Efficient edge-preserving algorithm for color contrast enhancement with application to color image segmentation

In this paper, a new and efficient edge-preserving algorithm is presented for color contrast enhancement in CIE Lu′v′Lu′v′ color space. The proposed algorithm not only can enhance the color contrast as the previous algorithm does, but also has an edge-preservation effect. In addition, the spurious edge points occurred due to the color contrast enhancement can be well reduced using the proposed algorithm. This is the first edge-preserving algorithm for color contrast enhancement in color space. Furthermore, a novel color image segmentation algorithm is presented to justify the edge-preservation benefit of the proposed color contrast enhancement algorithm. Based on some real images, experimental results demonstrate the advantages of color contrast enhancement, edge-preservation effect, and segmentation result in our proposed algorithm.