Method and apparatus for image processing

1. A method for image processing comprising the steps of:

processing an image comprising a plurality of pixels each having an intensity to produce an image processed image comprising a plurality of pixels;

applying a preservation filter to said image to produce at least one preservation value corresponding to at least one of said plurality of pixels of said image;

computing a weight coefficient α, for each of said at least one preservation values; and

using each of said at least one weight coefficients to mix said image with said image processed image to produce an output image comprising a plurality of pixels,

wherein said computing said weight coefficient α comprises the steps of:

setting α to a maximum value if an intensity of a target pixel is less than or equal to a boundary value;

setting α to a maximum value if an intensity of said target pixel is greater than said boundary value and said preservation value corresponding to said target pixel is in a low region;

setting α to a minimum value if an intensity of said target pixel is greater than said boundary value and said preservation value corresponding to said target pixel is in an upper region; and

setting α proportional to a preservation statistical metric if an intensity of said target pixel is greater than said boundary value and said preservation value corresponding to said target pixel is in a middle region.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein processing said image comprises performing imaging processing selected from the group consisting of smoothing, edge enhancement, low-pass filtering, high-pass filtering, band-pass filtering, median filtering, speckle reduction filter, noise reduction, and contrast improvement.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said applying said preservation filter comprises:

applying said preservation filter to said image to compute at least one preservation statistical metric each corresponding to a single pixel of said image.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein said applying said preservation filter comprises computing said at least one preservation statistical metric selected from the group consisting of sum of absolute differences (SAD), normalized sum of absolute differences (NSAD), sum of square differences (SSD), normalized sum of square differences (NSSD), mean, variance, and standard deviation.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said computing said weight coefficient comprises computing said weight coefficient from said intensities of said plurality of pixels of said image corresponding to said preservation filter and said at least one preservation value.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein said computing said weight coefficient comprises utilizing a lookup table (LUT).

7. The method of claim 1 wherein producing said output image comprises calculating each of said plurality of pixels of said output image according to the equation Z out =α·Z ip +(1−α)·Z orig where Z out is a pixel of said output image, Z ip is a said image pixel in processed image, and Z orig is a corresponding pixel in said image.

8. An apparatus for image processing comprising:

means for processing an image comprising a plurality of pixels each having an intensity to produce an image processed image comprising a plurality of pixels;

means for applying a preservation filter to said image to produce at least one preservation value corresponding to at least one of said plurality of pixels of said image;

means for computing a weight coefficient α, for each of said at least one preservation values; and

means for using each of said at least one weight coefficients to mix said image with said image processed image to produce an output image comprising a plurality of pixels,

wherein said means for applying said preservation filter further comprises the following:

means for setting α to a maximum value if an intensity of a target pixel is less than or equal to a boundary value;

means for setting α to a maximum value if an intensity of said target pixel is greater than said boundary value and said preservation value corresponding to said target pixel is in a low region;

means for setting α to a minimum value if an intensity of said target pixel is greater than said boundary value and said preservation value corresponding to said target pixel is in an upper region; and

means for setting α proportional to a preservation statistical metric if an intensity of said target pixel is greater than said boundary value and said preservation value corresponding to said target pixel is in a middle region.