Roi weighted plateau equalization

A computer program product including one or more machine-readable mediums encoded with instructions that when executed by one or more processors cause a process to be carried out for image enhancement, the process comprising:

• obtaining image data representing an image comprising a plurality of pixels, each having a pixel intensity value, the image further comprising a region of interest;
• analyzing image data associated with the region of interest and gathering relevant statistics thereon;
• analyzing image data associated with the image as a whole and gathering relevant statistics thereon;
• accumulating a histogram based on the intensity value of pixels in the image as a whole;
• defining histogram bins of interest that correspond to a range of pixel intensity values from within the region of interest;
• attenuating histogram bins outside of the bins of interest OR multiplying bins of interest by a scaling factor;
• using the attenuated or scaled histogram to create a cumulative distribution function;
• and
• using the cumulative distribution function to produce a contrast enhanced image.

A system for image enhancement, the system comprising:

• a histogram module configured to obtain image data representing an image comprising a plurality of pixels as well as pixel intensity values associated with each pixel and to accumulate a histogram based on the pixel intensity values;
• an RW-PLTEQ module configured to receive the histogram from the histogram module and to define histogram bins of interest that correspond to a range of pixel intensity values from within a region of interest and to attenuate histogram bins outside of the bins of interest OR to multiply bins of interest by a scaling factor, creating a modified histogram;
• and
• a cumulative distribution function module configured to receive the modified histogram, to create a cumulative distribution function using the modified histogram, and to output contrast enhanced image data by using the cumulative distribution function as a transform function for incoming pixels.