| abstract |
The present invention relates to a method for color visualization and separation of a natural and medical image comprising pixels defined by color pixel vector a = [a1a2, a3] in a Cartesian color space (e.g. RGB), where the color pixel vector is represented by a pure quaternion q = a1i + a2j + a3k with i,j, k satisfying: i2 = j2 = k2 = ijk = —1, ij = —ji = k,jk = —kj = i, ki = —ik = j and the image is decomposed into q+ and q using the orthogonal 2D planes split concept according to: (formula (I)) wherein/ and g are pure unit quaternions or f and g describe interactively determined or computed colors (s1, s2). The method allows not only visualizing and separating certain colors in a digital image in a rapid fashion, but also permits a flexible definition pertinent to the kind of colors that can be visualized or separated by defining the corresponding decompositions by means of pure unit quaternions / and g. Colors s1, s2 can be defined manually or computed automatically from the image. |