Noise aware edge enhancement
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A digital imaging method for use with an endoscope in ambient light deficient environments comprising:
- illuminating an environment using a source of visible, infrared or ultraviolet electromagnetic radiation;
continuously focusing a scene onto a pixel array of a sensor;
sensing reflected electromagnetic radiation with said pixel array, wherein said pixel array generates image data;
creating an image frame from said image data;
detecting image textures and edges within the image frame;
enhancing textures and edges within the image frame;
retrieving from memory properties pertaining to a pixel technology comprising a known-conversion gain for a given pixel or group of pixels and an applied sensor gain of the sensor to;
determine an expectation for a magnitude of noise within the image frame created by said sensor based on the known-conversion gain for an individual pixel in the pixel array;
using said expectation for the magnitude of noise to control the enhancing of the textures and edges within the image frame; and
creating a stream of images by sequentially combining a plurality of image frames.
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Abstract
The disclosure extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for enhancing edges within an image in a light deficient environment, which utilizes knowledge of the expected noise pixel by pixel, to control the strength of the edge enhancement and thereby limit the impact of the enhancement on the perception of noise.
67 Citations
24 Claims
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1. A digital imaging method for use with an endoscope in ambient light deficient environments comprising:
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illuminating an environment using a source of visible, infrared or ultraviolet electromagnetic radiation; continuously focusing a scene onto a pixel array of a sensor; sensing reflected electromagnetic radiation with said pixel array, wherein said pixel array generates image data; creating an image frame from said image data; detecting image textures and edges within the image frame; enhancing textures and edges within the image frame; retrieving from memory properties pertaining to a pixel technology comprising a known-conversion gain for a given pixel or group of pixels and an applied sensor gain of the sensor to; determine an expectation for a magnitude of noise within the image frame created by said sensor based on the known-conversion gain for an individual pixel in the pixel array; using said expectation for the magnitude of noise to control the enhancing of the textures and edges within the image frame; and creating a stream of images by sequentially combining a plurality of image frames. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A digital imaging system comprising:
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an endoscopic device for use in ambient light deficient environment; a source of visible, infrared or ultraviolet electromagnetic radiation for illuminating an environment; an image sensor comprising a pixel array, wherein a scene is continuously focused onto the pixel array; wherein the image sensor senses reflected electromagnetic radiation with said pixel array, wherein said pixel array generates image data; wherein an image frame is created from said image data; wherein a processor; detects image textures and edges within the image frame; enhances textures and edges within the image frame; retrieves from memory properties pertaining to a pixel technology comprising a known-conversion gain for a given pixel or group of pixels and an applied sensor gain of the sensor to determine an expectation for a magnitude of noise within the image frame based on the known-conversion gain for an individual pixel in the pixel array and using the expectation for the magnitude of noise to control the enhancing of the textures and edges within the image frame; and wherein a stream of images is created by sequentially combining a plurality of image frames. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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Specification