Fundamental relationship between bilateral filtering, adaptive smoothing, and the nonlinear diffusion equation

In this paper, the relationship between bilateral filtering and anisotropic diffusion is examined. The bilateral filtering approach represents a large class of nonlinear digital image filters. We first explore the connection between anisotropic diffusion and adaptive smoothing, and then the connection between adaptive smoothing and bilateral filtering. Previously, adaptive smoothing was considered to be an inconsistent approximation to the nonlinear diffusion equation. We extend adaptive smoothing to make it consistent, thus enabling a unified viewpoint that relates nonlinear digital image filters and the nonlinear diffusion equation.