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Main Authors: Duan, Jigang, Ma, Genwei, Jiang, Xu, Xu, Wenfeng, Yang, Ping, Zhao, Xing
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.02392
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author Duan, Jigang
Ma, Genwei
Jiang, Xu
Xu, Wenfeng
Yang, Ping
Zhao, Xing
author_facet Duan, Jigang
Ma, Genwei
Jiang, Xu
Xu, Wenfeng
Yang, Ping
Zhao, Xing
contents Diffusion and flow-based generative models have shown strong potential for image restoration. However, image denoising under unknown and varying noise conditions remains challenging, because the learned vector fields may become inconsistent across different noise levels, leading to degraded restoration quality under mismatch between training and inference. To address this issue, we propose a quantitative flow matching framework for adaptive image denoising. The method first estimates the input noise level from local pixel statistics, and then uses this quantitative estimate to adapt the inference trajectory, including the starting point, the number of integration steps, and the step-size schedule. In this way, the denoising process is better aligned with the actual corruption level of each input, reducing unnecessary computation for lightly corrupted images while providing sufficient refinement for heavily degraded ones. By coupling quantitative noise estimation with noise-adaptive flow inference, the proposed method improves both restoration accuracy and inference efficiency. Extensive experiments on natural, medical, and microscopy images demonstrate its robustness and strong generalization across diverse noise levels and imaging conditions.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_02392
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Beyond Fixed Inference: Quantitative Flow Matching for Adaptive Image Denoising
Duan, Jigang
Ma, Genwei
Jiang, Xu
Xu, Wenfeng
Yang, Ping
Zhao, Xing
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Diffusion and flow-based generative models have shown strong potential for image restoration. However, image denoising under unknown and varying noise conditions remains challenging, because the learned vector fields may become inconsistent across different noise levels, leading to degraded restoration quality under mismatch between training and inference. To address this issue, we propose a quantitative flow matching framework for adaptive image denoising. The method first estimates the input noise level from local pixel statistics, and then uses this quantitative estimate to adapt the inference trajectory, including the starting point, the number of integration steps, and the step-size schedule. In this way, the denoising process is better aligned with the actual corruption level of each input, reducing unnecessary computation for lightly corrupted images while providing sufficient refinement for heavily degraded ones. By coupling quantitative noise estimation with noise-adaptive flow inference, the proposed method improves both restoration accuracy and inference efficiency. Extensive experiments on natural, medical, and microscopy images demonstrate its robustness and strong generalization across diverse noise levels and imaging conditions.
title Beyond Fixed Inference: Quantitative Flow Matching for Adaptive Image Denoising
topic Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.02392