A High Performance Exact Histogram Specification Algorithm

Real-time histogram specification methods aims to find a continuous function that transforms a source image to match a target distribution with the highest possible degree of accuracy. Many approaches privilege exact specification exploiting multi-valued ordering functions but incur in highly computational expensive implementations. Histogram specification algorithms can be classified according to computational complexity, image distortion and accuracy of reproduction of the target histogram. The method we propose permits an exact match of a given target histogram independently of the source image meanwhile introducing negligible image distortion. The simplicity of the method enables fast computation making the algorithm suitable for real time applications. Exhaustive experiments and accurate comparisons are carried out against the most representative approaches reported in literature.