Main controller, image processing system, and image processing method and apparatus

Abstract

The present application provides a main controller and an image control system. The main controller comprises a temporary memory and an image processor. The image processor is configured to: in response to image correction being enabled, caching a correction parameter set to a temporary memory, wherein the correction parameter set is used for correcting an image to be corrected and is generated by a superordinate computer on the basis of a first image set, and the first image set is obtained by acquiring images sensed by a thin film transistor-based sensing panel while reading random parameters in the temporary memory; determine correction parameters required by an image correction mode to be executed; while reading the required correction parameters from the correction parameter set in the temporary memory, acquire an image sensed by the sensing panel as an image to be corrected; use the read correction parameters to correct the image to be corrected, to obtain a first corrected image; and transmit the first corrected image to the superordinate computer.

Description

Master controller, image processing system, image processing method and device TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the technical field of image processing, and in particular to a master controller, an image processing system, an image processing method and device. BACKGROUND

[0002] With the continuous development of technology, a detector based on a thin film transistor (TFT) (for example, an X-ray flat panel detector) has been widely used in the technical field of image sensing and the like as a mainstream technology. For example, an X-ray flat panel detector widely used in optical medical treatment can detect X-rays projected onto a flat panel detector after passing through a human body by using a thin film transistor, and directly obtain image data through real-time image processing. After the image data is collected by the detector, the image data is sent to an upper computer, and the upper computer corrects the image data by using image processing software to obtain a final image. In recent years, the demand for dynamic acquisition and correction of images is increasingly prominent, and the frame rate requirement for dynamic acquisition is increasingly high. With the increase of the frame rate, the requirement for the algorithm processing speed of the software is increasingly high, which greatly increases the working pressure of the upper computer, and makes the efficiency of the image processing software for correcting the image very low.

[0003] Related research also focuses on performing board-level correction on the master control chip of the detector. The board-level correction adopts a serial processing mode, has a fast processing speed, and can effectively alleviate the processing pressure of the upper computer software, but requires corresponding correction parameters for image correction. Current board-level correction mainly generates and stores correction parameters by using on-chip RAM (Random Access Memory, a type of volatile random access memory) of the master control chip, and such parameter generation based on an entire frame is relatively difficult for the board-level device to process, it is troublesome to read and write block storage areas, implementation is relatively complex, and the performance requirement for the master control chip is particularly high. SUMMARY

[0004] Therefore, the present disclosure provides a master controller, an image processing system, an image processing method and device, which are expected to overcome some or all of the above-mentioned defects and other possible defects.

[0005] According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a master controller for image processing, the master controller comprising a temporary memory and an image processor. The image processor is configured to: in response to image correction being enabled, cache a set of correction parameters to the temporary memory, wherein the set of correction parameters is used for correcting an image to be corrected and is generated by a host based on a first set of images, and wherein the first set of images is obtained by capturing images sensed by a thin-film transistor based sensing panel while reading random parameters in the temporary memory; determine correction parameters required for an image correction mode to be performed; capture an image sensed by the sensing panel as an image to be corrected while reading the required correction parameters from the set of correction parameters in the temporary memory; correct the captured image to be corrected using the read correction parameters to obtain a first corrected image; and transmit the first corrected image to the host.

[0006] In some embodiments, the master controller further comprises a permanent memory, and wherein the image processor is further configured to: in response to receiving an image capturing instruction from the host, capture images sensed by the sensing panel to obtain the first set of images and transmit the first set of images to the host; receive the set of correction parameters from the host and store the set of correction parameters to the permanent memory.

[0007] In some embodiments, the image processor is further configured to: in response to image correction being enabled, cache the set of correction parameters from the permanent memory to the temporary memory.

[0008] In some embodiments, the master controller further comprises a gate controller and a source controller, and wherein the image processor is further configured to: read image data of the image sensed by the sensing panel using the gate controller and the source controller while reading the required correction parameters from the set of correction parameters in the temporary memory.

[0009] In some embodiments, the image processor is further configured to: in response to the image correction mode to be performed being a first correction mode, determine that the required correction parameters comprise at least one of a bad pixel removal parameter, a fixed pattern noise removal parameter, and a gain correction parameter; wherein the bad pixel removal parameter is used to remove bad pixels in the image to be corrected, the fixed pattern noise removal parameter is used to remove fixed pattern noise in the image to be corrected, and the gain correction parameter is used to remove gain difference in different locations in the image to be corrected.

[0010] In some embodiments, the image processor is further configured to, in response to the image correction mode to be performed being the second correction mode, determine the required correction parameters to include a part of the bad pixel removal parameters, the fixed pattern noise removal parameters, and the gain correction parameters; wherein the bad pixel removal parameters are used to remove bad pixels in the image to be corrected, the fixed pattern noise removal parameters are used to remove fixed pattern noise in the image to be corrected, and the gain correction parameters are used to remove gain difference in different positions in the image to be corrected.

[0011] In some embodiments, the image processor is further configured to, in response to the image correction mode to be performed being the first correction mode, transmit the first corrected image to the host computer as a final corrected image.

[0012] In some embodiments, the image processor is further configured to, in response to the image correction mode to be performed being the second correction mode, transmit the first corrected image to the host computer as an intermediate corrected image, so that the host computer corrects the intermediate corrected image using another part of the bad pixel removal parameters, the fixed pattern noise removal parameters, and the gain correction parameters to obtain a final corrected image.

[0013] According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an image processing system, comprising: any of the master controller as described above; and a host computer configured to generate an original parameter set for correcting an image to be corrected based on a first image set, transmit the correction parameter set to the master controller, and receive the first corrected image, wherein the correction parameter set is at least a part of the original parameter set; a thin-film transistor based sensing panel configured to sense images in the first image set and the image to be corrected.

[0014] In some embodiments, the sensing panel comprises a flat panel detector for converting received X-rays into image data representing the images.

[0015] In some embodiments, the master controller further comprises a gate controller and a source controller, and the sensing panel comprises a plurality of readout circuits arranged at opposite side edges of the sensing panel; wherein the image processor is further configured to control the plurality of readout circuits to read out image data of images sensed by the sensing panel using the gate controller and the source controller.

[0016] In some embodiments, the number of the plurality of readout circuits corresponds to the number of pixel regions of the images sensed in a first direction of the sensing panel one-to-one, and the readout circuits for reading out image data of odd pixel regions are located at one side edge of the sensing panel, and the readout circuits for reading out image data of even pixel regions are located at the opposite side edge of the sensing panel.

[0017] In some embodiments, the host computer is further configured to receive the first corrected image as a final corrected image in response to the image correction mode to be performed being a first correction mode.

[0018] In some embodiments, the original parameter set includes a bad pixel removal parameter, a dark noise removal parameter, and a gain correction parameter, and wherein the host computer is further configured to transmit a portion of the original parameter set as the correction parameter set to the main controller in response to the image correction mode to be performed being a second correction mode.

[0019] In some embodiments, the host computer is further configured to correct the first corrected image using another portion of the original parameter set to obtain a final corrected image.

[0020] In some embodiments, the host computer is further configured to generate the bad pixel removal parameter and the dark noise removal parameter based on dark state images in the first image set, and to generate the gain correction parameter based on bright state images in the first image set.

[0021] According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an image processing method applied to a main controller, the main controller comprising at least a temporary memory, and the method comprising: in response to image correction being enabled, caching a correction parameter set to the temporary memory, wherein the correction parameter set is used for correcting a to-be-corrected image and is generated by a host computer based on a first image set, and wherein the first image set is obtained by capturing images sensed by a thin film transistor based sensing panel while reading random parameters in the temporary memory; determining correction parameters required by an image correction mode to be performed; capturing images sensed by the sensing panel as the to-be-corrected image while reading the required correction parameters from the correction parameter set in the temporary memory; correcting the captured to-be-corrected image using the read correction parameters to obtain a first corrected image; and transmitting the first corrected image to the host computer.

[0022] In some embodiments, the main controller further comprises a permanent memory, and the method further comprises: in response to receiving an image capturing instruction from the host computer, capturing images sensed by the sensing panel to obtain a first image set, and transmitting the first image set to the host computer; receiving the correction parameter set from the host computer, and storing the correction parameter set to the permanent memory.

[0023] In some embodiments, in response to image correction being enabled, caching the correction parameter set to the temporary memory comprises: in response to image correction being enabled, caching the correction parameter set from the permanent memory to the temporary memory.

[0024] In some embodiments, the main controller further comprises a gate controller and a source controller, and wherein the collecting the image sensed by the sensing panel as the to-be-corrected image while reading the required correction parameter from the correction parameter set in the temporary memory comprises: reading the image data of the image sensed by the sensing panel as the to-be-corrected image by using the gate controller and the source controller while reading the required correction parameter from the correction parameter set in the temporary memory.

[0025] In some embodiments, the determining the required correction parameter of the image correction mode to be performed comprises: in response to the image correction mode to be performed being the first correction mode, determining that the required correction parameter comprises at least one of a bad pixel removal parameter, a noise floor removal parameter and a gain correction parameter; wherein the bad pixel removal parameter is used to remove bad pixels in the to-be-corrected image, the noise floor removal parameter is used to remove noise floor in the to-be-corrected image, and the gain correction parameter is used to remove gain difference at different positions in the to-be-corrected image.

[0026] In some embodiments, the determining the required correction parameter of the image correction mode to be performed comprises: in response to the image correction mode to be performed being the second correction mode, determining that the required correction parameter comprises a part of the bad pixel removal parameter, the noise floor removal parameter and the gain correction parameter; wherein the bad pixel removal parameter is used to remove bad pixels in the to-be-corrected image, the noise floor removal parameter is used to remove noise floor in the to-be-corrected image, and the gain correction parameter is used to remove gain difference at different positions in the to-be-corrected image.

[0027] In some embodiments, the transmitting the first corrected image to the host computer comprises: in response to the image correction mode to be performed being the first correction mode, transmitting the first corrected image to the host computer as a final corrected image.

[0028] In some embodiments, the transmitting the first corrected image to the host computer comprises: in response to the image correction mode to be performed being the second correction mode, transmitting the first corrected image to the host computer as an intermediate corrected image, so that the host computer corrects the intermediate corrected image by using another part of the bad pixel removal parameter, the noise floor removal parameter and the gain correction parameter to obtain a final corrected image.

[0029] According to a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an image processing device applied to a host controller, the host controller comprising at least a temporary memory. The image correction device comprises: a cache execution module configured to cache a set of correction parameters to the temporary memory in response to correction of an image being enabled, wherein the set of correction parameters is used for correction of a to-be-corrected image and is generated by a host computer based on a first set of images, and wherein the first set of images is obtained by capturing images sensed by a thin-film transistor-based sensing panel while reading random parameters in the temporary memory; a correction parameter determination module configured to determine correction parameters required by an image correction mode to be executed; an image capturing module configured to capture images sensed by the sensing panel as the to-be-corrected image while reading the required correction parameters from the set of correction parameters in the temporary memory; an image correction module configured to correct the captured to-be-corrected image using the read correction parameters to obtain a first corrected image; and a corrected image transmission module configured to transmit the first corrected image to the host computer.

[0030] According to a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable storage medium storing computer executable instructions that, when executed, perform any of the methods described above.

[0031] According to a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer program product comprising computer executable instructions that, when executed, implement any of the methods described above.

[0032] In the host controller, the image processing system, the image processing method and the device claimed in the present disclosure, the set of correction parameters used for correction of the to-be-corrected image is generated by the host computer based on the first set of images, and the first set of images is obtained by capturing images sensed by the thin-film transistor-based sensing panel while reading random parameters in the temporary memory. During image correction, the to-be-corrected image is captured while reading the required correction parameters from the set of correction parameters in the temporary memory. In this way, electromagnetic interference and noise of the temporary memory are introduced when generating the correction parameters and capturing the to-be-corrected image, so that the noise of the original image of the generated correction parameters and the to-be-corrected original image is consistent, thereby ensuring consistency of the board-level correction and the hybrid correction and the software correction, effectively improving the problem of electromagnetic noise interference during board-level correction, achieving simplicity, reducing the processing pressure of the host controller, and improving the effect of board-level correction.

[0033] These and other advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent from the embodiments described herein after and with reference to the drawings. Attached Figure Description

[0034] Embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0035] Figure 1 illustrates an exemplary architecture diagram of an image processing system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0036] Figure 2 illustrates a flowchart of an exemplary method for image correction using an image processing system;

[0037] Figure 3 shows an exemplary layout diagram of an image processing system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0038] Figure 4 illustrates a schematic diagram of stitching read image data into a complete image according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0039] Figure 5 illustrates a schematic diagram of a readout circuit subjected to electromagnetic interference according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0040] Figure 6 shows a grayscale comparison of images when software correction and board-level correction are performed solely by the host computer.

[0041] Figure 7 illustrates an exemplary flowchart of an image processing method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0042] Figure 8 illustrates a schematic diagram of a defect correction implementation according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0043] Figure 9 illustrates a schematic diagram of the implementation of noise reduction and gain correction according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0044] Figure 10 illustrates a grayscale comparison between an image of board-level correction according to an embodiment of the present disclosure and a software correction performed solely by a host computer.

[0045] Figure 11 shows a schematic diagram of a main controller according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0046] Figure 12 illustrates an exemplary working principle diagram of an image processing system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0047] Figure 13 illustrates an exemplary interactive flowchart of an image processing system performing image processing according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0048] Figure 14 illustrates an exemplary interactive flowchart of an image processing system performing image processing according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0049] Figure 15 illustrates an exemplary structural block diagram of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0050] FIG. 16 schematically illustrates an example block diagram of a computing device, in accordance with some embodiments of the application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0051] The following description provides specific details for a thorough understanding of, and enabling disclosure of, various embodiments of the disclosure. One skilled in the art will understand that the disclosure can be practiced without

[0052] As previously described, the efficiency of correcting images by the image processing software of the host computer is low, and the current board-level correction mainly utilizes the on-chip RAM (Random Access Memory) of the master control chip to generate and store correction parameters, which is relatively complex and requires a high performance of the master control chip.

[0053] Based on this, the inventors consider that first, the software of the host computer is utilized to generate correction parameters based on the original image collected by the detector, and then the correction parameters are sent to the master control chip (i.e., the master controller) and cached in a memory such as a DDR (Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory) when performing the board-level correction. Then, the correction parameters are read from the DDR synchronously when performing the board-level correction, and the collected image is corrected. The original image described herein can be a dark state (e.g., black) image and / or a bright state (e.g., white) image.

[0054] FIG. 1 shows an exemplary architecture diagram of an image processing system 100 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 1, the image processing system includes a host computer 110, a main controller 120, and a thin-film transistor based sensing panel 130. The host computer 110 can be various suitable devices, software running on devices, or processing logic, for example, the host computer can be various processing devices, programs or codes running on processing devices, or various programmable logic devices (e.g., FPGA). The sensing panel 130 can be, for example, a flat panel detector for converting received X-rays into image data representing images. The main controller includes a temporary memory 121 and an image processor 122. The temporary memory can also be referred to as a transitory memory or a volatile memory, for example, RAM, DDR, etc.

[0055] The following describes a flowchart of an exemplary method of image correction using the image processing system 100, with the temporary memory 121 being a DDR as an example, as shown in FIG. 2. After the image processing system is powered on at 201, at 202, the host computer 110 requests the main controller 120 to acquire a raw image for generating correction parameters for panel-level image correction. At 203, the image processor 122 of the main controller acquires the raw image, i.e., acquires an image sensed by the sensing panel, and transmits the acquired raw image to the host computer. At 204, after receiving the raw image, the host computer generates corresponding correction parameters based on the raw image, and thus the generation of the correction parameters is completed. At 205, the correction parameters are issued to the main controller for panel-level correction, and the parameter issuing is completed. At 206, after receiving the correction parameters, the image processor of the main controller caches the correction parameters in the DDR. At 207, the image processor of the main controller acquires an image to be corrected from the sensing panel 130, and reads the correction parameters from the DDR, so as to correct the image to be corrected at 208 to obtain a corrected image. The correction can include bad pixel removal, noise removal, gain correction, etc. on the image to be corrected. At 209, the image processor can cache the corrected image in the DDR and transmit the corrected image to the host computer at 210. The host computer can present, analyze, or process the corrected image, etc.

[0056] In some embodiments, the main controller can further include a gate controller 123 and a source controller 124, and the sensing panel includes a plurality of read out integrated circuits (ROICs) 131 arranged at opposite side edges of the sensing panel, and the main controller can control the plurality of ROICs to read image data of an image sensed by the sensing panel by using the gate controller and the source controller. The number of the plurality of ROICs corresponds to the number of pixel regions of the image sensed by the sensing panel in a first direction, and the ROICs for reading image data of odd pixel regions are located at one side edge of the sensing panel, and the ROICs for reading image data of even pixel regions are located at the opposite side edge of the sensing panel. The first direction is not limited to be the row direction or the column direction. FIG. 3 shows an exemplary layout of the image processing system 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in which a plurality of ROICs 131 are arranged at opposite side edges of the sensing panel 130. The gate controller 123 is connected to the gate circuit GIC 132 of the sensing panel, and the source controller is connected to the ROICs of the sensing panel. The main controller controls the plurality of ROICs 131 to read image data of an image sensed by the sensing panel by using the gate controller 123 and the source controller 124. The number of the plurality of ROICs 131 corresponds to the number of pixel regions of the image sensed by the sensing panel in a first direction. The ROICs for reading image data of odd pixel regions are located at one side edge of the sensing panel, and the ROICs for reading image data of even pixel regions are located at the opposite side edge of the sensing panel. As shown in FIG. 3, the ROICs 1, 3, 5, 7, …, etc. located at the left side edge are used to read image data of odd pixel regions of the sensing panel, and the ROICs 2, 4, 6, 8, …, etc. located at the right side edge are used to read image data of even pixel regions of the sensing panel. The read image data is spliced into a complete image according to the arrangement of the pixel regions read by the ROICs, as shown in FIG. 4, in which n in the ROIC n is a positive integer.

[0057] The inventors find that in some cases, especially when dynamic acquisition and correction of images are performed, due to the very high frame rate of dynamic acquisition, the scheme of FIG. 1 exists a flow of reading and writing correction parameters from the temporary storage (for example, DDR) 121, and the DDR as a high-speed processing module of the board card will cause board electromagnetic interference, affecting the acquisition noise of the image to be corrected. When generating the correction parameters, the acquisition of the original image does not need to read and write correction parameters from the DDR, so the acquisition noise when generating the correction parameters and the acquisition noise when the board-level correction are different, which can cause the correction effect to not meet the requirements. Especially when the main controller and the sensing panel are integrated together or are relatively close, the DDR is usually close to the ROIC on one side, for example, the DDR is close to the ROIC2, ROIC4, ROIC6, ROIC8, etc. at the right edge, which makes the ROIC on the right more susceptible to electromagnetic interference and more acquisition noise, as shown in FIG. 5. This causes a large difference between the acquisition noise when generating the correction parameters and the acquisition noise when the board-level correction, which further affects the effect of the corrected image. FIG. 6 shows a gray scale contrast chart of the software correction (which does not need to read and write correction parameters from the DDR) and the board-level correction (which needs to read and write correction parameters from the DDR) performed by the host computer alone, which can reflect the difference between the acquisition noise when generating the correction parameters and the acquisition noise when the board-level correction. As can be seen from the figure, the image of the software correction is smoother, and the difference between the images of each ROIC of the board-level correction is obvious. From the gray scale curve, it can also be seen that the board-level correction of ROIC2, 4, 6, 8 and the software correction are obviously different, and the gray scale after the software correction is smoother, and the gray scale of the image read by each ROIC does not have obvious jumps, but the gray scale of the image read by each ROIC when the board-level correction jumps obviously, is disturbed by noise, which will affect the effect of the board-level correction to some extent, especially the effect of removing noise.

[0058] FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary flowchart of an image processing method 700 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, which can be applied to the main controller of FIG. 1, and in particular, can be implemented by the image processor of the main controller. The method comprises the following steps.

[0059] At step 710, in response to the image correction being enabled, a set of correction parameters is cached to the temporary memory, wherein the set of correction parameters is used for correcting the image to be corrected and is generated by the host based on a first set of images, and wherein the first set of images is acquired from the image sensed by the thin-film transistor based sensing panel while reading the random parameter in the temporary memory. The image correction can be enabled by powering up the master controller, of course, this is not limiting. Since the temporary memory cannot retain data when power is off, the set of correction parameters needs to be cached to the temporary memory each time the image correction is enabled. In an embodiment of the disclosure, the image sensed by the thin-film transistor based sensing panel is acquired while reading the random parameter in the temporary memory and the acquired first set of images is sent to the host, and then the set of correction parameters is generated by the host based on the first set of images.

[0060] In some embodiments, the master controller can further include a permanent memory. The permanent memory can also be referred to as a non-transitory memory or a non-volatile memory. The host can issue an image acquisition instruction to the master controller. The master controller can acquire the image sensed by the sensing panel to obtain a first set of images after receiving the image acquisition instruction from the host, and transmit the first set of images to the host. Then, the set of correction parameters is received from the host and stored to the permanent memory. The permanent memory retains data information after power off, so it is very suitable for storing correction parameters. The permanent memory can be, for example, an SD (secure digital) card, a hard disk, or the like. The permanent memory has a relatively slow read speed, so the set of correction parameters can be cached from the permanent memory to the temporary memory in response to the image correction being enabled. In this way, it is not necessary to receive the correction parameters from the host each time the correction is performed. The parameter of the permanent memory can be zero by default, and the data value in the permanent memory can be a random number. When the random parameter in the temporary memory is read, the random number in the permanent memory can be read, but these random numbers are not used for the calculation of the correction parameters.

[0061] At step 720, the correction parameters required by the image correction mode to be performed are determined. The image correction mode to be performed can be determined beforehand, or can also be determined by the host computer and sent to the main controller. The image correction mode can include, for example, board-level correction, and hybrid correction (i.e., both board-level correction and software correction by the host computer). The correction parameters can include at least one of a bad pixel removal parameter, a dark noise removal parameter, and a gain correction parameter. The bad pixel removal parameter is used to remove bad pixels in the image to be corrected, the dark noise removal parameter is used to remove dark noise in the image to be corrected, and the gain correction parameter is used to remove gain differences at different positions in the image to be corrected.

[0062] In some embodiments, if the image correction mode to be performed is a first correction mode, determining the correction parameters required includes at least one of a bad pixel removal parameter, a dark noise removal parameter, and a gain correction parameter. The first correction mode can be, for example, board-level correction. In this case, bad pixel removal, dark noise removal, and gain difference removal can all be performed on the main controller.

[0063] In some embodiments, if the image correction mode to be performed is a second correction mode, determining the correction parameters required includes a portion of a bad pixel removal parameter, a dark noise removal parameter, and a gain correction parameter. Here, a portion means a portion of the three types of parameters. The second correction mode can be, for example, hybrid correction. In this case, the board-level correction corresponding to the portion of the correction parameters can be performed on the main controller, and the board-level corrected image can be sent to the host computer to perform the software correction corresponding to the other portion of the correction parameters. Again, the other portion here means the other portion of the three types of parameters. As an example, dark noise removal and gain difference removal (i.e., board-level correction) can be performed on the main controller, and the board-level corrected image can be sent to the host computer for bad pixel removal (i.e., software correction).

[0064] Since the frame rate is greatly increased during dynamic acquisition, and the resources of the main controller are limited, the software correction and the board-level correction may need to be cooperated to maximize the efficiency. The software processing is good at the whole block-based operation, and thus is suitable for performing the bad pixel correction, while the parallel processing capability of the board-level correction is strong, and thus is suitable for performing the noise floor correction and the gain correction. Generally, the bad pixel correction needs to rely on the pixel information and the identification information of the up and down rows of the image, and the left and right data of the current row to judge the image data. If the current pixel needs to be corrected, the average of the eight surrounding pixels without error identification is taken as the corrected pixel value. FIG. 8 illustrates an implementation schematic diagram of the bad pixel correction according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 8, when the current pixel data 22 is corrected, the pixel data 11-13, 21, 23 and 31-33 are needed. The correction itself needs to cache the pixel row, and thus the software processing of the host computer is more convenient. The noise floor correction and the gain correction are usually one-to-one corresponding to the correction parameters and the image data to be corrected, and thus the data of the surrounding rows is not needed. FIG. 9 illustrates an implementation schematic diagram of the noise floor correction and the gain correction according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 9, when the current pixel data 22 is corrected, only the pixel data 22 and the corresponding parameters 22 are needed. Under the condition of high frame rate dynamic acquisition, the software correction and the board-level correction can be cooperated to maximize the functions of the devices. Of course, the above description is only an example, and in some embodiments, the board-level correction performs the bad pixel correction and the gain correction, the software correction performs the noise floor correction, or the board-level correction performs the bad pixel correction and the noise floor correction, and the software correction performs the bad pixel correction is also possible.

[0065] In step 730, the image sensed by the sensing panel is acquired as a to-be-corrected image while the required correction parameters are read from the correction parameter set in the temporary memory. In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the acquisition of the to-be-corrected image is synchronized with the reading of the correction parameters, and thus is suitable for the dynamic acquisition with high frame rate requirement, and ensures the fluency of the system. In some embodiments, the correction parameters corresponding to the pixel data of one row of the image can be read while the pixel data of the row is read, i.e., the correction is performed row by row, which is not limited.

[0066] In some embodiments, the main controller can further include a gate controller and a source controller, and wherein when collecting the image to be corrected, the image data of the image sensed by the sensing panel can be read as the image to be corrected by the gate controller and the source controller while reading the required correction parameters from the correction parameter set in the temporary memory. The gate controller can be used to send a gate signal to turn on the corresponding thin film transistor in the sensing panel, and the source controller can be used to read the image data information in the turned-on thin film transistor.

[0067] At step 740, the collected image to be corrected is corrected by using the read correction parameters to obtain a first corrected image. As described above, in some embodiments, if the image correction mode to be performed is a first correction mode, the read correction parameters include at least one of the bad pixel removal parameters, the dark noise removal parameters, and the gain correction parameters. The first correction mode can be, for example, a panel-level correction. In this case, the collected image to be corrected is corrected according to the read correction parameters on the main controller (i.e., at least one of bad pixel removal, dark noise removal, and gain difference removal). In some embodiments, if the image correction mode to be performed is a second correction mode, the read correction parameters include at least one of the part of the correction parameters. The second correction mode can be, for example, a hybrid correction. As an example, dark noise removal and gain difference removal (i.e., panel-level correction) can be performed on the main controller according to the read correction parameters, and the panel-level corrected image is sent to the host computer for bad pixel removal (i.e., software correction).

[0068] At step 750, the first corrected image is transmitted to the host computer. In some embodiments, if the image correction mode to be performed is the first correction mode (i.e., panel-level correction), the first corrected image is the final corrected image, and the first corrected image is transmitted to the host computer as the final corrected image. If the image correction mode to be performed is the second correction mode (i.e., hybrid correction), the first corrected image is transmitted to the host computer as an intermediate corrected image, so that the host computer corrects the first corrected image using another part of the original parameter set to obtain a final corrected image.

[0069] In the image processing method, the correction parameter set for correcting the image to be corrected is generated by the host computer based on a first image set, and the first image set is obtained by collecting the image sensed by the thin-film transistor-based sensing panel while reading the random parameter in the temporary memory. During image correction, the required correction parameter is read from the correction parameter set in the temporary memory, and the image to be corrected is collected. In this way, the electromagnetic interference and noise of the temporary memory are introduced when the correction parameter is generated and the image to be corrected is collected, so that the noise of the generated correction parameter and the image to be corrected is consistent, thereby ensuring the consistency of the board-level correction and the mixed correction and the software correction, achieving simplicity, reducing the processing pressure of the host computer, and improving the effect of the board-level correction.

[0070] FIG. 10 shows a gray contrast diagram of the image during the board-level correction and the software correction performed by the host computer only according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As can be seen from the diagram, the images of the software correction and the board-level correction are also smooth, and have the same correction effect.

[0071] FIG. 11 shows a schematic diagram of a host computer 1100 that can be applied to image processing, in particular image correction, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The host computer 1100 can be a specific example of the host computer 120 described with reference to FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 11, the host computer includes a temporary memory 1101 and an image processor 1102, which can correspond to the temporary memory 121 and the image processor 122 described with reference to FIG. 1, respectively. The image processor can be various processors, microprocessors or cores, and various integrated circuits with processing capabilities, etc.

[0072] The image processor 1102 can be configured to, in response to correction of the image being enabled, cache a correction parameter set to the temporary memory 1101, wherein the correction parameter set is used for correcting the image to be corrected and is generated by the host computer based on a first image set, and wherein the first image set is obtained by collecting the image sensed by the thin-film transistor-based sensing panel while reading the random parameter in the temporary memory. The correction of the image can be enabled by powering on the host computer, of course, this is not restrictive. Since the temporary memory cannot retain data when powered off, it is necessary to cache the correction parameter set to the temporary memory each time the image correction is enabled. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the image sensed by the thin-film transistor-based sensing panel is collected while reading the random parameter in the temporary memory, and the collected first image set is sent to the host computer, and then the host computer generates the correction parameter set based on the first image set.

[0073] The graphics processor 1102 is then configured to determine correction parameters required by an image correction mode to be performed; and acquire an image sensed by the sensing panel as a to-be-corrected image while reading the required correction parameters from the correction parameter set in the temporary memory. The image correction mode can include, for example, a board-level correction, and a hybrid correction (i.e., both board-level correction and software correction by the host computer). The correction parameters can include at least one of a bad pixel removal parameter, a dark noise removal parameter, and a gain correction parameter. The bad pixel removal parameter is used to remove bad pixels in the to-be-corrected image, the dark noise removal parameter is used to remove dark noise in the to-be-corrected image, and the gain correction parameter is used to remove gain differences at different positions in the to-be-corrected image.

[0074] Finally, the processor 1102 is configured to correct the acquired to-be-corrected image using the read correction parameters to obtain a first corrected image; and transmit the first corrected image to the host computer. If the image correction mode to be performed is a first correction mode, the read correction parameters include at least one of a bad pixel removal parameter, a dark noise removal parameter, and a gain correction parameter. The first correction mode can be, for example, a board-level correction. In this case, the acquired to-be-corrected image is subjected to board-level correction (i.e., at least one of bad pixel removal, dark noise removal, and gain difference removal) on the host controller according to the read correction parameters. In some embodiments, if the image correction mode to be performed is a second correction mode, the read correction parameters include at least one of the part of the correction parameters. The second correction mode can be, for example, a hybrid correction. As an example, dark noise removal and gain difference removal (i.e., board-level correction) can be performed on the host controller according to the read correction parameters, and the board-level corrected image is sent to the host computer for bad pixel removal (i.e., software correction).

[0075] In some embodiments, the host controller 1100 can further include a permanent memory 1103, and wherein the image processor is further configured to, in response to receiving the image capturing instruction from the host computer, capture the image sensed by the sensing panel to obtain a first image set, and transmit the first image set to the host computer; receive the set of correction parameters from the host computer, and store the set of correction parameters to the permanent memory. The permanent memory can be, for example, a SD (secure digital) card, a hard disk, or the like. The permanent memory has a relatively slow read speed, and thus the set of correction parameters can be cached from the permanent memory to the temporary memory in response to the image correction being enabled. In this way, the correction parameters do not need to be received from the host computer each time correction is performed. The parameters in the permanent memory can be set to zero by default, and the data values in the permanent memory can be random numbers. When the random parameters in the temporary memory are read, the random numbers in the permanent memory can be read, but these random numbers are not used in the calculation of the correction parameters. Further, the image processor is further configured to, in response to the image correction being enabled, cache the set of correction parameters from the permanent memory to the temporary memory.

[0076] In some embodiments, the host controller can further include a gate controller 1104 and a source controller 1105, and wherein the image processor is further configured to, while reading the required correction parameters from the set of correction parameters in the temporary memory, read the image data of the image sensed by the sensing panel using the gate controller and the source controller. The number of the plurality of read circuits generally corresponds to the number of the pixel regions sensing the image in the first direction of the sensing panel, and as shown in FIG. 3, the read circuits for reading the image data of the odd pixel regions are located at one side edge of the sensing panel, and the read circuits for reading the image data of the even pixel regions are located at the opposite side edge of the sensing panel.

[0077] In some embodiments, the image processor is further configured to, in response to the image correction mode to be performed being a first correction mode, determine that the required correction parameters include at least one of a bad pixel removal parameter, a dark noise removal parameter, and a gain correction parameter. The bad pixel removal parameter is used to remove bad pixels in the image to be corrected, the dark noise removal parameter is used to remove dark noise in the image to be corrected, and the gain correction parameter is used to remove gain difference in different positions in the image to be corrected. The first correction mode can be, for example, a panel-level correction. In this case, the bad pixel removal, the dark noise removal, and the gain difference removal can be performed on the host controller. The image processor is further configured to, in response to the image correction mode to be performed being the first correction mode, transmit the first corrected image as the final corrected image to the host computer.

[0078] In some embodiments, the image processor is further configured to, in response to the image correction mode to be performed being a second correction mode, determine that the required correction parameters include a part of the bad pixel removal parameters, the noise floor removal parameters, and the gain correction parameters; wherein the bad pixel removal parameters are used to remove bad pixels in the image to be corrected, the noise floor removal parameters are used to remove noise floor in the image to be corrected, and the gain correction parameters are used to remove gain difference at different positions in the image to be corrected. The second correction mode can be, for example, a hybrid correction. In this case, the image processor is further configured to, in response to the image correction mode to be performed being the second correction mode, transmit the first corrected image to the host computer as an intermediate corrected image, so that the host computer corrects the intermediate corrected image using another part of the bad pixel removal parameters, the noise floor removal parameters, and the gain correction parameters to obtain a final corrected image.

[0079] In some embodiments, the main controller 1100 can further include a clock & reset generation module 1106 configured to provide clock and reset signals required by the components or modules of the main controller, guarantee the clock requirements of different components or modules, and be responsible for the control of the reset of the related components or modules. As an example, in some embodiments, the main controller 1100 can further include a network transmission module (which can be, for example, an Ethernet transmission module) configured to interact with the instruction control, and the transmission of correction parameters and image information, etc. For example, the host computer as a human-computer interface, through the Ethernet transmission module, performs the functions of instruction, parameter issuing, image acquisition, parameter reading, etc. to the main control module. The image after the board-level correction is first cached in the DDR, and then transmitted to the host computer through the Ethernet.

[0080] In the main controller, the set of correction parameters used to correct the image to be corrected is generated by the host computer based on the first set of images, and the first set of images is obtained by acquiring the image sensed by the thin-film transistor-based sensing panel while reading the random parameters in the temporary memory. During image correction, the image processor acquires the image to be corrected while reading the required correction parameters from the set of correction parameters in the temporary memory. In this way, the electromagnetic interference and noise of the temporary memory are introduced when generating the correction parameters and acquiring the image to be corrected, so that the noise of the original image of the generated correction parameters and the original image to be corrected is consistent, thereby ensuring the consistency of the board-level correction and the hybrid correction and the software correction, achieving simplicity, reducing the processing pressure of the main controller, and improving the effect of the board-level correction.

[0081] As an example, in the case of employing the master controller 1100, the graphics processing system 100 of FIG. 1 can include a host computer 110, the master controller 1100, and a thin-film transistor based sensing panel 130. The sensing panel 130 can be, for example, a flat panel detector for converting received X-rays into image data representing images. The host computer 110 can be configured to generate a raw parameter set for correcting an image to be corrected based on a first set of images, transmit the correction parameter set to the master controller, and receive the first corrected image, wherein the correction parameter set is at least a portion of the raw parameter set. The thin-film transistor based sensing panel 130 is configured to sense images in the first set of images and the image to be corrected.

[0082] As described above, the master controller further includes a gate controller and a source controller, and the sensing panel includes a plurality of readout circuits arranged at opposite side edges of the sensing panel; wherein the image processor is further configured to control the plurality of readout circuits to read image data of images sensed by the sensing panel using the gate controller and the source controller.

[0083] In some embodiments, the number of the plurality of readout circuits corresponds one-to-one to the number of pixel regions of the sensing panel sensing images in a first direction, and the readout circuits 131 for reading image data of odd pixel regions are located at one side edge of the sensing panel, and the readout circuits for reading image data of even pixel regions are located at the opposite side edge of the sensing panel.

[0084] In some embodiments, the host computer 110 is further configured to receive the first corrected image as the final corrected image in response to the image correction mode to be performed being a first correction mode.

[0085] In some embodiments, the raw parameter set includes a bad pixel removal parameter, a dark noise removal parameter, and a gain correction parameter, and wherein the host computer 110 is further configured to transmit a portion of the raw parameter set as the correction parameter set to the master controller in response to the image correction mode to be performed being a second correction mode. The master controller can perform a plate level correction portion in the hybrid correction based on the dark noise removal parameter and the gain correction to obtain the first corrected image. The host computer 110 can be further configured to correct the first corrected image using another portion of the raw parameter set to obtain the final corrected image.

[0086] In some embodiments, the host computer 110 is further configured to generate the bad pixel removal parameter and the dark noise removal parameter based on a dark state image in the first set of images (i.e., the original image acquired is a dark state image), and generate the gain correction parameter based on a bright state image in the first set of images (i.e., the original image acquired is a bright state image).

[0087] Figure 12 shows an exemplary working diagram of an image processing system according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, taking the example of a temporary memory as DDR. As shown in Figure 12, the host computer 1201 as a human-computer interaction interface can interact with the image processor 1203 of the main controller through the Ethernet transmission module 1202 for instruction interaction, parameter or data interaction, etc. For example, the image processor 1203 can be instructed to perform image acquisition, issue correction parameters, and read back parameters, etc. The image processor 1203 can receive instructions from the host computer, control the gate controller 1204 and the source controller 1205 through the instructions, and perform image data acquisition on the thin-film transistor-based sensing panel 1206 and upload the acquired data. For board-level correction of the image, after receiving the correction parameters sent by the host computer, the correction parameters are stored in the permanent memory SD card 1207. When performing board-level correction, the image processor first reads the correction parameters in the SD card 1207 to the DDR 1208 for caching. The DDR is a volatile storage device, and needs to be re-read every time it is powered on. After the correction parameters are read, the gate controller and the source controller are started to perform data acquisition of the image to be corrected, and the image correction is performed synchronously with the reading of the correction parameters. The corrected image can be cached in the DDR, and transmitted to the host computer through the Ethernet transmission module when needed. Of course, all these processes need the clock and reset module 1209 to provide the clock and reset control signals required for the work of each module.

[0088] Figure 13 shows an exemplary interaction flowchart of an image processing system performing image processing according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, taking the example of a board-level correction mode. The board-level correction mode can be notified to the main controller by the host computer, of course, this is not limiting. As shown in Figure 13, at S1301, after the image processing system is powered on, the main controller determines whether to start the board-level correction. The main controller can determine whether there is a normal correction parameter for board-level correction. In the case where there is no normal correction parameter, the board-level correction is not started, otherwise the board-level correction is started. The normal correction parameter can be realized by adding an identifier to the correction parameter in advance and determining whether the identifier is correct.

[0089] If the board-level correction is not initiated, at S1302, the host computer issues an instruction to the main controller to request acquisition of the original image (e.g., acquisition of the original image sensed by the thin-film transistor-based sensing panel), after which at S1303, the main controller can initiate reading of the random parameters (e.g., in the DDR) and synchronously acquire the original image (i.e., the first image set) from the sensing panel at S1304, and then transmit the original image to the host computer at S1305, for example, through the Ethernet transmission module. Then, after the host computer receives the original image at S1306, the corresponding original parameter set (e.g., the three correction parameters of bad pixel removal, noise floor removal, and gain correction) is generated. Optionally, the backup can be stored for software correction. Then, at S1307, the host computer issues at least part of the original parameter set (e.g., the three correction parameters of bad pixel removal, noise floor removal, and gain correction) to the main controller as the correction parameter set. At S1308, the main controller can store the received correction parameter set, for example, in the SD card for board-level correction, and then proceed to S1309. If the board-level correction is initiated, it directly jumps to S1309.

[0090] At S1309, the main controller reads out the correction parameter set in the SD card and caches it in the DDR. Optionally, if necessary, the correction parameter set can also be transmitted back to the host computer, for example, for verification of the correction parameters. At S1310, the main controller can control the gate controller and the source controller synchronously to acquire the image to be corrected from the sensing panel at S1311, with the required correction parameters read from the DDR. Then, at S1312, the main controller corrects the acquired image to be corrected using the read correction parameters to obtain the first corrected image. At S1313, the main controller can transmit the first corrected image to the host computer, for example, so that the host computer presents the first corrected image. Optionally, the main controller can write the first corrected image back to the DDR and then transmit it to the host computer through the Ethernet transmission module.

[0091] FIG. 14 shows an exemplary interaction flowchart of the image processing system performing image processing according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, for example, in a hybrid correction mode, which can be extracted by the host computer and notified to the main controller, of course, this is not limiting. As shown in FIG. 14, at S1401, after the image processing system is powered on, the main controller determines whether to initiate hybrid correction. The main controller can determine whether there are normal correction parameters for hybrid correction. In the absence of normal correction parameters, hybrid correction is not initiated, otherwise hybrid correction is initiated. Normal correction parameters can be achieved by adding an identifier to the correction parameters in advance and determining whether the identifier is correct.

[0092] If the hybrid correction is not enabled, then at S1402, the host computer issues an instruction to the main controller to request acquisition of the raw image (e.g., acquisition of the raw image sensed by the thin-film transistor based sensing panel), after which at S1403, the main controller can initiate reading of the random parameters (e.g., in the DDR) and synchronously acquire the raw image (i.e., the first image set) from the sensing panel at S1404, and then transmit to the host computer at S1405, e.g., via the Ethernet transmission module. Then, after the host computer receives the raw image at S1406, it generates the corresponding raw parameter set, and stores the raw parameters for software correction (especially the bad pixel removal parameters). Then at S1407, the host computer issues a portion of the raw parameter set (e.g., both the dark noise removal and gain correction parameters) to the main controller as the correction parameter set. At S1408, the main controller can store the received correction parameter set, e.g., to the SD card for board level correction, and then proceed to S1409. If the hybrid correction is enabled, then proceed directly to S1409.

[0093] At S1409, the main controller reads out the correction parameter set from the SD card and caches it in the DDR. Optionally, the correction parameter set can also be transmitted back to the host computer, e.g., for verification of the correction parameters. At S1410, the main controller can control the gate and source controllers to acquire the image to be corrected from the sensing panel at S1411, with the required correction parameters read from the DDR. Then at S1412, the main controller performs board level correction (e.g., dark noise removal and gain correction) on the acquired image to be corrected using the read correction parameters to obtain a first corrected image. At S1413, the main controller can transmit the first corrected image to the host computer. Optionally, the main controller can write the first corrected image back to the DDR, and then transmit it to the host computer via the Ethernet transmission module. Then, at S1414, the host computer performs software correction (e.g., bad pixel removal) on the first corrected image to obtain the final corrected image.

[0094] FIG. 15 illustrates an exemplary structural block diagram of an image processing apparatus 1500 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 15, the image processing apparatus includes a cache execution module 1510, a correction parameter determination module 1520, an image acquisition module 1530, an image correction module 1540, and a corrected image transmission module 1550.

[0095] The cache execution module 1510 is configured to cache a set of correction parameters to the temporary memory in response to correction of images being enabled, wherein the set of correction parameters is used for correction of images to be corrected and is generated by the host based on a first set of images, and wherein the first set of images is obtained by capturing images sensed by the thin-film transistor based sensing panel while reading the random parameters in the temporary memory.

[0096] The correction parameter determination module 1520 determines correction parameters required for an image correction mode to be performed.

[0097] The image capturing module 1530 is configured to capture images sensed by the sensing panel as images to be corrected while reading the required correction parameters from the set of correction parameters in the temporary memory.

[0098] The image correction module 1540 is configured to correct the captured images to be corrected using the read correction parameters to obtain first corrected images.

[0099] The corrected image transmission module 1550 is configured to transmit the first corrected images to the host.

[0100] FIG. 16 schematically illustrates an example block diagram of a computing device 1600 according to some embodiments of the present application. For example, it can represent the host controller 120 in FIG. 1 or can be used to implement the image processing apparatus 1500 described with reference to FIG. 15.

[0101] As shown, the example computing device 1600 includes a processing system 1601, one or more computer readable media 1602, and one or more I / O interfaces 1603 coupled with one another. Although not shown, the computing device 1600 can also include a system bus or other data and command transfer system that couples the various components to one another. The system bus can include any one or combination of different bus structures, e.g., a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, a serial bus, a parallel bus, and / or a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures by which processors and other digital hardware components can communicate.

[0102] The processing system 1601 is representative of functionality to perform one or more operations using hardware. Accordingly, the processing system 1601 is illustrated as including hardware element 1604 that can be configured to perform a processor function. This can include, for example, being configured to implement a special-purpose integrated circuit or other logic device formed using one or more semiconductors. Hardware element 1604 is not limited by its formation into a material or its employing of a processing logic. For example, a processor can be composed of (multiple) semiconductors and / or transistors (e.g., electronic integrated circuits (ICs)). In this context, a processor-executable instruction can be an electronic processor-executable instruction.

[0103] The computer-readable medium 1602 is illustrated as including memory / storage 1605. The memory / storage 1605 represents memory / storage associated with one or more computer-readable media. The memory / storage 1605 can include volatile memory, such as random access memory (RAM), and / or non-volatile memory, such as read-only memory (ROM), floppy disk drive, etc. The memory / storage 1605 can include fixed and removable memory devices. The computer-readable medium 1602 can be configured in a variety of other ways as further described below.

[0104] The input / output interface(s) 1603 are representative of functionality to allow a user to enter commands and information to computing device 1600, and further allow information to be presented to the user and / or other components or devices using various input / output devices. Examples of input devices include a keyboard, cursor control device (e.g., a mouse), microphone (e.g., for voice inputs), a scanner, touch functionality (e.g., capacitive or other sensors that are configured to detect physical touch), a camera (e.g., which can employ visible or non-visible wavelengths such as infrared frequencies to detect movement that does not involve touch as gestures), a

[0105] The computing device 1600 also includes applications 1606. The applications 1606 can be stored in the memory / storage 1605 by way of computing program instructions. The applications 1606 can, together with the processing system 1601, etc., implement various modules of the image processing apparatus 1500 described with respect to FIG. 15.

[0106] Various techniques can be described in the general context of software, hardware, elements, or program modules. Generally, such modules include routines, programs, objects, elements, components, data structures, and the like that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The terms "module," "functionality," and the like as used herein generally represent software, firmware, hardware, or a combination thereof. The features of the techniques described herein are platform-independent, meaning that the techniques can be implemented on a variety of computing platforms having a variety of processors.

[0107] Implementations of the described modules and techniques can be stored or transmitted across some form of computer-readable media. Computer-readable media can include various media that can be accessed by the computing device 1600. By way of example, and not limitation, computer-readable media can include "computer-readable storage media" and "computer-readable signal media."

[0108] In contrast to signal-bearing media, "computer-readable storage media" refers to media or means configured to hold information for a period of time. Accordingly, computer-readable storage media does not include signals per se. Computer-readable storage media includes volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in a method or technology for storage of information such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, logical elements / circuits, or other data. Examples of computer-readable storage media can include, but are not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical storage, hard disks, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tapes, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or other storage devices, tangible media, or articles of manufacture that are appropriate for storage of information and that can be accessed by a computer.

[0109] "Computer-readable signal media" refers to a signal-bearing medium that is configured to transmit instructions to the hardware of the computing device 1600, such as via network routing. Computer-readable signal media can further include a computer program product. Computer-readable signal media can include a data signal communicated in a modulated data signal format, such as carried in or on a carrier wave, a baseband signal, or other transport mechanism. Computer-readable signal media can also include storage media.

[0110] As previously described, hardware elements 1601 and computer-readable media 1602 are representative of instructions, modules, programmable device logic and / or fixed device logic implemented in hardware that can be employed in some embodiments to implement at least portions of the techniques described herein. Hardware elements can include components of an integrated circuit or

[0111] The foregoing combination of software and hardware modules can also be employed to implement various techniques and modules described herein. Accordingly, software, hardware, or program modules and other program modules can be implemented as one or more instructions and / or logic embodied on some form of computer-readable storage media and / or by one or more hardware elements 1601. The computing device 1600 can be configured to implement particular instructions and / or functions corresponding to the software and / or hardware modules. Accordingly, implementation of a module as a software module and / or hardware module, for example, can be implemented with the one or more hardware elements 1601 and / or the computer-readable storage media of the computing device 1600. The software module(s) and / or hardware module(s) can be executed / operable to implement techniques, modules, and examples described herein with regard to the software and / or hardware modules.

[0112] The techniques described herein can be supported by these various configurations of the computing device 1600 and are not limited to the specific examples of the techniques described herein.

[0113] It will be appreciated that, for clarity, the embodiments of the application have been described hereinafter with reference to different functional units. It will be apparent, however, that the functionality of two or more functional units can be combined into a single unit, or a single unit can be split into two or more functional units. For example, the functionality of the processing system 1601 can be implemented in a single unit or split into two or more units. The references to specific functional units are therefore to be construed in the sense generally used in the art and not in a limiting sense. Hence, functions of a single unit can be split into two or more units and the functions of two or more units can be combined into a single unit.

[0114] The application provides a computer-readable storage medium, having stored thereon computer-readable instructions, which when executed implement the image processing method described above.

[0115] The present application provides a computer program product or computer program comprising computer instructions stored in a computer readable storage medium. A processor of a computing device reads the computer instructions from the computer readable storage medium, and the processor executes the computer instructions to cause the computing device to perform the image processing method provided in various embodiments described above.

[0116] Variations to the disclosed embodiments can become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading the foregoing description and disclosure of the application, and are intended to be covered by the appended claims. In the claims, the word "comprising" does not exclude other elements or steps, and the word "a" or "an" does not exclude a plurality. The mere fact that measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage.

Claims

1. A master controller for image processing, the master controller comprising: a temporary memory; and an image processor configured to: in response to image correction being enabled, cache a set of correction parameters to the temporary memory, wherein the set of correction parameters is used for correcting an image to be corrected and is generated by a host based on a first set of images, and wherein the first set of images is obtained by capturing images sensed by a thin-film transistor based sensing panel while reading random parameters in the temporary memory; determine correction parameters required for an image correction mode to be performed; capture an image sensed by the sensing panel as an image to be corrected while reading the required correction parameters from the set of correction parameters in the temporary memory; correct the captured image to be corrected using the read correction parameters to obtain a first corrected image; transfer the first corrected image to the host.

2. The host controller of claim 1, wherein, the master controller further comprises a permanent memory, and wherein the image processor is further configured to: in response to receiving an image capturing instruction from the host, capture images sensed by the sensing panel to obtain a first set of images and transfer the first set of images to the host; receive the set of correction parameters from the host and store the set of correction parameters to the permanent memory. 3.The master controller of claim 2, wherein the image processor is further configured to: in response to image correction being enabled, cache the set of correction parameters from the permanent memory to the temporary memory.

4. The host controller of claim 1, wherein, the master controller further comprises a gate controller and a source controller, and wherein the image processor is further configured to: read image data of the image sensed by the sensing panel using the gate controller and the source controller while reading the required correction parameters from the set of correction parameters in the temporary memory.

5. The host controller of claim 1, wherein, the image processor is further configured to: in response to the image correction mode to be performed being a first correction mode, determine that the required correction parameters comprise at least one of a bad pixel removal parameter, a fixed pattern noise removal parameter, and a gain correction parameter; wherein the bad pixel removal parameter is used to remove bad pixels in the image to be corrected, the fixed pattern noise removal parameter is used to remove fixed pattern noise in the image to be corrected, and the gain correction parameter is used to remove gain difference in different locations in the image to be corrected.

6. The host controller of claim 1, wherein, the image processor is further configured to: in response to the image correction mode to be performed being a second correction mode, determine that the required correction parameters comprise a part of the bad pixel removal parameter, the fixed pattern noise removal parameter, and the gain correction parameter; wherein the bad pixel removal parameter is used to remove bad pixels in the image to be corrected, the fixed pattern noise removal parameter is used to remove fixed pattern noise in the image to be corrected, and the gain correction parameter is used to remove gain difference in different locations in the image to be corrected.

7. The host controller of claim 5, wherein, the image processor is further configured to: in response to the image correction mode to be performed being the first correction mode, transfer the first corrected image to the host as a final corrected image.

8. The host controller of claim 6, wherein, the image processor is further configured to: in response to the image correction mode to be performed being the second correction mode, transmitting the first corrected image to the host computer as an intermediate corrected image so that the host computer corrects the intermediate corrected image using another part of the set of correction parameters to obtain a final corrected image.

9. An image processing system comprising: a master controller according to any one of claims 1-8; and a host computer configured to generate a set of original correction parameters for correcting an image to be corrected based on a first set of images, transmit the set of correction parameters to the master controller, and receive the first corrected image, wherein the set of correction parameters is at least a part of the set of original correction parameters; a thin-film transistor based sensing panel configured to sense images in a first set of images and the image to be corrected.

10. The image processing system of claim 9, wherein, The sensing panel comprises a flat panel detector for converting received X-rays into image data representing the images.

11. The image processing system of claim 9, wherein, The master controller further comprises a gate controller and a source controller, and the sensing panel comprises a plurality of readout circuits arranged at opposite side edges of the sensing panel; wherein the image processor is further configured to control the plurality of readout circuits to read out image data of the images sensed by the sensing panel using the gate controller and the source controller.

12. The image processing system of claim 11, wherein, The number of the plurality of readout circuits corresponds one-to-one to the number of pixel areas of the sensed images in a first direction of the sensing panel, and the readout circuits for reading out image data of odd pixel areas are located at one side edge of the sensing panel, and the readout circuits for reading out image data of even pixel areas are located at the opposite other side edge of the sensing panel.

13. The image processing system of claim 9, wherein, The host computer is further configured to receive the first corrected image as a final corrected image in response to the image correction mode to be performed being the first correction mode.

14. The image processing system of claim 9, wherein, The set of original correction parameters comprises a bad pixel removal parameter, a dark noise removal parameter and a gain correction parameter, and wherein the host computer is further configured to transmit a part of the set of original correction parameters as the set of correction parameters to the master controller in response to the image correction mode to be performed being the second correction mode.

15. The image processing system of claim 14, wherein, The host computer is further configured to correct the first corrected image using another part of the set of original correction parameters to obtain a final corrected image.

16. The image processing system of claim 14, wherein, The host computer is further configured to generate the bad pixel removal parameter and the dark noise removal parameter based on a dark state image in the first set of images, and to generate the gain correction parameter based on a bright state image in the first set of images.

17. An image processing method applied to a master controller, the master controller comprising at least a temporary memory, and the method comprising: in response to correction of images being enabled, caching a set of correction parameters to the temporary memory, wherein the set of correction parameters is for correcting an image to be corrected and is generated by a host computer based on a first set of images, and wherein the first set of images is obtained by capturing images sensed by a thin-film transistor based sensing panel while reading out random parameters from the temporary memory; determining correction parameters required for an image correction mode to be performed; collecting an image sensed by the sensing panel as a to-be-corrected image while reading the required correction parameter from the correction parameter set in the temporary memory; correcting the collected to-be-corrected image by using the read correction parameter to obtain a first corrected image; transmitting the first corrected image to the host computer.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein, The main controller further comprises a permanent memory, and the method further comprises: in response to receiving an image collection instruction from the host computer, collecting an image sensed by the sensing panel to obtain a first image set and transmitting the first image set to the host computer; receiving the correction parameter set from the host computer and storing the correction parameter set to the permanent memory.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein, in response to the image correction being enabled, caching the correction parameter set to the temporary memory, comprising: in response to the image correction being enabled, caching the correction parameter set from the permanent memory to the temporary memory.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein, The main controller further comprises a gate controller and a source controller, and wherein collecting an image sensed by the sensing panel as a to-be-corrected image while reading the required correction parameter from the correction parameter set in the temporary memory comprises: collecting image data of an image sensed by the sensing panel as a to-be-corrected image by using the gate controller and the source controller while reading the required correction parameter from the correction parameter set in the temporary memory.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein, determining the required correction parameter for the image correction mode to be performed, comprising: in response to the image correction mode to be performed being a first correction mode, determining the required correction parameter to comprise at least one of a bad pixel removal parameter, a dark noise removal parameter and a gain correction parameter; wherein the bad pixel removal parameter is used to remove bad pixels in the to-be-corrected image, the dark noise removal parameter is used to remove dark noise in the to-be-corrected image, and the gain correction parameter is used to remove gain difference at different positions in the to-be-corrected image.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein, determining the required correction parameter for the image correction mode to be performed, comprising: in response to the image correction mode to be performed being a second correction mode, determining the required correction parameter to comprise a part of a bad pixel removal parameter, a dark noise removal parameter and a gain correction parameter; wherein the bad pixel removal parameter is used to remove bad pixels in the to-be-corrected image, the dark noise removal parameter is used to remove dark noise in the to-be-corrected image, and the gain correction parameter is used to remove gain difference at different positions in the to-be-corrected image.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein, transmitting the first corrected image to the host computer, comprising: in response to the image correction mode to be performed being the first correction mode, transmitting the first corrected image to the host computer as a final corrected image.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein, transmitting the first corrected image to the host computer, comprising: in response to the image correction mode to be performed being the second correction mode, transmitting the first corrected image to the host computer as an intermediate corrected image, so that the host computer corrects the intermediate corrected image by using another part of the bad pixel removal parameter, the dark noise removal parameter and the gain correction parameter to obtain a final corrected image. 25.An image processing apparatus applied to a host controller, the host controller comprising at least a temporary memory, and the image correction apparatus comprising: a cache execution module configured to cache a set of correction parameters to the temporary memory in response to correction of images being enabled, wherein the set of correction parameters is used to correct images to be corrected and is generated by a host based on a first set of images, and wherein the first set of images is obtained by capturing images sensed by a thin film transistor-based sensing panel while reading random parameters in the temporary memory; a correction parameter determination module to determine correction parameters required by an image correction mode to be executed; an image capturing module configured to capture images sensed by the sensing panel as images to be corrected while reading the required correction parameters from the set of correction parameters in the temporary memory; an image correction module configured to correct the captured images to be corrected using the read correction parameters to obtain first corrected images; a corrected image transmission module configured to transmit the first corrected images to the host. 26.A computer readable storage medium storing computer executable instructions that, when executed, perform the method of any one of claims 17-24.

27. A computer program product, characterised in that, The computer program product comprises computer executable instructions that, when executed, implement the method of any one of claims 17-24.

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