Automatic upsampling of low-resolution images?

I posted about this, it might have been about a year ago now, and got no joy, so I thought I'd try again in case something new has appeared.
When exporting to PDF, InDesign CS can downsample images. Some of my images, however, maybe 20-30 at a guess, I need to upsample. In the next month or so I hope to export to PDF, and I dread the thought of having to go through the several hundred images in my book, find those images that are under-resolution, open them in PS, and do some calculations to work out the resolution to which they should be resampled to achieve 300 dpi in the InDesign document... whoa, I'm worn out just thinking about it.
Also on my wish list: I have a hundred or so images that cross the centre-spread boundary. Before I impose the document, I will have to go through it and Copy and Paste-in-Place each image, and then resize the boundary to the centre for both images so that when imposed, some of the image is on one page and some on the other (thanks Buko, for that hint from a few years ago). Not a great problem, but still... can this process be automated?
Bring joy to my heart, someone please, and tell me at least one of these chores is automatable.

ROBERT LEVINE: "Never saw that happen". You can see it happen, and I explain how to make it happen, in my downloadable zip file.
ROB DAY: Thanks for the feedback. The sample I generated (not a typical photo I work with; I choose it because it did not have any inherent imperfections) is an accurate reflection of how I use some of my images. i.e I start with a low resolution original and it is scaled in InDesign. I do not have the option of getting a better original. Most of the images I have are 2 x 3 Box Brownies from pre 1960, obtained by me driving from Tasmania to North Queensland (3000 km) each year for four years and scanning an elderly stranger's photos on their lounge room floor. In the two-three hours I was with them I had to get their life story, look at their photos, choose the interesting ones, write down the details, and then scan them. It's a challenge to do all that, day after day, 6-8 people a week, for three months at a time. Given 10-50 photos to scan, which at high resolution take three minutes each on my scanner, sometimes they couldn't all be scanned in high resolution in the time I had available. The most likely prospects for the book I did scan at high resolution, the others got the 300 or 600 dpi treatment (this is for a 2 inch wide image, remember). Three years later, when I started putting the book together, I choose to use some of the low scan originals, greatly enlarged, because they were important photos that I didn't realize at the time of scanning.
So, I'm stuck with some low-resolution scans and I want to make them look their best. Upscaling does that, doesn't it? And your example proves it.The choice between the middle and right photo is easy: the one on the right. i.e the upscaled unpixelated one. And I wasn't the judge: I let my partner decide (it's her niece in the photo). It's a game man who would argue with my partner.
Further, the image on the left, your reference and which is quite acceptable, is of course taken from my 300 dpi PDF -- itself an upscaled version of a 30 dpi image. So the reference you choose again proves that upscaling works. i.e it removes pixelation and is beneficial.
Please everyone - this is not about using a low resolution image because I'm too lazy to rescan the original. In most cases the originals are now scattered among children and grandchildren of the person I spoke with because they have passed away. Plus, if I did locate the photos, they are 3000 km away. I have some low resolution images and I want to improve them. Upscaling does that, InDesign can't, and I think it should.
MORE ON David's remarks: Excellent tutorial, David. Pity I wasted 20 minutes to unnecessarily generate mine.
I'd like to know the reasons why InDesign doesn't simply offer a 'Resample' option instead of only 'Downsample'. If a particular printer requires 300 dpi images for best quality, InDesign should accommodate that by allowing a user to resample every image to 300 dpi. I reckon the programers never gave thought to the idea that someone might be using low-resolution images in a flash piece of software.
This thread has gone a bit astray. Buko has given an indirect answer (to do what I thought I would have to do) -- use Photoshop. Can I take it that no version of InDesign, or any add on, allows for automatic upsampling?
InDesign has the ability to resample, and I bet it uses the same algorithms as Photoshop which can resample both ways. InDesign can resample downwards; it is unfortunate that it wasn't given the capability to resample upwards.

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Preventing importing of low resolution images?

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dorin_nicolaescu wrote:
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If I have helped in any way, just click the Kudos star on the left. Also, if your issue has been resolved, don't forget to select Accept as Solution

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Limnidytis:
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I've noticed on my new ipad 4 that many images when on the Internet are blurred and low resolution why is this? Because if you go on apples website everything is crystal clear????

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Automatic upsampling of low-resolution images?

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