No. 383: An image remains clear even if it is magnified by eight times (December 17, 2011)

An image naturally becomes unclear should it be magnified. The bigger the magnification is, the more ambiguous the image is. If an image remains clear even if it is magnified by eight times, it will become easier to read letters and identify objects in the original image. NECdeveloped a technology to create a clear magnified image. It is now possible to read letters and identify objects in an image clearly even if it is magnified by eight times. If the new technology is applied to a monitoring camera, it will be possible to see clearly the face of a person and the license plate of a car. It will be of great help to criminal investigation. The company plans to put this technology into practical application in 2012.  

The new technology uses an image database that has lots of images of person’s face, letter, figure, and car. In magnifying an image filmed by a monitoring camera, NEC’s new technology picks up an image that shares the same characteristics with the ambiguous part of the magnified image from the database. Based on the image in the database, it composes a magnified image. It can magnify an image in one second at the longest. It is possible to get a clear image even if it is magnified by 4-8 times depending on the kind of a subject, whereas the traditional technology allows for magnification of 2-3 times at most.