ImageProcessing1 Introduction

Digital image processing involves representing and processing images in digital form on computers. This lecture will provide an introduction to digital images, digital image processing, and a brief history of the field. It will cover key topics like what constitutes a digital image, the difference between image processing and computer vision, and major milestones in the development of digital image processing technologies over the decades, from early applications in newspapers to modern uses in space exploration and medicine.

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ImageProcessing1 Introduction

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Digital Image Processing:

Introduction

Brian Mac Namee

Brian.MacNamee@comp.dit.ie

Course Website: http://www.comp.dit.ie/bmacnamee

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Introduction

“One picture is worth more than ten

thousand words”
Anonymous
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Miscellanea
Lectures:
– Thursdays 12:00 – 13:00
– Fridays 15:00 – 16:00
Labs:
– Wednesdays 09:00 – 11:00
Web Site: www.comp.dit.ie/bmacnamee/
– Previous year’s slides are available here
– Slides etc will also be available on WebCT
E-mail: Brian.MacNamee@dit.ie
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References
“Digital Image Processing”, Rafael C.
Gonzalez & Richard E. Woods,
Addison-Wesley, 2002
– Much of the material that follows is taken from
this book
“Machine Vision: Automated Visual
Inspection and Robot Vision”, David
Vernon, Prentice Hall, 1991
– Available online at:
homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/rbf/BOOKS/VERNON/
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Contents
This lecture will cover:
– What is a digital image?
– What is digital image processing?
– History of digital image processing
– State of the art examples of digital image
processing
– Key stages in digital image processing
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What is a Digital Image?
A digital image is a representation of a two-
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

dimensional image as a finite set of digital

values, called picture elements or pixels
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What is a Digital Image? (cont…)
Pixel values typically represent gray levels,
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

colours, heights, opacities etc

Remember digitization implies that a digital
image is an approximation of a real scene

1 pixel
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What is a Digital Image? (cont…)
Common image formats include:
– 1 sample per point (B&W or Grayscale)
– 3 samples per point (Red, Green, and Blue)

For most of this course we will focus on grey-scale

images
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What is Digital Image Processing?
Digital image processing focuses on two
major tasks
– Improvement of pictorial information for
human interpretation
– Processing of image data for storage,
transmission and representation for
autonomous machine perception
Some argument about where image
processing ends and fields such as image
analysis and computer vision start
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What is DIP? (cont…)
The continuum from image processing to
computer vision can be broken up into low-,
mid- and high-level processes
Low Level Process Mid Level Process High Level Process
Input: Image Input: Image Input: Attributes
Output: Image Output: Attributes Output: Understanding
Examples: Noise Examples: Object Examples: Scene
removal, image recognition, understanding,
sharpening segmentation autonomous navigation

In this course we will

stop here
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History of Digital Image Processing
Early 1920s: One of the first applications of
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

digital imaging was in the news-

paper industry
– The Bartlane cable picture
transmission service Early digital image

– Images were transferred by submarine cable

between London and New York
– Pictures were coded for cable transfer and
reconstructed at the receiving end on a
telegraph printer
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History of DIP (cont…)
Mid to late 1920s: Improvements to the
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

Bartlane system resulted in higher quality

images
– New reproduction
processes based
on photographic
techniques
– Increased number
of tones in Improved
digital image Early 15 tone digital
reproduced images image
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History of DIP (cont…)
1960s: Improvements in computing
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

technology and the onset of the space race

led to a surge of work in digital image
processing
– 1964: Computers used to
improve the quality of
images of the moon taken
by the Ranger 7 probe
– Such techniques were used
A picture of the moon taken
in other space missions by the Ranger 7 probe
including the Apollo landings minutes before landing
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History of DIP (cont…)
1970s: Digital image processing begins to
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

be used in medical applications

– 1979: Sir Godfrey N.
Hounsfield & Prof. Allan M.
Cormack share the Nobel
Prize in medicine for the
invention of tomography,
the technology behind
Computerised Axial Typical head slice CAT
Tomography (CAT) scans image
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History of DIP (cont…)
1980s - Today: The use of digital image
processing techniques has exploded and
they are now used for all kinds of tasks in all
kinds of areas
– Image enhancement/restoration
– Artistic effects
– Medical visualisation
– Industrial inspection
– Law enforcement
– Human computer interfaces
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Examples: Image Enhancement
One of the most common uses of DIP
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

techniques: improve quality, remove noise

etc
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Examples: The Hubble Telescope
Launched in 1990 the Hubble
telescope can take images of
very distant objects
However, an incorrect mirror
made many of Hubble’s
images useless
Image processing
techniques were
used to fix this
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Examples: Artistic Effects
Artistic effects are
used to make
images more
visually appealing,
to add special
effects and to make
composite images
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Examples: Medicine
Take slice from MRI scan of canine heart,
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

and find boundaries between types of tissue

– Image with gray levels representing tissue
density
– Use a suitable filter to highlight edges

Original MRI Image of a Dog Heart Edge Detection Image

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Examples: GIS
Geographic Information Systems
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

– Digital image processing techniques are used

extensively to manipulate satellite imagery
– Terrain classification
– Meteorology
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Examples: GIS (cont…)
Night-Time Lights of
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

the World data set

– Global inventory of
human settlement
– Not hard to imagine
the kind of analysis
that might be done
using this data
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Examples: Industrial Inspection
Human operators are
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

expensive, slow and

unreliable
Make machines do the
job instead
Industrial vision systems
are used in all kinds of
industries
Can we trust them?
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Examples: PCB Inspection
Printed Circuit Board (PCB) inspection
– Machine inspection is used to determine that
all components are present and that all solder
joints are acceptable
– Both conventional imaging and x-ray imaging
are used
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Examples: Law Enforcement
Image processing
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

techniques are used

extensively by law
enforcers
– Number plate
recognition for speed
cameras/automated
toll systems
– Fingerprint recognition
– Enhancement of
CCTV images
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Examples: HCI
Try to make human computer
interfaces more natural
– Face recognition
– Gesture recognition
Does anyone remember the
user interface from “Minority
Report”?
These tasks can be
extremely difficult
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Key Stages in Digital Image Processing