X-ray system with computer implemented methods for image processing

1. An x-ray system comprising an x-ray source, at least one partially transparent x-ray filter, an x-ray detector, a monitor to display x-ray images detected by said detector and image processing means, wherein said display comprises a dynamic range;

said system configured to generate at least one x-ray image and modify at least one of said at least one image for display by:

using said at least one filter to filter x-ray so as to reduce x-ray intensity in at least one part of said image;

maintaining at least one part of said image unfiltered by said at least one filter;

determining a range in said dynamic range of said display; and

modifying at least one pixel in said at least one filtered part of said image based on said determined range of said dynamic range of said display;

wherein said modification results in a pixel value that is inside said dynamic range of said display.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein said modification is made by at least one gray level transformation function selected from the group consisting of:

(1) a linear function;

(2) a polynomial function;

(3) a logarithmic function;

(4) an exponential function; and

(5) any combination of the above functions.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein a first gray level is determined based on said unfiltered image; and

a second gray level is determined based on said filtered image;

said at least one pixel of said filtered image is transformed by a transformation so that said second gray level is changed relative to said first gray level; and

said transformation maintains the gray levels of said filtered image within said determined range of said dynamic range of said display.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the difference between said first gray level and said second gray level after said transformation is less than 25% of said determined range of said dynamic range of said display.

5. A method of modifying dynamic range of an image, comprising:

providing an x-ray system comprising an x-ray source, at least one partially transparent x-ray filter, an x-ray detector, a monitor to display x-ray images detected by said detector and image processing means, wherein said display comprises a dynamic range;

generating at least one x-ray image and modifying at least one of said at least one image for display by:

using said at least one filter to filter x-ray so as to reduce x-ray intensity in at least one part of said image;

maintaining at least one part of said image unfiltered by said at least one filter;

determining a range in said dynamic range of said display; and

modifying at least one pixel in said at least one filtered part of said image based on said determined range of said dynamic range of said display,

wherein said modification results in a pixel value that is inside said dynamic range of said display.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein said modification is made by at least one gray level transformation function selected from the group consisting of:

(1) a linear function;

(2) a polynomial function;

(3) a logarithmic function;

(4) an exponential function; and

(5) any combination of the above functions.

7. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

determining a first gray level based on said unfiltered image; and

determining a second gray level based on said filtered image;

transforming by a transformation said at least one pixel of said filtered image so that said second gray level is changed relative to said first gray level; and

maintaining the gray levels of said filtered and unfiltered images within their corresponding said determined ranges of said dynamic range of said display.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the difference between said first gray level and said second gray level after said transformations is less than 25% of said dynamic range of said display.