Histogram data collector for applying progressively adjusted histogram equalization to an oscilloscope image

A system for creating and progressively adjusting a histogram produced for an image to be displayed on an oscilloscope, comprising:

• a rasterized input image;
• a microprocessor capable of delivering and receiving data from components of the system,
• a memory, the memory storing the rasterized input image as a raster plane;
• a mapper, the mapper converting image data contained in the raster plane into image data stored in the memory as a map plane;
• a histogram collector, the histogram collector creating a histogram of the image data stored in the map plane;
• and
• a histogram equalization function adjustment subroutine, the subroutine adjusting histogram characteristics such that map plane pixel intensities are substantially equally distributed within the histogram.

A method of equalizing a histogram produced in response to rasterized image data, comprising the steps of:

• determining the maximum pixel intensity present in the image data,
• selecting the maximum number of possible pixel display intensities,
• selecting the desired resolution of each histogram intensity bin;
• selecting the desired number of histogram intensity bins;
• and
• placing a substantially equal number of pixels in each intensity bin.