Statistical estimates of bounded optical scenes by the method of 'prior probabilities' (Corresp.)

A method is developed for producing a maximum-likelihood estimate of an optical object scene that simultaneously is bounded above and below by known radiance levels. The a priori object statistics are assumed unknown and so must be estimated if a maximum-likelihood estimator is to be found. Recourse is made to a counting procedure in the spirit of Jaynes' [2] approach to estimating a "prior probability" distribution.