APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MONITORING PERFORMANCE OF AN IMAGE CAPTURE DEVICE

Invented method, apparatus, and computer program product for determining image quality can be employed either during diagnostic mode or at run time of an imaging system. One component performs numerical analysis on a digital image. Another component accepts or rejects the quality of the digital image based on the results of the numerical analysis. In one embodiment, if the cumulative harmonic content of Fourier component amplitudes of a synthesized scan line exceeds a threshold value, the digital image is rejected as being of inadequate quality; otherwise the digital image is accepted. In another embodiment, a maximum gradient of a scan line of the digital image is computed. If, for some specified number of occurrences during a scan of a target, the maximum gradient exceeds a ceiling value or falls below a floor value, then the image is rejected.