An Improved Double-Threshold Method Based on Gradient Histogram

This paper analyzes the characteristics of the output gradient histogram and shortages of several traditional automatic threshold methods in order to segment the gradient image better. Then an improved double-threshold method is proposed, which is combined with the method of maximum classes variance, estimating-area method and double-threshold method. This method can automatically select two different thresholds to segment gradient images. The computer simulation is performed on the traditional methods and this algorithm and proves that this method can get satisfying result. Key words gradient histogram image - threshold selection - double-threshold method - maximum classes variance method CLC number TP 391. 41 Foundation item: Supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (50099620) and the Project of Chenguang Plan in Wuhan (985003062)Biography: YANG Shen (1977-), female, Ph. D. candidate, research direction: multimedia information processing and network technology.

Novel Adaptive Binarization Method for Degraded Document Images

Achieving a good recognition rate for degraded document images is difficult as degraded document images suffer from low contrast,bleedthrough,and nonuniform illumination effects.Unlike the existing baseline thresholding techniques that use fixed thresholds and windows,the proposed method introduces a concept for obtaining dynamic windows according to the image content to achieve better binarization.To enhance a low-contrast image,we proposed a new mean histogram stretching method for suppressing noisy pixels in the background and,simultaneously,increasing pixel contrast at edges or near edges,which results in an enhanced image.For the enhanced image,we propose a new method for deriving adaptive local thresholds for dynamic windows.The dynamic window is derived by exploiting the advantage of Otsu thresholding.To assess the performance of the proposed method,we have used standard databases,namely,document image binarization contest(DIBCO),for experimentation.The comparative study on well-known existing methods indicates that the proposed method outperforms the existing methods in terms of quality and recognition rate.

Comparative analysis of different methods for image enhancement

Image enhancement technology plays a very important role to improve image quality in image processing. By enhancing some information and restraining other information selectively, it can improve image visual effect. The objective of this work is to implement the image enhancement to gray scale images using different techniques. After the fundamental methods of image enhancement processing are demonstrated, image enhancement algorithms based on space and frequency domains are systematically investigated and compared. The advantage and defect of the above-mentioned algorithms are analyzed. The algorithms of wavelet based image enhancement are also deduced and generalized. Wavelet transform modulus maxima(WTMM) is a method for detecting the fractal dimension of a signal, it is well used for image enhancement. The image techniques are compared by using the mean(μ),standard deviation(?), mean square error(MSE) and PSNR(peak signal to noise ratio). A group of experimental results demonstrate that the image enhancement algorithm based on wavelet transform is effective for image de-noising and enhancement. Wavelet transform modulus maxima method is one of the best methods for image enhancement.