结论部分
对于k阶Sobel算子,令
$$Smooth(p) = \binom{k-1}{p}.$$
$$Diff(p) = \binom{k-2}{p-1} - \binom{k-2}{p}.$$
所以Sobel算子为
$$SobelX(x,y) = [Diff(x)Smooth(y)]_{k \times k}.$$
$$SobelY(x,y) = [Diff(y)Smooth(x)]_{k \times k}.$$
显然,二项分布趋于正态分布,所以,Sobel算子自带高斯光滑.
推导部分
考察X方向,一维情况,有k个值
$$a_0, a_1, \ldots, a_{k-1}.$$
则差分有k-1个
$$a_1 - a_0, a_2 - a_1, \ldots, a_{k-1} - a_{k-2}.$$
取二项分布作正态分布的近似
$$A = \binom{k-2}{0} (a_1 - a_0) + \binom{k-2}{1} (a_2 - a_1) + \ldots + \binom{k-2}{k-2} (a_{k-1} - a_{k-2}).$$
则
$$A = - \binom{k-2}{0} a_0 + \left( \binom{k-2}{0} - \binom{k-2}{1} \right) a_1 + \ldots + \binom{k-2}{k-2} a_{k-1}.$$
所以
$$A = \sum_{p=0}^{k-1} Diff(p) a_p.$$
二维情况,Y方向有k个A,每个A都是固定Y之后的X方向的差分,所以
$$A_0, A_1, \ldots, A_{k-1}.$$
取二项分布作正态分布的近似
$$S = \binom{k-1}{0} A_0 + \binom{k-1}{1} A_1 + \ldots + \binom{k-1}{k-1} A_{k-1}.$$
所以
$$S = \sum_{p=0}^{k-1} Smooth(p) A_p.$$
展开得
$$S = \sum_{p=0}^{k-1}\sum_{q=0}^{k-1} Diff(p) Smooth(q) a_{p,q}.$$
显然,归一项为
$$U = 2^{k-2} \cdot 2^{k-1} = 2^{2k-3}.$$
所以
$$\frac{S}{U}$$
表示平均差分.