METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR IMAGE ENHANCEMENT FOR THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED

摘要

A method and apparatus providing image enhancement for the visually impaired utilizing the 'Ullman-Zur enhancement' algorithm. The method and apparatus consists of obtaining an original image (10), detecting and enhancing the edges and lines of the image by using balanced difference of Gaussians (12) to obtain a first processed image, smoothing the original image by using a convolution of the original image with Gaussian (14), enhancing the contrast of the smoothed image (16), calculating the intensity average (AC), and the standard deviation of the intensity (SDC) of the chosen region, and stretching the intensity of the smoothed image linearly according to AC, SDC, and some specific rules to obtain a second processed enhanced image. The first processed image is superimposed on the second processed enhanced image to obtain the final enhanced image (18) that is more readily perceived by a visually impaired person (20).