Patent Document ID: 6137923
Application ID: 09299147
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. An image processing method comprising the steps of: i) carrying out morphology operations on an original image signal Sorg, which represents an image, by using: a plurality of kinds of structure elements Bi.sub.n, which have different sizes and correspond respectively to a plurality of different frequency bands, and a scale factor .lambda., a plurality of morphology signals Smor.sub.n being thereby obtained, each of said morphology signals Smor.sub.n representing a characteristic output with respect to at least one of: an image portion, at which said original image signal Sorg fluctuates in a spatially narrower range than the corresponding one of said structure elements Bi.sub.n, and an image portion, at which a change in said original image signal Sorg is sharp, ii) dividing said original image signal Sorg into frequency components S.sub.n falling within the plurality of said different frequency bands, which respectively correspond to the sizes of the plurality of kinds of said structure elements Bi.sub.n, and iii) carrying out image emphasis processing on the frequency components, which fall within at least a single frequency band and are among said frequency components S.sub.n falling within the plurality of said different frequency bands, and in accordance with the corresponding one of said morphology signals Smor.sub.n, which has been obtained from the morphology operation carried out with one of said structure elements Bi.sub.n, the one of said structure elements Bi.sub.n having the size corresponding to said at least single frequency band, within which said frequency components subjected to said image emphasis processing fall, a processed image signal Sproc being thereby obtained.