reduced input-resolution grid-related artifacts. The method is based on a statistical edge dependency relating certain edge features of two different resolutions, which is generically exhibited by real-world images. While other solutions assume some form of smoothness, we rely on this distinctive edge dependency as our prior knowledge in order to increase image resolution. In addition to this relation we require that intensities are conserved; the output image must be identical to the input image when downsampled to the original resolution. Altogether the method consists of solving a constrained optimization problem, attempting to impose the correct edge relation and conserve local intensities with respect to the low-resolution input image. Results demonstrate the visual importance of having such edge features properly matched, and the method's capability to produce images in which sharp edges are successfully reconstructed.
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@cite_6: This paper proposes a framework for single-image super-resolution. The underlying idea is to learn a map from input low-resolution images to target high-resolution images based on example pairs of input and output images. Kernel ridge regression (KRR) is adopted for this purpose. To reduce the time complexity of training and testing for KRR, a sparse solution is found by combining the ideas of kernel matching pursuit and gradient descent. As a regularized solution, KRR leads to a better generalization than simply storing the examples as has been done in existing example-based algorithms and results in much less noisy images. However, this may introduce blurring and ringing artifacts around major edges as sharp changes are penalized severely. A prior model of a generic image class which takes into account the discontinuity property of images is adopted to resolve this problem. Comparison with existing algorithms shows the effectiveness of the proposed method.
@cite_0: Abstract A Fourier method of filtering digital data called Lanczos filtering is described. Its principal feature is the use of “sigma factors” which significantly reduce the amplitude of the Gibbs oscillation. A pair of graphs is developed that can be used to determine filter response quality given the number of weights and the value of the cutoff frequency, the only two inputs required by the method. Examples of response functions in one and two dimensions are given and comparisons are made with response functions from other filters. The simplicity of calculating the weights and the adequate response make Lanczos filtering an attractive filtering method.
@cite_27: Methods for super-resolution can be broadly classified into two families of methods: (i) The classical multi-image super-resolution (combining images obtained at subpixel misalignments), and (ii) Example-Based super-resolution (learning correspondence between low and high resolution image patches from a database). In this paper we propose a unified framework for combining these two families of methods. We further show how this combined approach can be applied to obtain super resolution from as little as a single image (with no database or prior examples). Our approach is based on the observation that patches in a natural image tend to redundantly recur many times inside the image, both within the same scale, as well as across different scales. Recurrence of patches within the same image scale (at subpixel misalignments) gives rise to the classical super-resolution, whereas recurrence of patches across different scales of the same image gives rise to example-based super-resolution. Our approach attempts to recover at each pixel its best possible resolution increase based on its patch redundancy within and across scales.
@cite_40: As a powerful statistical image modeling technique, sparse representation has been successfully used in various image restoration applications. The success of sparse representation owes to the development of the l1-norm optimization techniques and the fact that natural images are intrinsically sparse in some domains. The image restoration quality largely depends on whether the employed sparse domain can represent well the underlying image. Considering that the contents can vary significantly across different images or different patches in a single image, we propose to learn various sets of bases from a precollected dataset of example image patches, and then, for a given patch to be processed, one set of bases are adaptively selected to characterize the local sparse domain. We further introduce two adaptive regularization terms into the sparse representation framework. First, a set of autoregressive (AR) models are learned from the dataset of example image patches. The best fitted AR models to a given patch are adaptively selected to regularize the image local structures. Second, the image nonlocal self-similarity is introduced as another regularization term. In addition, the sparsity regularization parameter is adaptively estimated for better image restoration performance. Extensive experiments on image deblurring and super-resolution validate that by using adaptive sparse domain selection and adaptive regularization, the proposed method achieves much better results than many state-of-the-art algorithms in terms of both PSNR and visual perception.
@cite_5: This paper deals with the single image scale-up problem using sparse-representation modeling. The goal is to recover an original image from its blurred and down-scaled noisy version. Since this problem is highly ill-posed, a prior is needed in order to regularize it. The literature offers various ways to address this problem, ranging from simple linear space-invariant interpolation schemes (e.g., bicubic interpolation), to spatially-adaptive and non-linear filters of various sorts. We embark from a recently-proposed successful algorithm by Yang et. al. [1,2], and similarly assume a local Sparse-Land model on image patches, serving as regularization. Several important modifications to the above-mentioned solution are introduced, and are shown to lead to improved results. These modifications include a major simplification of the overall process both in terms of the computational complexity and the algorithm architecture, using a different training approach for the dictionary-pair, and introducing the ability to operate without a training-set by boot-strapping the scale-up task from the given low-resolution image. We demonstrate the results on true images, showing both visual and PSNR improvements.
@cite_47: This paper proposes a context-constrained hallucination approach for image super-resolution. Through building a training set of high-resolution low-resolution image segment pairs, the high-resolution pixel is hallucinated from its texturally similar segments which are retrieved from the training set by texture similarity. Given the discrete hallucinated examples, a continuous energy function is designed to enforce the fidelity of high-resolution image to low-resolution input and the constraints imposed by the hallucinated examples and the edge smoothness prior. The reconstructed high-resolution image is sharp with minimal artifacts both along the edges and in the textural regions.
@cite_11: 
. Many studies have introduced prior information to help address the ill-posed SR problem. Early methods explore a smoothing prior such as bicubic interpolation and Lanczos resampling @cite_0 . Image priors such as edge features @cite_42 @cite_14 , statistics @cite_6 @cite_11 and internal patch recurrence @cite_27 are employed to improve performance. Dong al @cite_40 train domain specific dictionaries to better recover local structures in a sparse representation framework. Sun al @cite_47 propose context-constrained super-resolution by learning from texturally similar training segments. Timofte al @cite_1 investigate semantic priors by training specialized models separately for each semantic category on exemplar-based methods @cite_5 @cite_15 . In contrast to these studies, we explore categorical priors in the form of segmentation probability maps in a CNN framework.