Patent · US Expired

Processing system and method for enhancing image data

US4979136A · kind A · utility

34Cited by
6References
34Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMar 1, 1988
Grant dateDec 18, 1990
Priority date
Expiry dateMar 1, 2008

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06T5/20
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A non-linear digital filter system for image data or other signal data suppresses undesirable noise while enhancing significant characteristics of the data. Data elements in a neighborhood (window) defined around and including an input data element are classified into characteristic classes based on their parameter value range. The class with the maximum population is selected as most representative of the neighborhood. A data value associated with that class is chosen as the output of the filter for the input data element around which the neighborhood is defined, to thereby form a plurality filter. As an alternative, the class holding more than half the data elements in the neighborhood is chosen as most representative, to form a majority filter. In case there is no class containing more than half the elements in a neighborhood, the output of the filter equal the value characteristic of the class in which the input pixel itself falls. In a further heterogeneity filter version, a data element for whose neighborhood there is no majority class is replaced by a "1"; a pixel for whose neighborhood there is a majority class is replaced by a "0". In the case of image data, the "1" value …

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.