Digital Image Processing

This document provides an introduction to digital image processing. It discusses what a digital image is, defined as a finite set of digital values representing a two-dimensional image. It also defines digital image processing as focusing on improving images for human interpretation and processing images for machine perception. A brief history of digital image processing is given starting from the 1920s. Examples of applications in different domains like medicine, art, industrial inspection, and law enforcement are outlined. Key stages in digital image processing like image acquisition, enhancement, restoration, morphological processing, segmentation, and representation are listed.

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Digital Image Processing

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Khalid Hasan

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Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

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Digital Image Processing

Introduction

Sabina Yasmin
Assistant Professor
Varendra University
syasmin.ruet@gmail.com
Introduction

“One picture is worth more than ten

thousand words”
Anonymous
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
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, opacities etc
Remember digitization implies that a digital
image is an approximation of a real scene

1 pixel
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)
– 4 samples per point (Red, Green, Blue, and Alpha)

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

images
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
Image
processing
Image processing is a method to convert an
image into digital form and perform some
operations on it.

Image Processing is used in order to get an

enhanced image or to extract some useful
information from it.

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

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 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
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 Improved
digital image Early 15 tone digital
reproduced images 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
A picture of the moon taken
in other space missions by the Ranger 7 probe
including the Apollo landings 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 Typical head slice CAT
Tomography (CAT) scans 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 /territory classification
– Meteorology - Meteorology is the study of the atmosphere,
atmospheric phenomena, and atmospheric effects on our weather.
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: 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
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
Key Stages in Digital Image Processing