The exemplar-based image inpainting method known as the Criminisi algorithm occasionally exhibits poor inpainting effect because the confidence term easily decreases to zero

which makes the priority invalid and causes disorders in the inpainting sequence.Excessive scope

low efficiency

and nonvisual texture-matching problem also occur when searching matching patches.To solve the aforementioned problems

an image completion algorithm based on redefined priority and image division is proposed in this study. First

the confidence term in the priority is redefined

and the chessboard distance in the exemplar patch is used to replace the original calculation formula.Accordingly

the priority is validated

and the matching error caused by unreasonable inpainting order is reduced.Second

the image is divided into blocks with different sizes according to image texture information

such that the exemplar patches to be inpaintied search only the image block region with similar features. Experimental results show that the newly defined priority can guarantee the completion of the algorithm and improve the visual effect of the inpainted image.The algorithm is fast because only a few ambiguous matching candidates are searched under the guidance of image division.The completion result analysis of our method is compared with the results of the analysis based on other methods.Subjectively

our method can maintain visual connectivity.Objectively

the time consumed is less than those consumed by most of the other methods. The accumulation of errors caused by the disorder of inpainting sequence is avoided by redefining the confidence term in the priority in the Criminisi algorithm.Reduced algorithm time and improved matching accuracy are also achieved by improving the searching range of exemplar patches.The entire image is adaptively divided into different blocks

and search is conducted only in certain blocks that are similar to the destination.The method exhibits good application in object removal in natural images

and its completion effects are satisfactory.