DIGITAL IMAGE

PROCESSING CONCEPTS

Prepared by: Mary Ruassel Ambrad-Rejollo, RRT

OBJECTIVES:
1. Define the term digital image processing
2. Outline briefly the evolution of digital image processing.
3. State how images are formed and how they are
represented.
4. Identify and describe briefly five classes of digital image
processing operations.
5. Describe four characteristics (matrix size, pixel, voxel,
bit depth) of a digital image & how they affect the
appearance of the image.
6. Explain the three steps in digitizing an image.
Image Formation & Representation

One of the first step in becoming aware of & versatile

with digital image processing is to understand the
general nature of images.
Castleman, K. (1994) an image processing expert

uses set of theory to classify images based

on their form & the method used to produce them

He conceptualizes images as a subset of all objects,

and that image set contains subsets within it, such as
visible & invisible images, optical & mathematical
images.
 Visible images
Photographs, Drawings, Paintings

Invisible images
Temperature, Pressure, Elevation maps

Optical images
Holograms

Mathematical images
Continuous & discrete functions
 Mathematical images
are important in the world of digital imaging

The classical sine wave is a continuous function

that can be converted into a discrete function, both
of which will generate two categories of images,
namely, analog and digital images.
Classes of Digital Image Processing
Operations
1. Image enhancement
2. Image restoration
3. Image analysis
4. Image compression
5. Image synthesis
Image enhancement
To generate an image that is more
pleasing to the observer

Includes:
• Contrast enhancement
• Edge enhancement
• Spatial & Frequency filtering
• Image combining
• Noise reduction
 Image restoration

To improve the quality of

images that have
distortion or degradations

Blurred images can be

filtered to make them
sharper
Image analysis
This class of processing allows measurements and
statistics, as well as segmentation, feature
extraction, and classification of objects

Segmentation operations are used in 3D medical

imaging (Seeram, 2009)

“the goal of segmentation is to simplify and/or change the

representation of an image into something that is more
meaningful and easier to analyze”
Image compression
To reduce the size of the image in order to decrease
transmission time & reduce storage space.

1. Lossy or reversible – There is some loss of image

details when the image is decompressed.

2. Lossless or irreversible – There is no loss of any

information in the image (detail is not compromised)
when the image is decompressed.
 More recent form of compression is
wavelet (special waveforms) compression:

Main advantage:
There is no loss in either spatial & frequency information.

“Wavelet compression offers an approach that allows one

to reduce the size of the data while at the same time
improving its quality through the removal of high-frequency
noise components”
Image synthesis
These processing operations “create images from
other images or non-image data”

These operations are used when a desired image is either

physically impossible or impractical to acquire, or does not
exist in a physical form at all.

Ex. Image reconstruction techniques (basis for MRI & CT

images) & 3D visualization techniques which are based on
computer graphics technology
Matrix
• Numerical image
• A digital image is made up of a 2D array of numbers
• Consists of columns (M) and rows (N) that define small
square regions called picture elements, or pixels

• Dimension of the image can be described by M, N and the

size of the image is given by the relationship:

M x N x k bits
Typical matrix sizes used in digital medical imaging
 M=N The image is square

Field of View (FOV) = Matrix size

image processing time storage space

transmission time
PIXELS
Square

Each pixel contains a number

(discrete value) that represents a
brightness level, which reflects the
tissue characteristic being imaged
 Radiography / CT
(related to atomic number & mass density of the
tissues)

MRI
(represent characteristics of tissues such as proton
density and relaxation times)
Pixel Size = FOV/Matrix Size
 For digital imaging modalities, the larger the matrix size,
the smaller the pixel size, the better the spatial resolution.
Voxels

Pixels in a digital image represent the information

contained in a volume of tissue in the patient

Tissue voxel information is converted into

numerical values & expressed in the pixels, &
these numbers are assigned brightness levels
Bit Depth
M x N x k bits

k bits – implies that every pixel in the digital image

matrix M x N is represented by k binary digits

The number of bits per pixel is the bit depth

K bits = 2k
• Ex. In a digital image with a bit depth of 2, each
pixel will have 22 (4) gray levels (density).

• A bit depth of 8 implies that each pixel will have

28 (256) grays levels or shades of gray
 Appearance of Digital Images

The matrix size, the pixel size & the bit depth
can affect the appearance of the digital image,
particularly its
spatial resolution & its contrast resolution
 The bit depth has an effect on the
number of shades of gray , hence the
density resolution of the image
3 Steps in Digitizing an Image

1. Scanning
2. Sampling
3. Quantization
1) Scanning
The image is first divided into an array of pixels
2) Sampling
Involves measuring the brightness level of
each of the pixels using special devices
such as PMT

The signal from the PMT is an analog signal

(voltage waveform) that must be a converted into a
digital image for processing by a computer
3) Quantization
Brightness levels obtained from sampling
are assigned an integer (zero or negative or
positive number) called a gray level

The image is now made up of a range of

gray levels

Gray scale: Total number of grays levels

 Digital imaging modalities have
12 to 32-bit ADC’s

The greater the bits, the more accurately the

signals from the detectors can be digitized
for a faithful reproduction of the original
signal.
This means that image quality is better
with higher-bit ADCs compared to
lower-bit ADCs
FIN