• Journal of Broadcast Engineering
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.651-661
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• 2008

This paper proposes a novel contrast enhancement (CE) algorithm for color images using the modified error diffusion (ED). After conventional color histogram equalization (HE), artifacts such as false contours are produced in the contrast enhanced image. The proposed CE algorithm using the modified ED consists of two parts: CE and ED. In the first part, a low-contrast input image is enhanced by the conventional HE method. In the second part, we use the modified ED algorithm. The inputs of the second part are the average and scaled difference images of the original color input image and the HE image, in which the scaled color difference image is diffused by the ED algorithm. In the proposed algorithm, the modified ED algorithm reduces the artifacts produced in the HE image, and increases the number of color levels. Computer simulations with a number of low-contrast color images show the effectiveness of the proposed CE method in terms of the visual quality as well as the probability mass function. It can be used as a post-processing for CE with simultaneous artifact reduction in various display devices.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.23 no.7
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• pp.926-932
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• 2017

Image distortion can occur when photographing deep sea targets with an optical camera. This problem arises because sunlight is not sufficiently transmitted due to seawater and various floating particles of dust. Particularly, color distortion takes place, causing green and blue color channels to be over emphasized due to water depth, while distortion of boundaries also occurs due to light refraction by seawater and floating particles of dust. These distortions degrade the overall quality of underwater images. In this paper, we analyze underwater images of the bottom of vessels. Based on the results, we propose a technique for color correction and edge enhancement. Experimental results show that the proposed method increases edge clarity by 3.39 % compared to the effective edges of the original underwater image. In addition, a quantitative evaluation and subjective image quality evaluation were concurrently performed. As a result, it was confirmed that object boundaries became clear with color correction. The color correction and contour enhancement method proposed in this paper can be applied in various fields requiring underwater imaging in the future.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.294-299
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• 2007

For efficient and accurate diagnosis of ultrasound images, appropriate time gain compensation(TGC) and dynamic range(DR) control of ultrasound echo signals are important. TGC is used for compensating the attenuation of ultrasound echo signals along the depth, and DR controls the image contrast. In recent ultrasound systems, these two factors are automatically set by a system and/or manually adjusted by an operator to obtain the desired image quality on the screen. In this paper, we propose an algorithm to find the optimized parameter values far TGC and DR automatically. In TGC optimization, we determine the degree of attenuation compensation along the depth by dividing an image into vertical strips and reliably estimating the attenuation characteristic of ultrasound signals. For DR optimization, we define a novel cost function by properly using the characteristics of ultrasound images. We obtain experimental results by applying the proposed algorithm to a real ultrasound(US) imaging system. The results verify that the proposed algorithm automatically sets values of TGC and DR in real-time such that the subjective quality of the enhanced ultrasound images may be sufficiently high for efficient and accurate diagnosis.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.1095-1100
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• 2005

For the establishment of prediction strategies of carcass meat quality grade and for the enhancement of prediction accuracy, sixty six Hanwoo steers were ultrasonically tested at 24 months of age. Ultrasonic meat quality grade were predicted by standard ultrasonic image and decision tree method using ultrasonic meat quality index. From the results of decision tree method using ultrasonic meat quality index, it was found that the marbling score was mainly influenced by the distinctness of rib on ultrasound image. Prediction accuracy of meat quality grade by ultrasonic meat quality index was 86.4%, resulting in 7.6% higher accuracy than that by standard ultrasonic image (78.8%).

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2015.10a
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• pp.99-100
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• 2015

Digital image blur occurs due to various environmental conditions at the time of shooting. Blur produces the low-frequency component in the image. This problem worsens the quality of the digital image. To address this issue, contrast improvement methods has been widely studied. 2D filter to enhance the edges is a simple structure with a fast processing speed. However, the sensitivity of the human visual system is different depending on the surrounding brightness locally. Thus, in this paper, we proposed feature-based contrast enhancement method for the digital image using 2D filter to enhance the edges and JND(Just Noticeable Difference) according to the surrounding brightness. We confirmed the result image of proposed method and identified that the contrast is improved.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SP
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• v.42 no.5 s.305
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• pp.73-78
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• 2005

Images coded by DCT based compression contain several quality degradations by quantization process. Among them contrast distortion is the important one because human eyes are sensitive to contrast. In case of low bit-rate coded image, we can not get an image having good quality due to quantization error. In this paper, we suggest a new scheme to enhance image's contrast in DCT domain. Proposed method enhances only edge regions. Homogeneous regions are not considered in this method. $8{\times}8$ DCT coefficient blocks are decomposed to $4{\times}4$ sub-blocks for detail edge region discrimination. we could apply this scheme to real-time application because proposed scheme is DCT based method.

• Journal of the Korea Computer Graphics Society
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.43-48
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• 2018

In this paper, we present a method for removing shadows from scanned documents. Compared to the existing methods such as one based on image pyramid representation or adaptive thresholding, our method produces more robust and higher quality results. The basic idea of the approach is to use the local image statistics and to separate interesting regions from the image such as the regions around letters and figures. For the separated regions, we adaptively adjust the local brightness and contrast, and apply the sigmoid function to the intensity values as well to enhance the clarity of the image. For separated the other empty regions, we apply the gradient-base image hole filling method to fill the region with smooth color change.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.22 no.11
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• pp.1462-1467
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• 2018

A number of algorithms for improving the image quality of low light images have been studied using a single image or multiple exposure images. The low light image is low in contrast and has a large amount of noise, which limits the identification of information of the subject. This paper proposes the hardware design of algorithms that improve the quality of low light image using 2 multiple exposure images taken with a dual camera. The proposed hardware structure is designed in real time processing in a way that does not use frame memory and line memory using transfer function. The proposed hardware design has been designed using Verilog and validated in Modelsim. Finally, when the proposed algorithm is implemented on FPGA using xc7z045-2ffg900 as the target board, the maximum operating frequency is 167.617MHz. When the image size is 1920x1080, the total clock cycle time is 2,076,601 and can be processed in real time at 80.7fps.

• Smart Media Journal
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.22-28
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• 2012

As the smart media becomes more popular, the demand for high-quality 3D images and depth maps is increasing. However, performance of the current technologies to acquire depth maps is not sufficient. The depth maps from stereo matching methods have low accuracy in homogeneous regions. The depth maps from depth cameras are noisy and have low-resolution due to technical limitations. In this paper, we introduce the state-of-the-art algorithms for depth map enhancement and up-sampling from conventional methods using only depth maps to the latest algorithms referring to both depth maps and their corresponding color images. We also present depth map enhancement algorithms for hybrid camera systems in detail.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.20 no.7
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• pp.1376-1382
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• 2016

In this paper, we present a visual quality enhancement technique for conventional three-dimensional (3D) photon counting integral imaging using background noise removal algorithm. Photon counting imaging can detect a few photons from desired objects and visualize them under severely photon-starved conditions such as low light level environment. However, when a lot of photons are generated from background, it is difficult to detect photons from desired objects. Thus, the visual quality of the reconstructed image may be degraded. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a new photon counting imaging method that removes unnecessary background noise and detects photons from only desired objects. In addition, integral imaging can be used to obtain 3D information and visualize the 3D image by statistical estimations such as maximum likelihood estimation. To prove and evaluate our proposed method, we implement the optical experiment and calculate mean square error.