Biomedical Image Analysis

Homomorphic Filtering and

applications to PET
Contents:
Image enhancement and correction
Brightness normalization and contrast enhancment
Applications to SPECT
BMIA10 V. Roth & P. Cattin
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Homomorphic ltering
Homomorphic ltering is a generalized technique for image
enhancement and/or correction. It simultaneously normal-
izes the brightness across an image and increases contrast
An image can be expressed as the product of illumination
and reectance:
f(x, y) = i(x, y) r(x, y)
Now dene g = lnf = lni + lnr. Then:
F{g(x, y)} = F{lni(x, y)} +F{lnr(x, y)}
G(u, v) = I
l
(u, v) + R
l
(u, v).
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Homomorphic ltering (2)
We then apply a lter to G:
S(u, v) = H(u, v)G(u, v) = H(u, v)(I
l
(u, v) + R
l
(u, v)).
In the spatial domain:
s(x, y) = F
1
{S(u, v)}
= F
1
{H(u, v)I
l
(u, v)} +F
1
{H(u, v)R
l
(u, v)}
= i

(x, y) + r

(x, y)
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Homomorphic ltering (3)
We then exponentiate s(x, y) to get the enhanced image:
s

(x, y) = exp(s(x, y)) = exp(i

(x, y)) exp(r

(x, y))
= i

(x, y) r

(x, y)
Now i

(x, y) and r

(x, y) are the illumination and re-

ectance of the enhanced image.
The illumination component tends to vary slowly across the
image.
The reectance tends to vary rapidly, particularly at junc-
tions of dissimilar objects.
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Homomorphic ltering (4)
Therefore, by applying a frequency domain lter of the form
H(u, v) = (
H

L
)
_
1 exp[c(D
2
(u, v)/D
2
0
)]

+
L
,
we can reduce intensity variation across the image while
highlighting detail.
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Homomorphic ltering (5)
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Homomorphic ltering: PET example
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Biomedical Image Analysis
Image Restoration and
Reconstruction
Contents:
Linear Systems Theory
Estimating the degradation function
Inverse Filtering
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Linear, position-invariant degradations
Input-output relationship:
g(x, y) = H[f(x, y)] + n(x, y).
Assume for the moment that n = 0 (noise-free case)
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Linear, position-invariant degradations (2)
Operator H is linear if
H[af
1
+ bf
2
] = aH[f
1
] + bH[f
2
], a, b R.
Two special cases:
1. a = b = 1 operator H is additive. Can be extended
to integrals:
H[
_ _
f(x, y, , ) dd] =
_ _
H[f(x, y, , )] dd
2. f
2
= 0 operator H is homogeneous.
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Linear, position-invariant degradations (3)
Operator H with g(x, y) = H[f(x, y)] is position invariant
if
H[f(x , y )] = g(x , y ).
Interpretation:
Response at any point in the image depends only on the
value of the input at that point, not on its position.
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Linear, position-invariant degradations (4)
Rewrite
f(x, y) =
_ _
f(, )(x , y ) dd.
and substitute in g(x, y) = H[f(x, y)]:
g(x, y) = H
_
_ _
f(, )(x , y ) dd
_
=
_ _
H [f(, )(x , y )] dd
=
_ _
f(, )H [(x , y )]
. .
impulse response h(x,,y,)
dd.
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Linear, position-invariant degradations (5)
Impulse response is also called point spread function
(PSF). Name arises from the fact that all physical optical
systems blur (spread) a point of light.
Fundamental result of linear system theory:
If response of H to an impulse is known, the response to
any other input can be calculated.
A linear system is completely characterized by the
impulse response.
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Linear, position-invariant degradations (6)
If H is position-invariant,
H [(x , y )] = h(x , y ) and
g(x, y) =
_ _
f(, )h(x , y ) dd
= h(x, y) f(x, y).
In the presence of noise, we have
g(x, y) = h(x, y) f(x, y) + n(x, y)
G(u, v) = H(u, v)F(u, v) + N(u, v).
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Estimating the degradation function
Estimation by image observation.
Example: Image is blurred.
Select small window with strong signal and negligible noise
Use sharpening lter to estimate original subimage
Compute local degradation function
Assume position invariance to transfer local model to whole
image.
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Estimating the degradation function (2)
Estimation by modeling: Domain specic. Examples:
Physical characteristics of atmospheric turbulences [Huf-
nagel & Stanley, 1964]:
H(u, v) = exp[k(u
2
+ v
2
)
5/6
)]
Motion blur: uniform linear motion (total distances (a, b)
in (x, y)-direction) during acquisition time T:
H(u, v) =
T
(ua + vb)
sin[(ua + vb)] exp[i(ua + vb)]
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Motion blur example
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Estimating the degradation function (2)
SPECT system: total resolution dominated by resolution
of collimator.
Parallel circular holes of length L, radius R, distance
(source,collimator front) Z, distance (collimator, optical
plane) B [Metz et al.,1980]:
H(u, v)
_
J
1
(2R

u
2
+ v
2
)
R

u
2
+ v
2
_
2
,
with = 1 +[(Z +B)/L], where J
1
is the 1st-order Bessel
function of the rst kind.
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Inverse Filtering
Compute estimate

F(u, v) as
G(u,v)
H(u,v)
.
Substituting into G = HF + N

F = F +
N
H
Problem: even if we know H, we cannot reconstruct F
due to the noise! If H has zero or small values (often the
case for high frequencies), error term N/H dominates!
Possible solution: limit lter frequencies to values near
the origin (e.g. by high-order low-pass lter)
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Atmospheric blur example
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Atmospheric blur example (2)
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Motion blur example (2)
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