Block-Matching Based Multifocus Image Fusion

A new multifocus image fusion method is proposed. Two image blocks are selected by sliding the window from the two source images at the same position, discrete cosine transform (DCT) is implemented, respectively, on these two blocks, and the alternating component (AC) energy of these blocks is then calculated to decide which is the well-focused one. In addition, block matching is used to determine a group of image blocks that are all similar to the well-focused reference block. Finally, all the blocks are returned to their original positions through weighted average. The weight is decided with the AC energy of the well-focused block. Experimental results demonstrate that, unlike other spatial methods, the proposed method effectively avoids block artifacts. The proposed method also significantly improves the objective evaluation results, which are obtained by some transform domain methods.