Geometrical image filtering with connected operators and image inpainting

This paper deals with the joint use of connected operators and image inpainting for image filtering. Connected operators filter the image by merging its flat zones while preserving contour information. Image inpainting restores the values of an image for a destroyed or consciously masked subregion of the image domain. In the present paper, it will be shown that image inpainting can be combined with connected operators to perform an efficient geometrical filtering technique. First, connected operators are presented and their drawbacks for certain applications are highlighted. Second, image inpainting methodology is introduced and a structural image inpainting algorithm is described. Finally, a general filtering scheme is proposed to show how the drawbacks of connected operators can be efficiently solved by structural image inpainting.