Method and apparatus for filtering a digital image acquired with a medical device using a spatial-frequency operator

Abstract

In a method and an apparatus for filtering a digital image acquired with a medical device by means of a spatial-frequency operator that automatically allow an optimum filtering of the source image, the integral signal-to-noise ratio of the digital image is calculated, a limit value for the integral signal-to-noise ratio of the filtered image is calculated from the integral signal-to-noise ratio of the digital image, the digital image is iteratively filtered with the spatial-frequency operator {overscore (R)} with variation of the dosage g and with calculation of the integral signal-to-noise ratio in the filtered image, afterward iteration of the integral signal-to-noise ratio of the filtered image is compared to the limit value for the integral signal-to-noise ratio, the iterative filtering of the digital image with the spatial-frequency operator {overscore (R)} is aborted when the integral signal-to-noise ratio of the filtered image reaches the limit value for the integral signal-to-noise ratio or when a range of control (if present) for the dosage g has been exhausted, and the dosage g most recently employed in the iterative filtering is employed as the optimum dosage gopt for a filtering of the entire digital image under consideration with the spatial-frequency operator {overscore (R)} employed.

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