Restoration of vertical line scratches with a distributed genetic algorithm

This contribution approaches the problem of scratch restoration in old movies as a optimisation's problem. The functional based on the statistical properties of the image around the scratch is optimised using an ad-hoc genetic algorithm. Given the large amount of the computational time needed by genetic algorithms, a network of standard workstations with heterogeneous operating systems has been used. Each workstation in the network works on each scratch to perform the restoration, and a specific machine works as root node with the task of distributing jobs on the network and adding the outputted restored scratches back into the image.