I2

DICOM Grayscale Standard Display

Function

David Clunie

Quintiles Intelligent Imaging

Clear Vision for the Healthcare Industry
 Outline
• Inconsistent appearance of images
– Why is it a problem ?
– What are the causes ?
• Grayscale Standard Display Function
– The DICOM solution to the problem
– How it works
– How to implement it
Distributed Image Consistency

Laser Printer

Digital Modality
Identical perceived contrast

Workstation
Workstation
Distributed Image Consistency

Laser Printer

Digital Modality
Identical perceived contrast

Workstation
Workstation
Distributed Image Consistency

Laser Printer

Digital Modality
Identical perceived contrast

Workstation
Workstation
Distributed Image Consistency

Laser Printer

Digital Modality Identical perceived contrast

and color !!

Workstation
Workstation
 What about color ?
• Consistency is less of an issue:
– US/NM/PET pseudo-color; VL true color ??
• Consistency is harder to achieve
– Not just colorimetry (i.e. not just CIELAB)
– Scene color vs. input color vs. output color
– Gamut of devices much more variable
– Greater influence of psychovisual effects
• Extensive standards efforts e.g. ICC
 Problems of Inconsistency
• VOI (window center/width) chosen on one
device but appears different on another
device
• Not all gray levels are rendered or are
perceivable
• Displayed images look different from
printed images
• …
 Problems of Inconsistency
•VOI chosen on one
display device

•Rendered on another
with different display

•Mass expected to be
seen is no longer seen

mass visible mass invisible

 Problems of Inconsistency
0.5 1.0

•Not all display levels

are perceivable on all
devices

1.5 3.0
 Problems of Inconsistency
0.5 1.0

•Not all display levels

are perceivable on all
devices

1.5 3.0
 Problems of Inconsistency

•Printed images don’t look

Digital Modality like displayed images Laser Printer
 Causes of Inconsistency
• Gamut of device
– Minimum/maximum luminance/density
• Characteristic curve
– Mapping digital input to luminance/density
– Shape
– Linearity
• Ambient light or illumination
Causes of Inconsistency
•Display devices
vary in the maximum
luminance they can
produce

•Display CRT vs. film

on a light box is an
extreme example

1.0 .66
 Monitor Characteristic Curves
Monitor Characteristic Curve

100 Gamma Maximum

Luminance

10

Ambient Light
0.1
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Digital Driving Level
 Towards a Standard Display
• Can’t use absolute luminance since
display capabilities different
• Can’t use relative luminance since shape
of characteristic curves vary
• Solution: exploit known characteristics of
the contrast sensitivity of human visual
system - contrast perception is different
at different levels of luminance
 Human Visual System
• Model contrast sensitivity
– assume a target similar to image features
– confirm model with measurements
– Barten’s model
• Grayscale Standard Display Function:
– Input: Just Noticeable Differences (JNDs)
– Output: absolute luminance
Standard Display Function
Grayscale Standard Display Function
4500

4000

3500

3000

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200

JND Index
Standard Display Function
Grayscale Standard Display Function
4500

4000

3500

Monitors Film
3000

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200

JND Index
Standard Display Function
Grayscale Standard Display Function

1000

100

10

1
0 200 400 600 800 1000

.1

.01
JND Index
Standard Display Function
Grayscale Standard Display Function

1000

Film
100

10

Monitors
1
0 200 400 600 800 1000

.1

.01
JND Index
 Perceptual Linearization
• JND index is “perceptually linearized”:
– same change in input is perceived by the
human observer as the same change in
contrast
• Is only a means to achieve device
independence
• Does not magically produce a “better”
image
 Perceptual Linearization
Grayscale Standard Display Function

1000

Despite different change

in absolute luminance 100

10

1
0 200 400 600 800 1000

.1

.01
JND Index

Same number of Just Noticeable Difference == Same perceived contrast

 Perceptual Linearization
Ambient Light

Display

Display Perception of Contrast

By Human Visual System
Modality
 Using the Standard Function
• Maps JNDs to absolute luminance
• Determine range of display
– minimum to maximum luminance
– minimum to maximum JND
• Linearly map:
– minimum input value to minimum JND
– maximum input value to maximum JND
– input values are then called “P-Values”
 Monitor Characteristic Curve
Monitor Characteristic Curve

100

10

Ambient Light

0.1
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Digital Driving Level
 Standard Display Function
Grayscale Standard Display Function

1000

Maximum Luminance 100

+ Ambient Light
Monitor’s Capability
10

1
0 200 400 600 800 1000
Minimum Luminance
+ Ambient Light
.1 Jmax == P-Value of 2n-1

.01
Jmin == P-Value of 0
JND Index
Standardizing a Display

100

Standard

10

1
0 50 100 150 200 250

Characteristic Curve
0.1
DDL or P-Values
Standardizing a Display
Mapping P-Values to Input of Characteristic Curve (DDL’s)

300

250

200
DDL

150

100

50

0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300

P-Values
 Standardizing a Display

Standard Display Function

Standardized
Display

P-Values: 0 to 2n-1
 Device Independent Contrast

Standard Display Function Standard Display Function

Standardized Standardized
Display A Display B

P-Values: 0 to 2n-1
 So what ?
• Device independent presentation of
contrast can be achieved using the
DICOM Grayscale Standard Display
Function to standardize display and
print systems
• Therefore images can be made to
appear the same (or very similar) on
different devices
 So what ?
• Images can be made to appear not only
similar, but the way they were intended
to appear, if images and VOI are
targeted to a P-value output space
• New DICOM objects defined in P-values
• Old DICOM objects and print use new
services (Presentation State and LUT)
 Not so hard …
• If you calibrate displays or printers at all,
you can include the standard function
• If you use any LUT at all, you can make
it model the display function
• If you ignore calibration and LUTs totally
(e.g. use window system defaults) the
results will be inconsistent, mediocre and
won’t use the full display range