Semi-Coupled Convolutional Sparse Learning for Image Super-Resolution

In the convolutional sparse coding-based image super-resolution problem, the coefficients of low- and high-resolution images in the same position are assumed to be equivalent, which enforces an identical structure of low- and high-resolution images. However, in fact the structure of high-resolution images is much more complicated than that of low-resolution images. In order to reduce the coupling between low- and high-resolution representations, a semi-coupled convolutional sparse learning method (SCCSL) is proposed for image super-resolution. The proposed method uses nonlinear convolution operations as the mapping function between low- and high-resolution features, and conventional linear mapping can be seen as a special case of the proposed method. Secondly, the neighborhoods within the filter size are used to calculate the current pixel, improving the flexibility of our proposed model. In addition, the filter size is adjustable. In order to illustrate the effectiveness of SCCSL method, we compare it with four state-of-the-art methods of 15 commonly used images. Experimental results show that this work provides a more flexible and efficient approach for image super-resolution problem.