Physically motivated enhancement of color images for fiber endoscopy.
Fiber optics are widely used in flexible endoscopes which are indispensable for many applications in diagnosis and therapy. Computer-aided use of fiberscopes requires a digital sensor mounted at the proximal end. Most commercially available cameras for endoscopy provide the images by means of a regular grid of color filters what is known as the Bayer Pattern. Hence, the images suffer from false colored spatial moiré, which is further stressed by the downgrading fiber optic transmission yielding a honey comb pattern. To solve this problem we propose a new approach that extends the interpolation between known intensities of registered fibers to multi channel color applications. The inventive idea takes into account both the Gaussian intensity distribution of each fiber and the physical color distribution of the Bayer pattern. Individual color factors for interpolation of each fiber area make it possible to simultaneously remove both the comb structure from the fiber bundle as well as the Bayer pattern mosaicking from the sensor while preserving depicted structures and textures in the scene.
University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Chair for Information Technology, Am Wolfsmantel 33, Erlangen, Germany. wnt@like.e-technik.uni-erlangen.de
Christian
C
Winter
Thorsten
T
Zerfass
Matthias
M
Elter
Stephan
S
Rupp
Thomas
T
Wittenberg
D003124:Colorimetry / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D019723:Endoscopes; D004724:Endoscopy / Q000379:methods*; D005336:Fiber Optic Technology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D055100:Optical Fibers; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity