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This paper introduces a perceptually regularized diffusion framework for image super-resolution, addressing the limitations of standard pixel-domain noise prediction in recovering fine structural details. By integrating perceptual-loss-based regularization, the method improves convergence and fidelity without relying on computationally intensive iterative solvers or fixed assumptions. The approach demonstrates competitive distortion metrics while enhancing perceptual quality across critical applications like medical imaging and remote sensing.
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Perceptually Regularized Diffusion Model for Image Super-Resolution

arXiv2 min read

arXiv:2609.02016v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Image super-resolution, which aims to reconstruct high-resolution images from their low-resolution observations, is fundamental to medical imaging, remote sensing, surveillance, microscopy, and scientific visualization. Traditional model-based methods formulate super-resolution as an inverse problem with hand-crafted regularization priors. While interpretable and theoretically grounded, they rely on fixed assumptions and require computationally intensive iterative solvers. Deep learning methods offer data-driven flexibility by learning nonlinear mappings from low- to high-resolution images, among which diffusion models have achieved particularly impressive perceptual quality. However, the standard diffusion training objective is a pixel-domain noise-prediction loss that does not explicitly enforce perceptual fidelity, which can lead to oversmoothing and loss of fine image structure. To address these limitations, we propose a perceptually regularized diffusion framework that incorporates prior knowledge through perceptual-loss-based regularization, improving training convergence and encouraging the recovery of meaningful image features. Experiments on benchmark datasets demonstrate improved perceptual quality and competitive distortion metrics, highlighting the effectiveness of regularization for diffusion-based super resolution.

Abstract:Image super-resolution, which aims to reconstruct high-resolution images from their low-resolution observations, is fundamental to medical imaging, remote sensing, surveillance, microscopy, and scientific visualization. Traditional model-based methods formulate super-resolution as an inverse problem with hand-crafted regularization priors. While interpretable and theoretically grounded, they rely on fixed assumptions and require computationally intensive iterative solvers. Deep learning methods offer data-driven flexibility by learning nonlinear mappings from low- to high-resolution images, among which diffusion models have achieved particularly impressive perceptual quality. However, the standard diffusion training objective is a pixel-domain noise-prediction loss that does not explicitly enforce perceptual fidelity, which can lead to oversmoothing and loss of fine image structure. To address these limitations, we propose a perceptually regularized diffusion framework that incorporates prior knowledge through perceptual-loss-based regularization, improving training convergence and encouraging the recovery of meaningful image features. Experiments on benchmark datasets demonstrate improved perceptual quality and competitive distortion metrics, highlighting the effectiveness of regularization for diffusion-based super resolution.

Image and Video Processing (eess.IV); Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (cs.CV); Machine Learning (cs.LG)

arXiv:2609.02016 [eess.IV]

(or arXiv:2609.02016v1 [eess.IV] for this version)

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2609.02016 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)

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Full text under the publisher's open licence · 262 words

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