Segment dependent dynamic multi-histogram equalization for image contrast enhancement

Histogram equalization (HE) method proved to be a simple and most effective technique for contrast enhancement of digital images. However it does not preserve the brightness and natural appearance of the images, which is a major drawback. To overcome this limitation, several Bi- and Multi-HE methods have been proposed. Although the Bi-HE methods significantly enhance the contrast and may preserve the brightness, the natural appearance of the images is not preserved as these methods suffer with the problem of intensity saturation. While Multi-HE methods are proposed to further maintain the brightness and natural appearance of images, but at the cost of contrast enhancement. In this paper, two novel Multi-HE methods for contrast enhancement of natural images, while preserving the brightness and natural appearance of the images, have been proposed. The technique involves decomposing the histogram of an input image into multiple segments based on mean or median values as thresholds. The narrow range segments are identified and are allocated full dynamic range before applying HE to each segment independently. Finally the combined equalized histogram is normalized to avoid the saturation of intensities and un-even distribution of bins. Simulation results show that, for the variety of test images (120 images) the proposed method enhances contrast while preserving brightness and natural appearance and outperforms contemporary methods both qualitatively and quantitatively. The statistical consistency of results has also been verified through ANOVA statistical tool.     

自适应动态峰值剪切直方图均衡化

传统的直方图均衡化算法在增强图像的同时可能会引入一些视觉退化效应,如一些图像的部分区域出现过度增强。为了克服这个缺点,已有一些灰度均值保持算法,但是这些算法并不能很好地保持图像处理前后灰度均值的稳定性。提出了一种自适应动态峰值剪切直方图均衡化算法：使用滤波器对原图像的直方图进行滤波操作,并且根据图像的信息来确定分割区间及区间数目;对分割的区间进行重新映射;对区间的直方图进行剪切操作,然后分别地进行均衡化处理,并对处理后的图像进行灰度归一化操作。实验结果表明,该算法可以很好地在保持原图像均值的前提下实现图像增强。     

Adaptive Image Enhancement based on Bi-Histogram Equalization with a clipping limit

A new approach based on Bi-Histogram Equalization is presented to enhance grayscale images. The proposed Adaptive Image Enhancement based on Bi-Histogram Equalization (AIEBHE) technique divides the input histogram into two sub-histograms, which are at the threshold of the histogram median for mean brightness preservation. Histogram clipping is performed to control the enhancement rate, and then the clipped sub-histograms are equalized and integrated to obtain the enhanced image. The novelty of AIEBHE is its flexibility in choosing the clipping limit that automatically selects the smallest value among histogram bins, mean, and median values, resulting in the conservation of a greater amount of information in the image. Automatic selection of the clipping limit addresses the issue of over-emphasizing of high frequency bins during histogram equalization. Simulation results reveal that AIEBHE technique outperforms other histogram-equalization-based enhancement techniques in terms of detail preservation and mean brightness preservation.     

保持亮度的多峰值直方图均衡算法

现有的直方图均衡算法在增强图像对比度的同时,输出图像的亮度与输入图像无关,并且在均衡区域产生亮度饱和现象,提出了一种新的直方图均衡算法.以亮度保持的双直方图均衡算法(BBHE)为基础,改进其对子图像的分类方式:根据直方图对图像进行多峰值分解,得到一系列不同范围的子图像,然后对每一个子图像在其相应的灰度范围内进行直方图均衡,最后合并这些子图像的均衡结果.实验结果表明,直方图均衡新算法不仅在保持了输出图像亮度的同时,而且非常有效的解决了在原图像均衡区域产生的亮度饱和问题对图像的影响.     

Image contrast enhancement using fuzzy clustering with adaptive cluster parameter and sub-histogram equalization

Histogram equalization is an effective technique to boost image quality and contrast enhancement. However, in some cases the increase in image contrast by traditional histogram equalization exceeds the desired amount Which damages the image properties and wanes its natural look. Histogram division and performing a separate equalization for each sub-histogram is one of the presented solutions. The dividing method and determining the number of sub-histograms are the main problems directly affecting the output image quality. In this study, a method is introduced for automatic determination of the number of sub-histograms and density based histogram division leading to appropriate output with no need for parameter setting. Each main peak is in a separate section. Image contrast is increased with no loss of image specifications through determining the number of sub-histograms based on the number of main peaks. The introduced histogram equalization approach consists of three stages. The first stage, using histogram analysis, produces an automated estimate of number of clusters for image brightness levels. The second, clusters the image brightness levels, and using the provided transfer function, the final stage includes contrast enhancement for each individual cluster separately. The results of the proposed approach demonstrate not only clearer details along with a boost in contrast, but also noticeably more natural appearance in the images.     

用于数字图像直方图处理的一种二值映射规则

直方图表示数字图像中每一灰度级与其出现频数间的统计关系，它可给出图像的概貌性描述，而基于直方图修改技术的灰度变换是图像增强的实用而有效的处理方法之一。直方图处理包含均衡化和规定化两种技术。均衡化的目的是使图像像素均匀地分布在所有灰度级上；规定化的目的是将原图像的直方图转变为规定的直方图，以便突出一定灰度范围内的图像。为了进一步提高直方图处理算法的有效性，首先分析了现有的几种数字图像直方图均衡化和规定化算法存在的缺点，然后提出了一种新的二值映射规则(BML)，该规则基于最优控制原理，以直方图误差最小为准则进行灰度映射，实验证明．该规则算法简单，无论是用于直方图均衡化处理．还是用于直方图规定化处理，均较其他映射规则都更为有效。     

Contrast enhancement and brightness preserving of digital mammograms using fuzzy clipped contrast-limited adaptive histogram equalization algorithm

A novel fuzzy logic and histogram based algorithm called Fuzzy Clipped Contrast-Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization (FC-CLAHE) algorithm is proposed for enhancing the local contrast of digital mammograms. A digital mammographic image uses a narrow range of gray levels. The contrast of a mammographic image distinguishes its diagnostic features such as masses and micro calcifications from one another with respect to the surrounding breast tissues. Thus, contrast enhancement and brightness preserving of digital mammograms is very important for early detection and further diagnosis of breast cancer. The limitation of existing contrast enhancement and brightness preserving techniques for enhancing digital mammograms is that they limit the amplification of contrast by clipping the histogram at a predefined clip-limit. This clip-limit is crisp and invariant to mammogram data. This causes all the pixels inside the window region of the mammogram to be equally affected. Hence these algorithms are not very suitable for real time diagnosis of breast cancer. In this paper, we propose a fuzzy logic and histogram based clipping algorithm called Fuzzy Clipped Contrast-Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization (FC-CLAHE) algorithm, which automates the selection of the clip-limit that is relevant to the mammogram and enhances the local contrast of digital mammograms. The fuzzy inference system designed to automate the selection of clip-limit requires a limited number of control parameters. The fuzzy rules are developed to make the clip limit flexible and variant to mammogram data without human intervention. Experiments are conducted using the 322 digital mammograms extracted from MIAS database. The performance of the proposed technique is compared with various histogram equalization methods based on image quality measurement tools such as Contrast Improvement Index (CII), Discrete Entropy (DE), Absolute Mean Brightness Coefficient (AMBC) and Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR). Experimental results show that the proposed FC-CLAHE algorithm produces better results than several state-of-art algorithms.     

Combination of histogram segmentation and modification to preserve the original brightness of the images

Image enhancement by preserving the original brightness is the main challenge of the consumer electronics field. This paper concentrates on the modification of traditional histogram equalization (HE) method to increase its brightness preserving ability. In literature mainly two types of variants have been proposed based on segmentation and modification of the histogram. Both variants are able to preserve the original brightness to some extent. Actually the efficiency of these variants of HE depend on the optimal segmentation and proper modification of histogram. This study concentrates to prove that histogram segmentation or modification which one is better to preserve the image’s original brightness and how much it can be preserved by using the combination of two variants. New hybrid variants of HE method have been proposed in this paper to prove that fact. Results of the proposed methods have been analyzed visually and mathematically.     

基于小波分频和二次均衡的图像增强算法

传统的图像增强算法在增强图像的同时也增强了图像的噪声信号,导致信息熵下降.结合小波变换多尺度、多分辨率的特点和直方图均衡的优势,提出一种基于小波分频和二次均衡的高亮度图像增强算法.首先利用小波变换将图像分解为低频分量和高频分量,然后仅对低频分量作直方图均衡处理,再由均衡后的低频分量与各高频分量进行小波重构,最后对重构的图像再次进行直方图均衡处理.实验结果表明,该算法对于亮度较高的灰度图像有较好的增强效果.     

Image contrast enhancement for preserving mean brightness without losing image features

Histogram equalization is a well-known and effective technique for improving the contrast of images. However, the traditional histogram equalization (HE) method usually results in extreme contrast enhancement, which causes an unnatural look and visual artifacts of the processed image. In this paper, we propose a novel histogram equalization method that is composed of an automatic histogram separation module and an intensity transformation module. First, the proposed histogram separation module is a combination of the proposed prompt multiple thresholding procedure and an optimum peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) calculation to separate the histogram in small-scale detail. As the final step of the proposed process, the use of the intensity transformation module can enhance the image with complete brightness preservation for each generated sub-histogram. Experimental results show that the proposed method not only retains the shape features of the original histogram but also enhances the contrast effectively.     

局部灰度级展开的子块直方图均衡方法

直方图均衡是进行图像处理最基本的处理方法，该文提出一种用改进的子块直方图均衡的方法，在将图像分成子块处理的基础上再根据子块内的灰度分布决定其展开范围，而不是机械地在全部灰度级展开，通过对一幅肺部CT图像进行处理表明，该方法较之传统的方法更能够提高细节的对比度，能有效地应用于边缘检测以及医学图像处理等领域。     

一种夜视图象处理的新算法

增强是夜视图象处理的一种重要方法,而直方图均衡是最经典的图象信息增强算法之一,但将它直接应用于夜视图象处理有如下缺点：（１）丢失原始图象的亮度信息;（２）处理过程中有简井现象发生,该文结合夜视图象的特点,提出了一种保持亮度和克服简并的算法,即采用不同灰度区间分别均衡,并且采用设定最小灰度间职和最大拉伸系数的均衡函数的方法,从一定程度上克服了上述缺点。     

Contrast enhancement for cephalometric images using wavelet-based modified adaptive histogram equalization

Cephalometric images usually have low contrast. The existing techniques for automatic cephalometric analysis usually use histogram equalization for image enhancement. This technique has the advantage of being fully automatic and nonlinear. However, it suffers from spikes, excessive enhancement, and lack of brightness preservation. The proposed technique is an adaptive histogram equalization technique that uses wavelet based gradient histograms. This paper compares its performance with two traditional techniques, three histogram modification based techniques, and two wavelet based techniques. Forty digital and scanned cephalograms are used to conduct tests. In addition to visual histograms and intensity profiles, the proposed method is compared in terms of eight quantitative measures. The various measures are applied to analyze the results in terms of contrast enhancement (EME, CNR), brightness preservation (AMBE), edge conservation and enhancement (H, TEN), preservation of image structures and non-addition distortion (MSSIM, SVD-M). The proposed method gives good contrast enhancement, with better brightness preservation without losing edge information and with the minimum addition of distortions to the enhanced cephalometric images.     

保持图像亮度的自适应局部对比度增强

目前保持亮度的局部直方图均衡算法用于对比度增强时,大多以亮度均值和中值为图像的亮度分割点,这些方法能较好地保持图像的亮度,但同时也会产生局部过增强。为此提出了一种亮度误差最小的自适应局部对比度增强算法,根据亮度均值绝对误差自适应的选择最佳亮度分割点,然后用保持亮度的双直方图均衡算法对被分割的子图像进行均衡,最后用滤波器消除块效应。实验结果表明,该算法不仅保持了输入图像的亮度,同时也实现了局部对比度增强。     

亮度自适应的保熵直方图均衡化方法

直方图均衡化是一种简单有效的图像对比度增强技术,由于它无法保持图像的均值亮度和熵值,因此在实际工程中很少应用。提出了一种直方图规定化的新方法以避免直方图均衡化的缺点,该算法利用直方图均衡化的特点--使直方图分布尽可能均匀,通过变分法求出一个在熵值不变的约束下使得图像均值亮度最大化的直方图,最后将原始直方图转换成直方图规定化后的目标直方图。通过与已有方法HE/DSIHE/MMBEBHE/BPHEME比较,结果表明该方法不仅能够保持熵值,而且可以有效地增强图像对比度,可以用于消费型电子产品中。     

一种非线性变换的双直方图红外图像增强方法

红外图像具有噪声大、对比度低等特点,红外图像增强是红外探测、识别和跟踪应用中的核心问题之一。在红外图像增强技术中,直方图均衡方法简单、有效,但存在细节信息损失较大的缺陷。提出一种对红外图像采用非线性变换分段直方图的增强方法,该方法对红外图像进行非线性变换,提高较暗区域的像素亮度,根据前背景区域特征将直方图分成两段,进行双直方图均衡化处理,对前景和背景分别进行图像的增强。经过实验验证,该算法能有效提高图像亮度,扩大目标区的灰度范围,增强前景图像的细节部分。     

Gaussian mixture modeling of histograms for contrast enhancement

The current major theme in contrast enhancement is to partition the input histogram into multiple sub-histograms before final equalization of each sub-histogram is performed. This paper presents a novel contrast enhancement method based on Gaussian mixture modeling of image histograms, which provides a sound theoretical underpinning of the partitioning process. Our method comprises five major steps. First, the number of Gaussian functions to be used in the model is determined using a cost function of input histogram partitioning. Then the parameters of a Gaussian mixture model are estimated to find the best fit to the input histogram under a threshold. A binary search strategy is then applied to find the intersection points between the Gaussian functions. The intersection points thus found are used to partition the input histogram into a new set of sub-histograms, on which the classical histogram equalization (HE) is performed. Finally, a brightness preservation operation is performed to adjust the histogram produced in the previous step into a final one. Based on three representative test images, the experimental results demonstrate the contrast enhancement advantage of the proposed method when compared to twelve state-of-the-art methods in the literature.     

直方图均衡技术综述

直方图均衡是一种简单而有效的图像增强技术,在医学图像处理、计算机视觉、遥感影像等领域都有重要作用,从均衡时选取的区域情况分为全局和局部直方图均衡方法;从均衡时选取的像素值域可以分为传统直方图均衡、双直方图均衡和递归分解的直方图均衡,甚至多直方图均衡;从均衡对象可以分为空域的直方图均衡和结合频域滤波的直方图均衡;从均衡图像的通道数可以分为灰度图像直方图均衡和彩色图像直方图均衡．本文对以上涉及的直方图均衡技术进行了较为系统的综述,对衡量直方图均衡效果的评价指标进行了说明,展望了直方图均衡技术进一步研究方向．     

基于直方图比率特征的虹膜图像分类方法

针对虹膜纹理的模式分类问题,提出了一种直方图比率特征的虹膜纹理分类方法。该方法利用虹膜图像的直方图信息,提取虹膜灰度等级对,通过灰度等级对自相关策略。计算虹膜纹理的直方图比率特征,实现了虹膜纹理的最大化分类。在相同的实验条件下,对不同样本的虹膜图像进行了仿真实验,结果表明：直方图比率方法较传统的直方图方法平均提高了3．05％的识别率。     

人眼灰度感知建模及其在图像增强中的应用

原直方图均衡化算法处理结果不理想,主要是图像灰度域上实现的均衡化并不代表人眼感知亮度域上的均衡化,对此提出人眼感知亮度域上的直方图均衡化算法,但由于使用的灰度人眼感知模型不准确,处理效果也没有得到明显的改善。提出一种灰度人眼感知模型的建模方法,利用实验测试的方法得到人眼视觉系统临界可见偏差曲线;再推导得到人眼对不同灰度背景下同等灰度差别的敏感度曲线;接着利用上一步结果再通过积分和归一化方法得到灰度人眼感知模型;根据以上灰度人眼感知模型对直方图均衡化算法进行改进。对比实验结果表明,提出算法相比于原直方图均衡化具有明显的改善效果,相比于CLAHE、BBHE以及HMF等直方图改进算法,也具有无需参数调节,增强效果显著和适应性强等优点。