Image Enhancement Performance Research Articles

Classification of abnormalities in mammograms by new asymmetric fractal features

In this paper we use fractal method for detection and diagnosis of abnormalities in mammograms. We have used 168 images that were carefully selected by a radiologist and their abnormalities were also confirmed by biopsy. These images included asymmetric lesions, architectural distortion, normal tissue and mass lesion where in case of mass lesion they included circumscribed benign, ill-defined and spiculated malignant masses. At first, by using wavelet transform and piecewise linear coefficient mapping, image enhancement were done. Secondly detection of lesions was done by fractal method as a ROI. Since in investigation of breast cancer, it is important that fibroglandular tissues in both breasts be symmetric and for each asymmetric density, evaluation for malignancy is necessary, we define new fractal features based on extracting asymmetric information from lesions. The fractal features were evaluated on 5 data sets using SVM classifier which enabled to achieve high accuracy in classification of mammograms and diagnostic results. We have also investigated the performance of image enhancement in classification of each data set which shows different effects of enhancement on different lesion types.

Exact Histogram Specification Considering the Just Noticeable Difference

Exact histogram specification (EHS) transforms the histogram of an input image into the specified histogram. In the conventional EHS techniques, the pixels are first sorted according to their graylevels, and the pixels that have the same graylevel are further differentiated according to the local average of the pixel values and the edge strength. The strictly ordered pixels are then mapped to the desired histogram. However, since the conventional sorting method is inherently dependent on the initial graylevel-based sorting, the contrast enhancement capability of the conventional EHS algorithms is restricted. We propose a modified EHS algorithm considering the just noticeable difference. In the proposed algorithm, the edge pixels are pre-processed such that the output edge pixels obtained by the modified EHS can result in the local contrast enhancement. Moreover, we introduce a new sorting method for the pixels that have the same graylevel. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm provides better image enhancement performance compared to the conventional EHS algorithms.

No reference color image contrast and quality measures

No-reference (NR) image quality assessment is essential in evaluating the performance of image enhancement and retrieval algorithms. Much effort has been made in recent years to develop objective NR grayscale and color image quality metrics that correlate with perceived quality evaluations. Unfortunately, only limited success has been achieved and most existing NR quality assessment is feasible only when prior knowledge about the types of image distortion is available. This paper present: a) a new NR contrast based grayscale image contrast measure: Root Mean Enhancement (RME); b) a NR color RME contrast measure CRME which explores the three dimensional contrast relationships of the RGB color channels; c) a NR color quality measure Color Quality Enhancement (CQE) which is based on the linear combination of colorfulness, sharpness and contrast. Computer simulations demonstrate that each measure has its own advantages: the CRME measure is fast and suitable for real time processing of low contrast images; the CQE measure can be used for a wider variety of distorted images. The effectiveness of the presented measures is demonstrated by using the TID2008 database. Experimental results also show strong correlations between the presented measures and Mean Opinion Score (MOS)1.

Sparse 표현을 이용한 X선 흡수 영상 개선

대사성 골 질환인 골다공증(Osteoporosis)의 조기 진단을 위해 X 선 영상에서 골 밀도를 측정하는 방법이 최근 연구되고 있다. 골 밀도는 X 선 영상에서 뼈가 분리되고, 분리된 영역에서의 픽셀에 의해 BMD가 측정되는데, 개선된 영상에서의 정밀한 뼈 추출이 주요한 요소이므로 X 선 영상의 개선은 골다공증의 조기 진단을 위해 필수적이다. 본 논문에서는 sparse 표현을 도입하여 다중(multiple) 잡음을 갖는 X 선 영상을 개선시키는 방법을 제안한다. 실험을 통해 제안한 방법의 결과가 기존의 방법인 웨이블릿 BayesShrink 잡음 제거 방법 및 일반적 sparse 표현 모델의 잡음 제거 방법의 결과에 비해 개선됨을 CNR(Contrast to Noise Ratio) 및 cut-view를 통해 확인하였다. Recently, the evaluating method of the bone mineral density (BMD) in X-ray absorptiometry image has been studied for the early diagnosis of osteoporosis which is known as a metabolic disease. The BMD, in general, is evaluated by calculating pixel intensity in the bone segmented regions. Accurate bone region extraction is extremely crucial for the BMD evaluation. So, a X-Ray image enhancement is needed to get precise bone segmentation. In this paper, we propose an image enhancement method of X-ray image having multiple noise based sparse representation. To evaluate the performance of proposed method, we employ the contrast to noise ratio (CNR) metric and cut-view graphs visualizing image enhancement performance. Experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms the BayesShrink noise reduction methods and the previous noise reduction method in sparse representation with general noise model.

An Improved Local Equilibrium Contrast Enhancement Algorithm for Infrared Laser Images

An improved local equilibrium contrast enhancement algorithm based self-adaptive contrast enhancement algorithm is proposed for infrared laser images, in which the image pixel value histogram is divided into three parts: background and noise area, targets area, and uninterested area. The targets parts are highlighted, while the background and noise parts and the uninterested parts are restrained. A comprehensive qualitative and quantitative image enhancement performance evaluation is presented to verify the proposed theory and algorithm validity, efficiency and reasonability. The experimental results indicate that the proposed algorithm can greatly improve the global and local contrast for both near infrared images and far infrared laser images while efficiently reducing noise in the infrared laser images,and the visual quality of enhanced image is obviously better than the enhancement of the traditional histogram equalization, double plateaus histogram equalization algorithm, etc.

Joint Exact Histogram Specification and Image Enhancement Through the Wavelet Transform

Histogram specification (equalization) is an important tool for tasks such as image enhancement and normalization. Although this problem has exact solution for continuous images, in the case of digital images, it is ill posed. Recently, an exact pixel ordering method based solely on local image intensity was proposed, yet still with some limitations, especially since it ignores the important image edge information. In this paper, we present a wavelet-based method that simultaneously achieves the exact histogram specification and good image enhancement performance. It does so through a carefully designed strict pixel ordering process, during which the wavelet coefficients are fine tuned for the image enhancement purpose. Compared to previous work, this approach takes into account not only local mean intensity values, but also local edge information. Other advantages include fast pixel ordering, good statistical models, and better image enhancement performance. Experimental results and comparison with state-of-the-art methods are presented.