A system and a method for improving visibility of newly decaying or carious tissue are described. Light having a lower peak wavelength (such as 405 nm) illuminates dental tissue, and an image is captured. Light having a higher peak wavelength (such as 450 nm) then illuminates the same dental tissue, and a second image is captured. The images are aligned, and an output image is created based on at least one of the first image and the second image, modified in certain areas as a function of the relationships between the red values of the first image (R.sub.1) and the second image (R.sub.2) at that location and the green values of the first image (G.sub.1) and the second image (G.sub.2) at that location. The function may use the ratios R.sub.2:R.sub.1 and G.sub.1:G.sub.2, such as a function of the product of those ratios, to determine the color adjustment that is applied.

A method for correcting an image includes: orthographically correcting an image; removing a curtain artifact by applying a first filter to the orthographically corrected image; correcting brightness of the image, from which the curtain artifact is removed, by applying a second filter to the image, from which the curtain artifact is removed. The first filter includes a first function and a second function for a first domain and a second domain, which are orthogonal to each other in a frequency region, and the first filter is differentiable and continuous in the first domain and the second domain.

A system for producing images for display apparatus includes an image source to obtain an input image and a processor configured to obtain information of a gaze direction of a user, determine a region of interest of the input image based on the gaze direction, and process the input image to generate a first with a first region that is blurred with respect to region of interest, and a second image corresponding to the region of interest. The processor adjusts an intensity of pixels within the first region and an intensity of pixels within the second image. When an intensity of a given pixel within the region of interest is lower than or equal to a predefined intensity threshold, an intensity of a corresponding pixel within the first region is lower than an intensity of a corresponding pixel within the second image.

An image processing apparatus includes a skin area detection unit configured to detect a skin area of an object person, a difference area detection unit configured to detect a difference area between the visible light image and the infrared light image, a correction target area detection unit configured to detect a correction target area of the object person based on the skin area detected by the skin area detection unit and the difference area detected by the difference area detection unit, and a correction unit configured to correct the correction target area in the visible light image.

Embodiments relate to circuitry for performing fusion of two images captured with two different exposure times to generate a fused image having a higher dynamic range. Information about first keypoints is extracted from the first image by processing pixel values of pixels in the first image. A model describing correspondence between the first image and the second image is then built by processing at least the information about first keypoints. A processed version of the first image is warped using mapping information in the model to generate a warped version of the first image spatially more aligned to the second image than to the first image. The warped version of the first image is fused with a processed version of the second image to generate the fused image.

An apparatus includes a generation unit configured to generate shape information of an object in a captured image, a component acquisition unit configured to acquire an auxiliary light component representing intensity of an auxiliary light at each pixel of the captured image based on a light amount characteristic representing a light amount of the auxiliary light received by the object when the auxiliary light is emitted and the shape information of the object, a first correction unit configured to generate a first corrected image in which color of the captured image is corrected according to environmental light, a second correction unit configured to generate a second corrected image in which color of the captured image is corrected according to the auxiliary light, and a combining unit configured to combine the first corrected image and the second corrected image at a combination ratio calculated based on the auxiliary light component.

Techniques and constructs can determine an albedo map and a shading map from a digital image. The albedo and shading maps can be determined based at least in part on a color-difference threshold. A color shading map can be determined based at least in part on the albedo map, and lighting coefficients determined based on the color shading map. The digital image can be adjusted based at least in part on the lighting coefficients. In some examples, respective shading maps can be produced for individual color channels of the digital image. The color shading map can be produced based at least in part on the shading maps. In some examples, a plurality of regions of the digital image can be determined, as can proximity relationships between individual regions. The albedo shading maps can be determined based at least in part on the proximity relationships.

A system for visibility enhancement comprises a first sensor means comprising a camera adapted to record at least one image. A second sensor means is adapted to generate at least one position profile of at least one object located within a critical range of the first sensor means. An image processing means is adapted to receive a first input signal from the first sensor means containing the at least one image and a second input signal from the second sensor means containing the at least one position profile of the at least one object located within the critical range. The image processing means further manipulates the at least one image to generate a manipulated image by altering the contrast of that part of the image that shows the at least one object located within the critical range. A corresponding method of visibility enhancement is also disclosed.

Systems and methods for producing blot images. A blot, for example a western blot, is imaged using an imaging system having a field of view and a magnification. Features of interest in the blot correspond to features in the digital image, and the sizes of the features in the digital image depend on the magnification of the imaging system. A structuring element is selected based on the sizes and shapes of the features in the digital image, and the image is morphologically eroded and dilated varying numbers of times. The eroded and dilated image is subtracted from the original blot image to remove background signal from the blot image, producing an output image. The number of erosions needed to completely erode the features of interest is determined automatically, for example by investigating the behavior of the kurtosis of the output image as a function of the number of erosions performed.

A shadow brightening method includes receiving, at a memory device, an original input image, a brightening level, and a threshold pixel intensity. If a pixel intensity is greater than the threshold, then the pixel is considered bright. Otherwise, the pixel is shadowed. The method includes calculating a gamma transformation for each pixel. If the pixel intensity is less than or equal to the threshold, then a gamma transformation equal to the received brightening level is applied. If the pixel intensity is greater than the threshold, then the gamma transformation is scaled to decrease with intensity. For each shadowed pixel, the method includes computing a minimum value. It also includes determining the brightening level to be applied, thus creating a gamma map. The method also includes applying the determined brightening level to the shadowed pixels and outputting a shadow-brightened output image.