• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.23 no.11
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• pp.1377-1383
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• 2019

Histogram equalization is the most frequently used algorithm for image enhancement. Its hardware implementation significantly outperforms in time its software version. The overall performance of FPGA-based implementation of histogram equalization can be improved by applying pipelining in the design and by exploiting the multipliers and a lot of SRAM blocks which are embedded in recent FPGAs. This work proposes how to implement a fast histogram equalization circuit for 8-bit gray level images. The proposed design contains a FIFO to perform equalization on an image while the histogram for next image is being calculated. Because of some overlap in time for histogram equalization, embedded multipliers and pipelined design, the proposed design can perform histogram equalization on a pixel nearly at a clock. And its dual parallel version outperforms in time almost two times over the original one.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers P
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.14-21
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• 2008

In this paper, we propose an adaptive contrast enhancement method using dynamic range segmentation. Histogram Equalization (HE) method is widely used for contrast enhancement. However, histogram equalization method is not suitable for commercial display because it may cause undesirable artifacts due to the significant change in brightness. The proposed algorithm segments the dynamic range of the histogram and redistributes the pixel intensities by the segment area ratio. The proposed method may cause over compressed effect when intensity distribution of an original image is concentrated in specific narrow region. In order to overcome this problem, we introduce an adaptive scale factor. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm suppresses the significant change in brightness and provides wide histogram distribution compared with histogram equalization.

• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.173-185
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• 2009

This paper proposes two new image contrast enhancement methods, RSWHE (Recursively Separated and Weighted Histogram Equalization) and RSWHS (Recursively Separated and Weighted Histogram Specification). RSWHE is a histogram equalization method based on histogram decomposition and weighting, whereas RSWHS is a histogram specification method based on histogram decomposition and weighting. The two proposed methods work as follows: 1) decompose an input histogram based on the image's mean brightness, 2) compute the probability for the area corresponding to each sub-histogram, 3) modify the sub-histogram by weighting it with the computed probability value, 4) lastly, perform histogram equalization (in the case of RSWHE) or histogram specification (in the case of RSWHS) on the modified sub-histograms independently. Experimental results show that RSWHE and RSWHS outperform other methods in terms of contrast enhancement and mean brightness preservation as well.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.787-795
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• 2009

This paper presents a histogram equalization based on the logistic function for enhancing the quality of images. The histogram equalization is a simple and effective spatial processing method that it enhances the quality by adjusting the brightness of image. The logistic function that is a nonlinear transformation function is applied to adaptively enhance the brightness of the image according to its intensity level frequency. We propose a flexible and asymmetrical logistic function by only using the intensity level with maximum frequency and the maximum intensity level in an histogram, and the total number of pixels. The proposed function excludes both the computation load of an exponential function and the heuristic setting of an optimal parameter values in the traditional logistic function. The proposed method has been applied for equalizing many images with a different resolution and histogram distribution. The experimental results show that the proposed method has the superior enhancement performances and the faster equalizing speed compared with the traditional histogram equalization and the adaptively modified histogram equalization, respectively. And the proposed histogram equalization can be used in various multimedia systems in real-time.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.79-86
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• 2012

In this paper, we propose a novel approach to improve histogram equalization for speaker identification. Our method collects all speech features of UBM training data to make a reference distribution. The ranks of the feature vectors are calculated in the sorted list of the collection of the UBM training data and the test data. We use the ranks to perform order-based histogram equalization. The proposed method improves the accuracy of the speaker recognition system with short utterances. We use four kinds of speech databases to evaluate the proposed speaker recognition system and compare the system with cepstral mean normalization (CMN), mean and variance normalization (MVN), and histogram equalization (HEQ). Our system reduced the relative error rate by 33.3% from the baseline system.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2004.05a
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• pp.111-113
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• 2004

Histogram Equalization is the most popular algorithm for contrast enhancement due to its effectiveness and simplicity. In this paper, We propose the advanced contrast enhancement method using genetic algorithm. We propose a novel objective criterion for enhancement, and attempt finding the best image according to the respective criterion. Due to the high complexity of the enhancement criterion proposed, we employ a Genetic Algorithm. We compared our method with other enhancement techniques, like Global Histogram Equalization and Partially Overlapped Sub-Block Histogram Equalization(POSHE).

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.737-745
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• 2008

In this paper, a novel neighborhood metric of histogram equalization (HE) algorithm for contrast enhancement is presented. We present a refinement of HE using neighborhood metrics with a general framework which orders pixels based on a sequence of sorting functions which uses both global and local information to remap the image greylevels. We tested a novel sorting key with the suggestion of using the original image greylevel as the primary key and a novel neighborhood distinction metric as the secondary key, and compared HE using proposed distinction metric and other HE methods such as global histogram equalization (GHE), HE using voting metric and HE using contrast difference metric. We found that our method can preserve advantages of other metrics, while reducing drawbacks of them and avoiding undesirable over-enhancement that can occur with local histogram equalization (LHE) and other methods.

• MALSORI
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• v.55
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• pp.131-142
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• 2005

A mismatch between the training and the test conditions often causes a drastic decrease in the performance of the speech recognition systems. In this paper, non-linear transformation techniques based on histogram equalization in the acoustic feature space are studied for reducing the mismatched condition. The purpose of histogram equalization(HEQ) is to convert the probability distribution of test speech into the probability distribution of training speech. While conventional histogram equalization methods consider only the probability distribution of a test speech, for noise-corrupted test speech, its probability distribution is also distorted. The transformation function obtained by this distorted probability distribution maybe bring about miss-transformation of feature vectors, and this causes the performance of histogram equalization to decrease. Therefore, this paper proposes a new method of calculating noise-removed probability distribution by using assumption that the CDF of noisy speech feature vectors consists of component of speech feature vectors and component of noise feature vectors, and this compensated probability distribution is used in HEQ process. In the AURORA-2 framework, the proposed method reduced the error rate by over $44\%$ in clean training condition compared to the baseline system. For multi training condition, the proposed methods are also better than the baseline system.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.18 no.7
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• pp.806-817
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• 2015

The contrast limited adaptive histogram equalization(CLAHE) is an advanced method for the histogram equalization which is a common contrast enhancement technique. The CLAHE divides the image into sections, and applies the contrast limited histogram equalization for each section. X-ray images can be classified into three areas: skin, bone, and air area. In clinical application, the interest area is limited to the skin or bone area depending on the diagnosis region. The CLAHE could deteriorate X-ray image quality because the CLAHE enhances the area which doesn't need to be enhanced. In this paper, we propose a new method which automatically determines the clip limit of CLAHE's parameter to improve X-ray image quality using fuzzy logic. We introduce fuzzy logic which is possible to determine clip limit proportional to the interest of users. Experimental results show that the proposed method improve images according to the user's preference by focusing on the subject.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SC
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.10-21
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• 2009

In order to enhance the contrast in the regions where the pixels have similar intensities, this paper presents a new histogram equalization scheme. Conventional global equalization schemes over-equalizes those regions so that too bright or dark pixels are resulted and local equalization schemes produce unexpected discontinuities at the boundaries of the blocks. The proposed algorithm segments the original histogram into sub-histograms with reference to brightness level and equalizes each sub-histogram with the limited extents of equalization considering its mean and variance. The final image is determined as the weighted sum of the equalized images obtained by using the sub-histogram equalizations. By limiting the maximum and minimum ranges of equalization operations on individual sub-histograms, the over-equalization effect is eliminated. Also the result image does not miss feature information in low density histogram region since the remaining these area is applied separating equalization. This paper includes how to determine the segmentation points in the histogram. The proposed algorithm has been tested with more than 100 images having various contrast in the images and the results are compared to the conventional approaches to show its superiority.