Modeling and optimization of rotational C-arm stereoscopic X-rayangiography

Stereoscopy can be an effective method for obtaining three-dimensional (3-D) spatial information from two-dimensional (2-D) projection X-ray images, without the need for tomographic reconstruction. This much-needed information is missed in many X-ray diagnostic and interventional procedures, such as the treatment of vascular aneurysms. Fast C-arm X-ray systems can obtain multiple angle sequences of stereoscopic image pairs from a single contrast injection and a single breath hold. To advance this solution, we developed a model of stereo angiography, performed perception experiments and related results to optimal acquisition. The model described horizontal disparity for the C-arm geometry that agreed very well with measurements from a geometric phantom. The perceptual accommodation-convergence conflict and geometry limited the effective stereoscopic field of view (SFOV). For a typical large image intensifier system, it was 28 cm x 31 cm at the center of rotation (COR). In the model, blurring from finite focal-spot size and C-arm motion reduced depth resolution on the digital display. Near the COR, the predicted depth resolution was 3-11 mm for a viewing angle of 7 degrees , which agreed favorably with results from recently published studies. The model also described how acquisition parameters affected spatial warping of curves of equal apparent depth. Pincushioning and the difference between the acquisition and display geometry were found to introduce additional distortions to stereo displays. Preference studies on X-ray angiograms indicated that the ideal viewing angle should be small (1-2 degrees), which agreed with some previously published work. Perceptual studies indicated that stereo angiograms should have high artery contrast and that digital processing to increase contrast improved stereopsis. Digital subtraction angiograms, with different motion errors between the left and right-eye views, gave artifacts that confused stereopsis. The addition of background to subtracted images reduced this effect and provided other features for improved depth perception. Using the modeling results and typical clinical angiography requirements, we recommend acquisition protocols and engineering specifications that are achievable on current high-end systems.     

3-D Mobile Display Based on MoirÉ-Free Dual Directional Backlight and Driving Scheme for Image Crosstalk Reduction

A novel micro-grooved structure of lightguides and a sequential driving scheme of light sources were demonstrated in achieving comparable image qualities of 3-D displays to that of 2-D displays. The modified distribution of micro-grooves not only locates viewing cones for respective eyes but also suppresses the moire pattern, which might occur when a periodic micro-grooved structure and a color filter are superimposed. The configuration of lightguides for a 1.8-in liquid crystal display (LCD) panel can yield acceptable 3-D perceptions at the viewing distance of 7-23 cm and the brightness uniformity of greater than 83%. In addition, the driving scheme of light sources in synchronization with parallax images can project images to the viewer's respective eyes sequentially. With the refreshing sub-frame rate of 190 Hz and double displaying parallax images, the image crosstalk of 3-D perceptions can be efficiently reduced for an LC response time of 7.0 ms.     

Perceptual strength of 3-D crosstalk in both achromatic and color images in stereoscopic 3-D displays

The cognitive strength of crosstalk in stereoscopic 3-D displays is investigated, and new quantitative analysis methods based on color difference and grayscale levels are developed. Unlike results using existing metrics, results by the new methods agree well with the perceived crosstalk strength in achromatic images with various levels of grayscale. The crosstalk in color images, which has not been studied before, exhibits interesting results in that the crosstalk metric based on the lightness difference expresses the best fit with the perceptual crosstalk when the intended image is black and the chroma value of the counterpart image is large, but the metric using the color difference works better when the intended image is not black. The new metrics reveal that the difference between active and passive 3-D displays is not as large as suggested by conventional crosstalk metrics, and the crosstalk in color images cannot be simply estimated by averaging the crosstalk of red, green, and blue subpixels. The new metrics will be useful in the development of new image processing technology and display technology for better image quality.     

A Parallel-Structure Solder Paste Inspection System

In this paper, we present an innovative design of a solder paste inspection system that can be practically integrated into existing solder paste printing machines. Since solder paste inspection systems usually occupy a large vertical space, we designed a mirror box that can redirect the transmission of fringe patterns. In this way, a new parallel-structure solder paste inspection system with a significant reduction in the vertical constraint is developed. We also developed a hybrid weighting algorithm that applies the distance and fringe contrast to acquire the height of solder pastes. Furthermore, we developed an algorithm that generates the 2-D image from the fringe pattern images during the four-step algorithm. It reduces the time required for solder paste inspection compared to traditional approaches that use special lighting systems to create the 2-D image. Based on the results of the height acquisition algorithm, 2-D and 3-D solder paste inspections are performed. Experimental results show that our system can inspect a 20 mm times 20 mm printed circuit board area within 2 s to detect common 2-D and 3-D defects, and the maximum standard deviation for the average height is 3 mum.     

狭缝光栅自由立体显示器的立体图像串扰度

为了表征狭缝光栅自由立体显示器存在的左右眼视差图像的混叠程度,提出了立体图像串扰度C的概念。根据狭缝光栅自由立体显示器的结构和工作原理,应用几何光学知识,分析得出了立体图像串扰度C的计算公式,并给出了一个具体的狭缝光栅自由立体显示器的计算结果。通过观看实验,证明了所定义的立体图像串扰度C可以定量描述观看者在立体可视区域看到的立体图像的串扰程度。     

Concurrent 3-D motion segmentation and 3-D interpretation of temporal sequences of monocular images.

The purpose of this study is to investigate a variational method for joint multiregion three-dimensional (3-D) motion segmentation and 3-D interpretation of temporal sequences of monocular images. Interpretation consists of dense recovery of 3-D structure and motion from the image sequence spatiotemporal variations due to short-range image motion. The method is direct insomuch as it does not require prior computation of image motion. It allows movement of both viewing system and multiple independently moving objects. The problem is formulated following a variational statement with a functional containing three terms. One term measures the conformity of the interpretation within each region of 3-D motion segmentation to the image sequence spatiotemporal variations. The second term is of regularization of depth. The assumption that environmental objects are rigid accounts automatically for the regularity of 3-D motion within each region of segmentation. The third and last term is for the regularity of segmentation boundaries. Minimization of the functional follows the corresponding Euler-Lagrange equations. This results in iterated concurrent computation of 3-D motion segmentation by curve evolution, depth by gradient descent, and 3-D motion by least squares within each region of segmentation. Curve evolution is implemented via level sets for topology independence and numerical stability. This algorithm and its implementation are verified on synthetic and real image sequences. Viewers presented with anaglyphs of stereoscopic images constructed from the algorithm's output reported a strong perception of depth.     

狭缝光栅裸眼立体显示器的参数优化设计

在传统的狭缝光栅裸眼立体显示器设计中,在增大可视区域左右尺寸和降低图像间串扰时,将会引起光能损失率增大。针对这一问题,对传统的设计参数进行优化,在确保光能损失率可以接受的条件下,依据立体视觉要求进行仿真和实验,通过减小狭缝宽度的值,增大视区的左右尺寸,降低串扰。实验结果表明,与理论值相比较,优化后的视区左右尺寸增大9 mm,串扰值降低2.3%,而光能损失率只增加0.07,具有较高的应用价值。     

Resampling, Antialiasing, and Compression in Multiview 3-D Displays

Multiview three-dimensional (3-D) displays offer viewing of high-resolution stereoscopic images from arbitrary positions without glasses. This article surveyed different approaches to develop signal processing algorithms for these displays. Such displays consist of view-dependent pixels that reveal a different color according to the viewing angle. Therefore, the left and right eye of an observer sees slightly different images on the screen. This leads to the perception of 3-D depth and parallax effects when the observer moves. Although the basic optical principles of multiview auto-stereoscopy have been known for over a century, only recently displays with increased resolution, or systems based on multiple projectors, have made this approach practical.     

High-Performance Active Liquid Crystalline Shutters for Stereo Computer Graphics and Other 3-D Technologies

Stereoscopic computer displays create a 3-D image by alternating two separate images for each of the viewer's eyes. Field-sequential viewing systems supply each eye with the appropriate image by blocking the wrong image for the wrong eye. In our work, we have developed a new mode of operation of a liquid crystal shutter that provides for highly effective blockage of undesired images when the screen is viewed in all viewing directions and eliminates color shifts associated with long turn-off times. The goal was achieved by using a pi-cell filled with low-rotational-viscosity and high-birefringence fluid and additional negative birefringence films with splay optic axis distribution. The shutter demonstrates a contrast ratio higher than 800:1 for head-on viewing and 10:1 in the viewing cone of about 45deg. The relaxation time of the shutter does not exceed 2 ms and is the same for all three primary colors     

基于Unity3D的可变视点数立体图像合成算法

针对当前自由立体3D显示器的最佳观看距离固定和无法灵活调的等问题,本文在Unity3D平台上采用Cg语言编程,提出了可变视点数立体图像合成算法。该算法根据最佳观看距离与视点数之间的关系,调整光栅截距对应的像素点,实现了通过灵活改变视点数来改变自由立体3D显示的最佳观看距离。实验结果表明,通过此算法合成的立体图像可以调整显示的最佳观看距离,并且实验测得的视点数与计算所得的视点数误差较小。图像串扰较低、合成效率高,使观看者能在不同距离都能舒适观看立体图像。     

A computationally efficient approach to the estimation of two- and three-dimensional hidden Markov models.

Statistical modeling methods are becoming indispensable in today's large-scale image analysis. In this paper, we explore a computationally efficient parameter estimation algorithm for two-dimensional (2-D) and three-dimensional (3-D) hidden Markov models (HMMs) and show applications to satellite image segmentation. The proposed parameter estimation algorithm is compared with the first proposed algorithm for 2-D HMMs based on variable state Viterbi. We also propose a 3-D HMM for volume image modeling and apply it to volume image segmentation using a large number of synthetic images with ground truth. Experiments have demonstrated the computational efficiency of the proposed parameter estimation technique for 2-D HMMs and a potential of 3-D HMM as a stochastic modeling tool for volume images.     

Three-dimensional imaging methods based on multiview images

Three-dimensional imaging methods, based on parallaxes as their depth cues, can be classified into the stereoscopic providing binocular parallax only, and multiview providing both binocular and motion parallaxes. In these methods, the parallaxes are provided by creating a viewing zone with use of either a special optical eyeglasses or a special optical plate as their viewing zone-forming optics. For the stereoscopic image generations, either the eyeglasses or the optical plate can be employed, but for the multiview the optical plate or the eyeglasses with a tracking device. The stereoscopic image pair and the multiview images are presented either simultaneously or as a time sequence with use of projectors or display panels. For the case of multiview images, they can also be presented as two images at a time according to the viewer's movements. The presence of the viewing zone-forming optics often causes undesirable problems, such as appearance of moire/spl acute/ fringes, image quality deterioration, depth reversion, limiting viewing regions, low image brightness, image blurring, and inconveniences of wearing.     

Simultaneous 2D and 3D perception for stereoscopic displays based on polarized or active shutter glasses

Viewing stereoscopic 3D content is typically enabled either by using polarizing or active shutter glasses. In certain cases, some viewers may not wear viewing glasses and hence, it would be desirable to tune the stereoscopic 3D content so that it could be simultaneously watched with and without viewing glasses. In this paper we propose a video post-processing technique which enables good quality 3D and 2D perception of the same content. This is done through manipulation of one view by making it more similar to the other view to reduce the ghosting artifact perceived without viewing glasses while 3D perception is maintained. The proposed technique includes three steps: disparity selection, contrast adjustment, and low-pass filtering. The proposed approach was evaluated through an extensive series of subjective tests, which also revealed good adjustment parameters to suit viewing with and without viewing glasses with an acceptable 3D and 2D quality, respectively.     

基于视觉显著性的立体显示灰阶串扰量化

为了更为合理地评价立体显示系统中的串扰现象,对传统灰阶串扰进行了加权并进一步单一数值量化。研究选取了大量涵盖各种类型和场景的立体图像,对每一灰阶转换组合出现的概率进行统计,同时提取立体图像视觉显著性,提出了平均灰阶转换显著性的概念。平均灰阶转换显著性以矩阵形式呈现,应用其对传统灰阶串扰矩阵加权后可获得更为合理的灰阶串扰。加权后的灰阶串扰矩阵求和后即可获得数值范围在0%~100%的单一数值串扰。提出的加权灰阶串扰及其数值单一化方法充分考虑了图像内容和人眼视觉关注机理的影响,得到的评价结果更加客观、合理。同时,研究结果对串扰现象的优化以及视觉舒适度的提高具有指导和推动作用。     

三维Otsu阈值分割方法的递推算法

一维和二维Otsu法是常用的阈值分割方法,二维Otsu法对含噪图像的分割效果要优于一维Otsu法,但它存在的问题是"对象区域和背景区域上的概率和近似为1"的假设的普适性不够,鉴于此景晓军等人提出了三维Otsu法及其递归算法,使得对低对比度、低信噪比的图像有较好的分割效果.本文指出了景晓军等人给出的递推公式的错误,并进行了修正.鉴于他们给出的递推公式并不是真正意义的递推公式,本文给出了新的递推公式.实验结果表明,本文提出的递推公式进一步减少了运算时间.另外,本文还指出三维Otsu法对于叠加了混合噪声的图像有较好的分割效果.     

基于公共点提取的多视图像校正

自由视点立体视频既可以给观看者强烈的立体感,又可以为用户同时呈现不同角度的视点画面。但是垂直视差的存在,会影响合成立体图像的质量,出现图像的模糊,严重的垂直视差会使图像出现“跳跃”现象,甚至不能观看。因此,多视点图像的校正是提高3DTV观看质量的重要步骤之一。现阶段关于双视点图像校正技术的研究已较多,但多视点图像校正研究却需深入。其中,基于多相机标定参数的校正算法需要提供预先的标定数据,应用不便。本文提出了一种在无多摄像机标定参数情况下,消除垂直视差的校正方法。首先,使用SIFT算法提取图像特征点。然后,利用多视点图像公共点的匹配关系,选取唯一基准视点图像平面计算各视点校正矩阵。实验结果表明,该方法有效降低了垂直视差,限制了校正误差的传播,从而保持了校正后图像质量的一致性。      

A depth perception and visual comfort guided computational model for stereoscopic 3D visual saliency

With the emerging development of three-dimensional (3D) related technologies, 3D visual saliency modeling is becoming particularly important and challenging. This paper presents a new depth perception and visual comfort guided saliency computational model for stereoscopic 3D images. The prominent advantage of the proposed model is that we incorporate the influence of depth perception and visual comfort on 3D visual saliency computation. The proposed saliency model is composed of three components: 2D image saliency, depth saliency and visual comfort based saliency. In the model, color saliency, texture saliency and spatial compactness are computed respectively and fused to derive 2D image saliency. Global disparity contrast is considered to compute depth saliency. Particularly, we train a visual comfort prediction function to distinguish stereoscopic image pair as high comfortable stereo viewing (HCSV) or low comfortable stereo viewing (LCSV), and devise different computational rules to generate a visual comfort based saliency map. The final 3D saliency map is obtained by using a linear combination and enhanced by a “saliency-center bias” model. Experimental results show that the proposed 3D saliency model outperforms the state-of-the-art models on predicting human eye fixations and visual comfort assessment.     

A robust 3-D IVUS transducer tracking using single-plane cineangiography

During an intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) intervention, a catheter with an ultrasound transducer is introduced in the body through a blood vessel, and then, pulled back to image a sequence of vessel cross sections. Unfortunately, there is no 3-D information about the position and orientation of these cross-section planes, which makes them less informative. To position the IVUS images in space, some researchers have proposed complex stereoscopic procedures relying on biplane angiography to get two X-ray image sequences of the IVUS transducer trajectory along the catheter. To simplify this procedure, we and others have elaborated algorithms to recover the transducer 3-D trajectory with only a single view X-ray image sequence. In this paper, we present an improved method that provides both automated 2-D and 3-D transducer tracking based on pullback speed as a priori information. The proposed algorithm is robust to erratic pullback speed and is more accurate than the previous single-plane 3-D tracking methods.     

Two-stream interactive network based on local and global information for No-Reference Stereoscopic Image Quality Assessment

Nowadays, stereoscopic image quality assessment (SIQA) based on convolutional neural network (CNN) has become the mainstream model of image quality assessment (IQA). Compared with the two-dimensional quality evaluation model, stereoscopic image quality evaluation is more challenging due to the effects of depth and parallax information. In this paper, we propose a two-stream interactive network model to perform quality evaluation, which can well simulate the process of human stereo visual perception. Meanwhile, we enhance the extraction of local and global features of images by asymmetric convolution kernel and interactive sub-networks of inter-layers, respectively, which can further optimize our network model. Our proposed algorithm was evaluated on four public databases. The final experimental results show that our proposed algorithm exhibits good performance not only on the whole database but also on each single distortion type.     

自由立体显示器的光学性能测量与研究

为了评价自由立体显示器的光学性能,以八视点狭缝光栅自由立体显示器为例,针对不同的视点图像,测量了不同视角下的亮度值与色度值,研究自由立体显示器的光学性能,其光学性能包括自由立体显示器的最佳观看位置、串扰、可视范围、亮度均匀性、色度均匀性和莫尔条纹。结果表明,这种测量及分析方法实现了对多视点立体显示器光学性能的定量评估,增强了评估立体显示器性能的客观性,对自由立体显示器的设计具有指导意义。