Inverse problem regularization with hierarchical variational autoencoders
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Abstract (arXiv)
In this paper, we propose to regularize ill-posed inverse problems using a deep hierarchical variational autoencoder (HVAE) as an image prior. The proposed method synthesizes the advantages of i) denoiser-based Plug & Play approaches and ii) generative model based approaches to inverse problems. First, we exploit VAE properties to design an efficient algorithm that benefits from convergence guarantees of Plug-and-Play (PnP) methods. Second, our approach is not restricted to specialized datasets and the proposed PnP-HVAE model is able to solve image restoration problems on natural images of any size. Our experiments show that the proposed PnP-HVAE method is competitive with both SOTA denoiser-based PnP approaches, and other SOTA restoration methods based on generative models.
Key facts. Cited by 6 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Builds on 44 of its 62 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 20 Mar 2023.
Builds on
44 of 62 references.
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32 more
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Built on by
Citing papers per year: 2023: 1; 2024: 2; 2025: 2; 2026: 1.
6 papers.
- 2025LATINO-PRO: LAtent consisTency INverse sOlver with PRompt Optimizationcited by 14
- 2025Good Things Come in Pairs: Paired Autoencoders for Inverse Problemscited by 5
- 2023Variational Bayes image restoration with compressive autoencoderscited by 4
- 2024Robustness and Exploration of Variational and Machine Learning Approaches to Inverse Problems: An Overviewcited by 1
- 2024Deep priors for satellite image restoration with accurate uncertaintiescited by 1
- 2026SP3: Spherical Priors for Plug-and-Play Restorationcited by 1
- 2026SP3: Spherical Priors for Plug-and-Play Restoration15 Jun 2026
- 2025Good Things Come in Pairs: Paired Autoencoders for Inverse Problems10 May 2025
- 2025LATINO-PRO: LAtent consisTency INverse sOlver with PRompt Optimization16 Mar 2025
- 2024Deep priors for satellite image restoration with accurate uncertainties5 Dec 2024
- 2024Robustness and Exploration of Variational and Machine Learning Approaches to Inverse Problems: An Overview19 Feb 2024
- 2023Variational Bayes image restoration with compressive autoencoders29 Nov 2023