A variational approach for exact histogram specification

Raymond CHAN*, Mila NIKOLOVA, You Wei WEN

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Book Chapters | Papers in Conference ProceedingsConference paper (refereed)Researchpeer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We focus on exact histogram specification when the input image is quantified. The goal is to transform this input image into an output image whose histogram is exactly the same as a prescribed one. In order to match the prescribed histogram, pixels with the same intensity level in the input image will have to be assigned to different intensity levels in the output image. An approach to classify pixels with the same intensity value is to construct a strict ordering on all pixel values by using auxiliary attributes. Local average intensities and wavelet coefficients have been used by the past as the second attribute. However, these methods cannot enable strict-ordering without degrading the image. In this paper, we propose a variational approach to establish an image preserving strict-ordering of the pixel values. We show that strict-ordering is achieved with probability one. Our method is image preserving in the sense that it reduces the quantization noise in the input quantified image. Numerical results show that our method gives better quality images than the preexisting methods.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationScale Space and Variational Methods in Computer Vision: Third International Conference, SSVM 2011, Revised Selected Papers
EditorsAlfred M. BRUCKSTEIN, Bart M. Haar ROMENY, Alexander M. BRONSTEIN, Michael M. BRONSTEIN
PublisherSpringer Berlin Heidelberg
Pages86-97
Number of pages12
ISBN (Electronic)9783642247859
ISBN (Print)9783642247842
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2012
Externally publishedYes
Event3rd International Conference on Scale Space and Variational Methods in Computer Vision, SSVM 2011 - Ein-Gedi, Israel
Duration: 29 May 20112 Jun 2011

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science
Volume6667
ISSN (Print)0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)1611-3349

Conference

Conference3rd International Conference on Scale Space and Variational Methods in Computer Vision, SSVM 2011
Country/TerritoryIsrael
CityEin-Gedi
Period29/05/112/06/11

Keywords

  • convex minimization
  • Exact histogram specification
  • restoration from quantization noise
  • smooth nonlinear optimization
  • strict-ordering
  • variational methods

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'A variational approach for exact histogram specification'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this