• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.1233-1243
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• 2015

The contrast enhancement is great challenge in the image processing when images are suffering from poor contrast problem. Therefore, in order to overcome this problem an automatic method is proposed for contrast enhancement of natural color images. The proposed method consist of two stages: in first stage lightness component in YIQ color space is normalized by sigmoid function after the adaptive histogram equalization is applied on Y component and in second stage automatic color contrast enhancement algorithm is applied on output of the first stage. The proposed algorithm is tested on different NASA color images, hyperspectral color images and other types of natural color images. The performance of proposed algorithm is evaluated and compared with the other existing contrast enhancement algorithms in terms of colorfulness metric and color enhancement factor. The higher values of colorfulness metric and color enhancement factor imply that the visual quality of the enhanced image is good. Simulation results demonstrate that proposed algorithm provides higher values of colorfulness metric and color enhancement factor as compared to other existing contrast enhancement algorithms. The proposed algorithm also provides better visual enhancement results as compared with the other existing contrast enhancement algorithms.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.76-86
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• 2017

In this study, we propose an automatic contrast enhancement method based on transfer function modification (TFM) by histogram equalization. Previous histogram-based global contrast enhancement techniques employ histogram modification, whereas we propose a direct TFM technique that considers the mean brightness of an image during contrast enhancement. The mean point shifting method using a transfer function is proposed to preserve the mean brightness of an image. In addition, the linearization of transfer function technique, which has a histogram flattening effect, is designed to reduce visual artifacts. An attenuation factor is automatically determined using the maximum value of the probability density function in an image to control its rate of contrast. A new quantitative measurement method called sparsity of a histogram is proposed to obtain a better objective comparison relative to previous global contrast enhancement methods. According to our experimental results, we demonstrated the performance of our proposed method based on generalized measures and the newly proposed measurement.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers D
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.76-85
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• 2004

In this paper, the contrast enhancement method of thermal image is proposed and it is the plateau equalization algorithm using local histogram for the real time display of infrared imagery. Through hardware implementing, its practicality and adequacy are proved. Examinations are executed to verify the effect of contrast enhancement by bright control and contrast control automatic to the plateau value in the manual mode, and that verified the effect of contrast enhancement in the automatic mode and the practicality in the real system. According to the experiment results, the proposed "the application of local histogram and plateau equalization algorithm for contrast enhancement of real time thermal image"in this dissertation is the verified method for the thermal imaging contrast enhancement.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.837-856
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• 2016

Underwater image enhancement has received considerable attention in last decades, due to the nature of poor visibility and low contrast of underwater images. In this paper, we propose a new automatic underwater image enhancement algorithm, which combines nonsubsampled contourlet transform (NSCT) domain enhancement techniques with the mechanism of the human visual system (HVS). We apply the multiscale retinex algorithm based on the HVS into NSCT domain in order to eliminate the non-uniform illumination, and adopt the threshold denoising technique to suppress underwater noise. Our proposed algorithm incorporates the luminance masking and contrast masking characteristics of the HVS into NSCT domain to yield the new HVS-based NSCT. Moreover, we define two nonlinear mapping functions. The first one is used to manipulate the HVS-based NSCT contrast coefficients to enhance the edges. The second one is a gain function which modifies the lowpass subband coefficients to adjust the global dynamic range. As a result, our algorithm can achieve contrast enhancement, image denoising and edge sharpening automatically and simultaneously. Experimental results illustrate that our proposed algorithm has better enhancement performance than state-of-the-art algorithms both in subjective evaluation and quantitative assessment. In addition, our algorithm can automatically achieve underwater image enhancement without any parameter tuning.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.462-470
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• 2008

This study applies fuzzy functions to improve image quality under the assumption that uncertainty of image information due to low contrast is based on vagueness and ambiguity of the brightness pixel values. To solve the problem of low contrast images whose brightness distribution is inclined, we use the k-means algorithm as a parameter of the fuzzy function, through which automatic critical points can be found to differentiate objects from background and contrast between bright and dark points can be improved. The fuzzy function is presented at the three main stages presented to improve image quality: fuzzification, contrast enhancement and defuzzification. To measure improved image quality, we present the fuzzy index and entropy index and in comparison with those of histogram equalization technique, it shows outstanding performance.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems Conference
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• 2001.12a
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• pp.279-282
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• 2001

This paper presents an image contrast enhancement technique for improving the low contrast images using the improved IAFC(Integrated Adaptive Fuzzy Clustering) Model. The low pictorial information of a low contrast image is due to the vagueness or fuzziness of the multivalued levels of brightness rather than randomness. Fuzzy image processing has three main stages, namely, image fuzzification, modification of membership values, and image defuzzification. Using a new model of automatic crossover point selection, optimal crossover point is selected automatically. The problem of crossover point selection can be considered as the two-category classification problem. The improved MEC can classify the image into two classes with unsupervised teaming rule. The proposed method is applied to some experimental images with 256 gray levels and the results are compared with those of the histogram equalization technique. We utilized the index of fuzziness as a measure of image quality. The results show that the proposed method is better than the histogram equalization technique.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.307-314
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• 2007

In this paper, we propose an image contrast enhancement algorithm for an LCD TV. The proposed algorithm consists of two processes: the image segmentation process and the tone curve control process. The first process uses an automatic threshold technique to decompose an input image into two regions and then utilizes a hierarchical structure for real-time processing. The second process generates a gray level tone curve for contrast enhancement using a weighted sum of average tone curves for two segmented regions. Experimental result shows that the proposed algorithm outperforms the conventional contrast enhancement methods for an LCD TV.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.17 no.9
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• pp.2206-2212
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• 2013

We propose a method for the classification of fatty liver by ultrasound imaging using Fuzzy Contrast Enhancement Technique and FCM. ROI images are extracted after removal of information data except ultrasound image of the liver and the kidney then image contrast is improved by Fuzzy Contrast Enhancement Algorithm. The images applied Fuzzy Contrast Enhancement Technique is applied average binarization then ROI images of liver and kidney parenchyma are extracted using Blob algorithm. Representative brightness is extracted in the liver and kidney images using the most frequent brightness level after classification of 10 brightness levels. We applied this method to ultrasound images and a radiologist confirmed the accuracy of diagnosis for fatty liver. This method would be a model for automatic method in the diagnosis of fatty liver.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.325-333
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• 2010

Image registration involves overlapping images of an identical region and assigning the data into one coordinate system. Image registration has proved important in remote sensing, enabling registered satellite imagery to be used in various applications such as image fusion, change detection and the generation of digital maps. The image descriptor, which extracts matching points from each image, is necessary for automatic registration of remotely sensed data. Using contrast enhancement algorithms such as histogram equalization and image stretching, the normalized data are applied to the image descriptor. Drawing on the different spectral characteristics of high resolution satellite imagery based on sensor type and acquisition date, the applied normalization method can be used to change the results of matching interest point descriptors. In this paper, the matching points by scale invariant feature transformation (SIFT) are extracted using various contrast enhancement algorithms and injection of Gaussian noise. The results of the extracted matching points are compared with the number of correct matching points and matching rates for each point.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.633-654
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• 2010

High quality camera images, with good contrast and intensity, are needed to obtain the desired information. Images need to be enhanced when they are dark or bright. The histogram equalization technique, which flattens the density distribution of an image, has been widely used to enhance image contrast due to its effectiveness and simplicity. This technique, however, cannot be used to enhance images that are either too dark or too bright. In addition, it is difficult to perform histogram equalization in real-time using a general-purpose computer. This paper proposes a histogram equalization technique with AGC (Automatic Gain Control) to extend the image enhancement range. It is designed using VHDL (VHSIC Hardware Description Language) to enhance images in real-time. The system is implemented with an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array). An image processing system with this FPGA is implemented. The performance of this image processing system is measured.