NOISE AWARE EDGE ENHANCEMENT

摘要

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.

主权项

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 the 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 the pixel technology and the applied sensor gain to:
assess an expectation for the magnitude of noise within an image frame created by said sensor;using said noise expectation to control the edge enhancement application; and creating a stream of images by sequentially combining a plurality of image frames.