FAQNet: Frequency-Aware Quaternion Network for Endoscopic Highlight Removal

Due to the built-in light source within the endoscope, the illumination of bodily mucous can cause the formation of highlight regions due to reflection. This not only interferes with the diagnosis conducted by doctors but also poses a challenge to subsequent computer vision tasks. To tackle this issue, we introduce FAQNet, a network specifically designed for endoscopic image highlight removal. FAQNet seamlessly integrates multi-channel information leveraging quaternion convolution and spatial channel attention within our Quaternion Multi-Channel Fusion (QMCF) Module. This allows it to capture intricate details of color, texture, spatial information, and highlight characteristics within the imaged organ. Additionally, by employing frequency domain transformation and dilated convolution, the Contextual Information Integration (CII) Module effectively enlarges the receptive field, organizing contextual information between highlight regions and their surrounding areas. Lastly, the PixelShuffle Upsampling (PSU) Module generates the restored image. We validate our model’s performance on two benchmark datasets, demonstrating its superiority over existing highlight removal methodologies.