DIP 1 Introduction

Digital images are representations of images using discrete pixel values. Digital image processing involves improving images for human interpretation and machine perception. It has a long history from early cable transmission to modern applications in medicine, satellites, industry, and law enforcement. Key stages include acquisition, enhancement, restoration, morphological processing, segmentation, and representation.

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DIP 1 Introduction

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Digital Image Processing

“One picture is worth more than ten thousand words”

Introduction Anonymous
References

“Digital Image Processing”, Rafael C.

Gonzalez & Richard E. Woods,
Addison-Wesley, 2002
Ch1: Introduction
Ch2: Digital Image Fundamentals
Ch3: Intensity Transformation and Spatial Filtering
DIP Ch4: Filtering in The Frequency Domain
Ch5: Image Restoration and Reconstruction
Ch8: Image Compression
Ch9: Morphological Image Processing
Ch10: Image Segmentation
DIP
Ch1
Introduction
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
What is a Digital Image?
A digital image is a representation of a two-dimensional image as a
finite set of digital values, called picture elements or pixels.
What is a Digital Image? (Cont..)
Pixel values typically represent gray levels, colours, heights … etc
Remember digitization implies that a digital image is an approximation
of a real scene

1 pixel
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

Digital image processing focuses on two major tasks
◦ Improvement of pictorial information for human
interpretation
◦ Processing of image data for storage, transmission and
What is representation for autonomous machine perception
Digital Image
Processing?
Some argument about where image processing ends
and fields such as image analysis and computer vision
start
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
History of Digital Image Processing

Early 1920s: One of the first applications of digital imaging was in the
news- paper industry
◦ The Bartlane cable picture transmission service
◦ 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

Early digital image

History of DIP (cont…)
Mid to late 1920s: Improvements to the Bartlane system resulted in
higher quality images
◦ New reproduction
processes based
on photographic
techniques
◦ Increased number
of tones in
reproduced images

Improved
digital image Early 15 tone digital
image
History of DIP (cont…)
1960s: Improvements in computing 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
in other space missions
including the Apollo landings

A picture of the moon taken

by the Ranger 7 probe
minutes before landing
History of DIP (cont…)
1970s: Digital image processing begins to 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
Tomography (CAT) scans

Typical head slice CAT

image
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
Examples: Image Enhancement
One of the most common uses of DIP techniques: improve quality,
remove noise etc
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
Examples: Artistic Effects
Artistic effects are used to make images more visually
appealing, to add special effects and to make
composite images
Examples: Medicine
Take slice from MRI scan of canine heart, 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

Examples: GIS
Geographic Information Systems
◦ Digital image processing techniques are used extensively to manipulate
satellite imagery
◦ Terrain classification
◦ Meteorology
Examples: GIS
(cont…)
Night-Time Lights of the World data
set
◦ Global inventory of human
settlement
◦ Not hard to imagine the kind of
analysis that might be done using
this data
Examples: Industrial
Inspection
Human operators are expensive,
slow and
unreliable
Make machines do the
job instead
Industrial vision systems
are used in all kinds of industries
Can we trust them?
Examples: Law
Enforcement
Image processing techniques are used extensively by
law enforcers
◦ Number plate recognition for speed
cameras/automated toll systems
◦ Fingerprint recognition
◦ Enhancement of CCTV images
Examples: HCI
Try to make human computer interfaces
more natural
◦ Face recognition
◦ Gesture recognition

Does anyone remember the

user interface from “Minority Report”?