Restoration of motion blurred images

This paper deals with the problem of restoration of images blurred by relative motion between the camera and the object of interest. This problem is common when the imaging system is in moving vehicles or held by human hands, and in robot vision. For correct restoration of the degraded image it is useful to know the point spread function (PSF) of the blurring system. In this paper we propose a straightforward method to restore motion blurred images given only the blurred image itself. The method first identifies the PSF of the blur, and then uses it to restore the blurred image. The blur identification here is based on the concept that image characteristics along the direction of motion are effected mostly by the blur and are different from the characteristics in other directions. By filtering the blurred image we emphasize the PSF correlation properties at the expense of those of the original image. Experimental results for image restoration are presented for both synthetic and real motion blur.