Apparatus and method for spectral enhancement of body-surface images to improve sensitivity of detecting subtle color features
First Claim
1. A method for visualizing a region of a surface of a person'"'"'s body, to assist in detection of anatomic features or abnormalities, comprising:
- capturing an image of the region;
producing a color space representation based on hue and saturation, of the captured image of the region;
increasing the saturation of the representation, while keeping the hue constant; and
displaying or printing the saturation-increased representation.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method for spectrally-enhancing images of a body surface includes the step of increasing the Saturation values of each pixel in the image. The methods increase the sensitivity with which a human observer can detect certain reflected wavelengths. Where the body surface is skin, for example, the method can be used to detect melanoma or other conditions where there is a deep dermal pigment characterized by a visible blue backscatter, or to detect the visible red backscatter characteristic of erythema. Also, apparatus for spectrally-enhancing images of a body surface includes means for color imaging the surface, means for increasing the saturation of the color in that image, and means for displaying the color-saturated image.
74 Citations
13 Claims
-
1. A method for visualizing a region of a surface of a person'"'"'s body, to assist in detection of anatomic features or abnormalities, comprising:
-
capturing an image of the region; producing a color space representation based on hue and saturation, of the captured image of the region; increasing the saturation of the representation, while keeping the hue constant; and displaying or printing the saturation-increased representation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
-
-
10. Apparatus for visualizing a region of a surface of a person'"'"'s body, to assist in detection of anatomic features or abnormalities, comprising:
-
means for capturing an image of the region; means for producing a color space representation, based on hue and saturation, of the captured image of the region; means for increasing the saturation of the representation while keeping the hue constant; and means for displaying or printing the saturation-increased representation. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13)
-
Specification