THE MEDICAL PROFESSION CURRENTLY RELIES ON BLACK-AND-WHITE GREY SCALE IMAGING FOR RESEARCH AND DIAGNOSIS.

THE MEDICAL PROFESSION CURRENTLY RELIES ON BLACK-AND-WHITE GREY SCALE IMAGING FOR RESEARCH AND DIAGNOSIS. WHILE COLOR IMAGING HAS EXISTED FOR TWENTY YEARS, DESIGNERS OF COLOR IMAGING SYSTEMS HAVE OVERLOOKED THE PSYCHOPHYSICAL ASPECTS OF PSEUDOCOLOR SCALES COMPOSED OF UNRELATED COLORS (IS BLUE MORE INTENSE THAN GREEN?). ISOINTENSITY CONTOURS, WHICH ARE NOT ACTUAL EDGES, OFFER THE VIEWER A CONFUSED PICTURE BY APPEARING AS EDGES IN RANDOM COLOR DISPLAYS. THIS PROPOSAL DESCRIBES A PHASE I INVESTIGATION OF FEASIBILITY FOR THE PHASE II CONSTRUCTION OF A PROTOTYPE DIGITAL COLOR IMAGING SYSTEM. THE SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO CORRECT DEFICIENCIES IN CURRENTLY AVAILABLE COLOR IMAGING SYSTEMS BY USING 1.A ""NATURAL'' HEATED OBJECT PSEUDOCOLOR SPECTRUM WHICH HAS ABOUT 30% MORE PERCEIVABLE INTENSITY LEVELS THAN THE GREY SCALE; 2.A PHOTOMETRIC METHOD TO LINEARIZE AND THUS STANDARDIZE ANY DISPLAY TO MAKE IT ""HONEST,'' IN THAT SIGNAL CHANGES WILL PRODUCE EQUIVALENT CHANGES IN PERCEPTIBLE INTENSITY; AND 3.AN ADAPTIVE HISTOGRAM EQUALIZATION ENHANCEMENT MAPPING TO MAXIMIZE INFORMATION TRANSMISSION. THE SYSTEM, OFFERING GAINS IN RESOLUTION AND ENHANCEMENT, WOULD BE A SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT OVER THE GREY SCALE IN IMAGE PROCESSING, AND CONTRIBUTE TO IMAGE INTERPRETABILITY IN MEDICAL RESEARCH AND PRACTICE, AND IN OTHER FIELDS IN WHICH ELECTRONIC IMAGING IS CENTRAL.