Prof.
Hansa Shingrakhia
Introduction
One picture is worth more than ten
thousand words
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:
[Link]/rbf/BOOKS/VERNON/
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
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
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
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
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,
a.k.a. Opacity)
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
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
Output: Image
Input: Image
Output: Attributes
Input: Attributes
Output: Understanding
Examples: Noise
removal, image
sharpening
Examples: Object
recognition,
segmentation
Examples: Scene
understanding,
autonomous navigation
In this course we will
stop here
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
History of Digital Image
Processing
Early 1920s: One of the first
applications of digital imaging was in the
newspaper industry
The Bartlane cable picture
Early digital image
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
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
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
Improved
of tones in
digital image
reproduced images
Early 15 tone digital
image
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
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
A picture of the moon taken
including the Apollo landings by the Ranger 7 probe
minutes before landing
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
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
image
Tomography (CAT) scans
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
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
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 Hubbles
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
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
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
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
Examples: GIS
Geographic Information Systems
Digital image processing techniques are
used extensively to manipulate satellite
imagery
Terrain classification
Meteorology
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
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
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
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
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
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
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?
These tasks can be
extremely difficult
Key Stages in Digital Image
Processing
Image
Restoration
Morphological
Processing
Image
Enhancement
Segmentation
Image
Acquisition
Object
Recognition
Problem Domain
Representation
& Description
Colour Image
Processing
Image
Compression
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
Key Stages in Digital Image
Processing:
Image Aquisition
Image
Morphological
Restoration
Processing
Image
Enhancement
Segmentation
Image
Acquisition
Object
Recognition
Problem Domain
Representation
& Description
Colour Image
Processing
Image
Compression
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
Key Stages in Digital Image
Processing:
Image Enhancement
Image
Morphological
Restoration
Processing
Image
Enhancement
Segmentation
Image
Acquisition
Object
Recognition
Problem Domain
Representation
& Description
Colour Image
Processing
Image
Compression
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
Key Stages in Digital Image
Processing:
Image Restoration
Image
Morphological
Restoration
Processing
Image
Enhancement
Segmentation
Image
Acquisition
Object
Recognition
Problem Domain
Representation
& Description
Colour Image
Processing
Image
Compression
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
Key Stages in Digital Image
Processing:
Morphological
Processing
Image
Morphological
Restoration
Processing
Image
Enhancement
Segmentation
Image
Acquisition
Object
Recognition
Problem Domain
Representation
& Description
Colour Image
Processing
Image
Compression
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
Key Stages in Digital Image
Processing:
Segmentation
Image
Morphological
Restoration
Processing
Image
Enhancement
Segmentation
Image
Acquisition
Object
Recognition
Problem Domain
Representation
& Description
Colour Image
Processing
Image
Compression
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
Key Stages in Digital Image
Processing:
Object Recognition
Image
Morphological
Restoration
Processing
Image
Enhancement
Segmentation
Image
Acquisition
Object
Recognition
Problem Domain
Representation
& Description
Colour Image
Processing
Image
Compression
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)
Key Stages in Digital Image
Processing:
Representation
& Morphological
Description
Image
Restoration
Processing
Image
Enhancement
Segmentation
Image
Acquisition
Object
Recognition
Problem Domain
Representation
& Description
Colour Image
Processing
Image
Compression
Key Stages in Digital Image
Processing:
Image Compression
Image
Morphological
Restoration
Processing
Image
Enhancement
Segmentation
Image
Acquisition
Object
Recognition
Problem Domain
Representation
& Description
Colour Image
Processing
Image
Compression
Key Stages in Digital Image
Processing:
Colour Image
Processing
Image
Morphological
Restoration
Processing
Image
Enhancement
Segmentation
Image
Acquisition
Object
Recognition
Problem Domain
Representation
& Description
Colour Image
Processing
Image
Compression
Summary
We have looked at:
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
Next time we will start to see how it all
works
Image digitization
Why do we need digitization?
What is digitization?
How to digitize the image?
Why Digitization?
Theory of real numbers: Between any
two given points there are infinite
number of points.
An image should be represented by
infinite numbers of points.
Each such image point may contain one
of the infinitely many possible intensity
values needing infinite number of bits.
So such representation is not possible in
any digital computer
What is desired?
An image to be represented in the
form of a finite 2-D matrix.
Image as a matrix of
numbers
What is digitization?
Image representation in 2D finite matrix-
Sampling
Each matrix element represented by one of the
finite set of discrete values
Quantization
Matrix element called pixels.
Some relationships exist among pixels.
Aliasing and Moir Pattern
All signals (functions) can be shown to be made up of a
linear combination sinusoidal signals (sines and cosines) of
different frequencies. (Chapter 4)
For physical reasons, there is a highest frequency
component in all real world signals.
Theoretically,
if a signal is sampled at more than twice its highest
frequency component, then it can be reconstructed
exactly from its samples.
But, if it is sampled at less than that frequency (called
undersampling), then aliasing will result.
This causes frequencies to appear in the sampled signal
that were not in the original signal.
The Moir pattern shown in Figure 2.24 is an example.
The vertical low frequency pattern is a new frequency
not in the original patterns.
Aliasing and Moir Pattern
The effect of aliased frequencies
Zooming and Shrinking Digital Images
Zooming: increasing the number of
pixels in an image so that the image
appears larger
Nearest neighbor interpolation
For example: pixel replication--to repeat
rows and columns of an image
Bilinear interpolation
Smoother
Higher order interpolation
Image shrinking: subsampling
Zooming and Shrinking Digital Images
Nearest neighbor
Interpolation
(Pixel replication)
Bilinear
interpolation
Relationships between
pixels
On completion the students will be able to
1. what is pixels neighborhood & different
types of neighborhood.
2. Explain what is meant by connectivity.
3. Learn connecting component labeling
algorithm.
4. Explain what is adjacency & different
type of adjacency.
5. Learn different distance measures.
Neighborhood of a pixel
P=N4(p)
Diagonal & 8-neighbors
ND(p)
N8(p)=P=N4(p) ND(p)
Neighbors of a pixel
There are three kinds of neighbors of a
pixel:
N4(p) 4-neighbors: the set of horizontal and
vertical neighbors
ND(p) diagonal neighbors: the set of 4 diagonal
neighbors
N8(p) 8-neighbors:
union
and
O
O of 4-neighbors
O
O O O
diagonal neighbors
X
O
Adjacency and
Connectivity
Let V: a set of intensity values used to
define adjacency and connectivity.
In a binary image, V = {1}, if we are
referring to adjacency of pixels with value 1.
In a gray-scale image, the idea is the same,
but V typically contains more elements, for
example, V = {180, 181, 182, , 200}
If the possible intensity values 0 255, V set
can be any subset of these 256 values.
Adjacency:
Two pixels that are neighbors and have the
same grey-level (or some other specified
similarity criterion) are adjacent
Pixels can be 4-adjacent, diagonally adjacent,
8-adjacent, or m-adjacent.
m-adjacency (mixed adjacency):
Two pixels p and q of the same value (or
specified similarity) are m-adjacent if either
(i) q and p are 4-adjacent, or
(ii) p and q are diagonally adjacent and do
not have any common 4-adjacent
neighbors.
They cannot be both (i) and (ii).
An example of adjacency:
Path:
The length of the path
Closed path
Connectivity in a subset S of an image
Two pixels are connected if there is a path
between them that lies completely within S.
Connected component of S:
The set of all pixels in S that are connected to
a given pixel in S.
Region of an image
Boundary, border or contour of a region
Edge: a path of one or more pixels that separate
two regions of significantly different gray levels.
Distance measures
Distance function: a function of two points, p
and q, in space that satisfies three criteria
( a ) D ( p, q ) 0
(b) D( p, q ) D(q, p ), and
(c ) D ( p , z ) D ( p , q ) D ( q , z )
The Euclidean distance De(p, q)
De ( p, q ) ( x s ) 2 ( y t ) 2
The city-block (Manhattan) distance D4(p, q)
D4 ( p, q ) | x s | | y t |
The chessboard distance D8(p, q)
D8 ( p, q ) max(| x s |, | y t |)
Distance Measures
Dm distance:
is defined as the shortest m-path
between the points.
In this case, the distance between two
pixels will depend on the values of the
pixels along the path, as well as the
values of their neighbors.
Distance Measures
Example:
Consider the following arrangement of
pixels and assume that p, p2, and p4
have value 1 and that p1 and p3 can
have can have a value of 0 or 1
Suppose that we consider
the adjacency of pixels
values 1 (i.e. V = {1})
Distance Measures
Cont. Example:
Now, to compute the Dm between
points p and p4
Here we have 4 cases:
Case1: If p1 =0 and p3 = 0
The length of the shortest m-path
(the Dm distance) is 2 (p, p2, p4)
Distance Measures
Cont. Example:
Case2: If p1 =1 and p3 = 0
now, p1 and p will no longer be
adjacent (see m-adjacency definition)
then, the length of the shortest
path will be 3 (p, p1, p2, p4)
Distance Measures
Cont. Example:
Case3: If p1 =0 and p3 = 1
The same applies here, and the
shortest m-path will be 3 (p, p2, p3, p4)
Distance Measures
Cont. Example:
Case4: If p1 =1 and p3 = 1
The length of the shortest m-path will
be 4 (p, p1 , p2, p3, p4)
