Nonlinear interpolators for old movie restoration

A nonlinear interpolator using a rational function filter is applied to the restoration of image sequence frames of digitized old movies. Samples to be interpolated are due to stationary and random defects. The interpolator is preceded by a defect localization algorithm. The performance of the proposed interpolator has been assessed on several sequences and compared with a classical morphological operator. The hardware implementation of the proposed rational interpolator is also considered. Simulations show that the interpolated frames with the proposed operator are free from blockiness and jaggedness which are very difficult to avoid when using linear operators.