Digital Image Processing:

Introduction

Dr. B H SHEKAR
bhshekar@gmail.com
 Why digital image processing?

 Image is better than any other information form for human being t
o perceive.
 However, vision is not intuitive for machines
 Projection of 3D world to 2D images => loss of information
 Interpretation of dynamic scenes, such as a moving camera and mo
ving objects

• To improve the visual quality of an image for human interpretation

• To analyze the contents of the image for autonomous machine perception

What is digital image processing
?

 Image understanding, Image analysis, and Co

mputer vision aim to imitate the process of hu
man vision electronically
Image?
O x

f(x,y)

y
IMAGE: A two dimensional light intensity function

Analog Image : f(xR, y R) vR = i(x,y) * r(x,y)

Sampling Quantization

Digital Image : f(xZ, yZ) vZ

PROCESSING:
Analysis + Understanding
Two dimensional Image representation

Memory Requirement?
Image

 An image is non-textual information that ca

n be displayed and printed.
 Images can be from real world or virtual
 Described as spatial arrays of values
 The smallest addressable image element is
called PIXEL (picture element). The array is
called a bitmap
General Procedures

 Two-level approaches
 Low level image processing:
▪ Very little knowledge about the content or semantics of
images
 High level image understanding:
▪ Imitating human cognition and ability to infer informatio
n contained in the image.
Low level image processing

 Very little knowledge about the content of th

e images.
 Data are the original images, represented as
matrices of intensity values, i.e. sampling of a
continuous field using a discrete grid.
Low level image processing
3x3 neighborhood
Origin (Ox,Oy)

Pixel Value

Pixel Region

Spacing (Sy)

Spacing (Sx)
Low level image processing

 Image compression
 Noise reduction
 Edge extraction
 Contrast enhancement
 Segmentation
 Thresholding
 Morphology
 Image restoration
Low level image processing

 Image compression
 Noise reduction
 Edge extraction
 Contrast enhancement
 Segmentation
 Thresholding
 Morphology
 Image restoration
Low level image processing

 Image compression
 Noise reduction
 Edge extraction
 Contrast enhancement
 Segmentation
 Thresholding
 Morphology
 Image restoration
Low level image processing

 Image compression
 Noise reduction
 Edge extraction
 Contrast enhancement
 Segmentation
 Thresholding
 Morphology
 Image restoration
Low level image processing

 Image compression
 Noise reduction
 Edge extraction
 Contrast enhancement
 Segmentation
 Thresholding
 Morphology
 Image restoration
Low level image processing

 Image compression
 Noise reduction
 Edge extraction
 Contrast enhancement
 Segmentation
 Thresholding
 Morphology
 Image restoration
Low level image processing

 Image compression
 Noise reduction
 Edge extraction
 Contrast enhancement
 Segmentation
 Thresholding
 Morphology
 Image restoration
Dilation
Erosion
Low level image processing

 Image compression
 Noise reduction
 Edge extraction
 Contrast enhancement
 Segmentation
 Thresholding
 Morphology
 Image restoration
High level image understanding

 To imitate human cognition according to the i

nformation contained in the image.
 Data represent knowledge about the image c
ontent, and are often in symbolic form.
 Data representation is specific to the high-lev
el goal.
High level image understanding
Applications

 Medicine
 Defense
 Meteorology
 Environmental science
 Manufacture
 Surveillance
 Crime investigation
Applications: Medicine

CT PET PET/CT
(computed (Positron Emission
Tomography) Tomography
Medical Diagnosis

X-ray Image Binary Image Noise eliminated

Skeletonization Angle Measurement

Applications: Meteorology
Applications: Environmental Science
Applications: Manufacture
Automation of Tile inspection
In a continuous production
process, all dried roof tiles
are automatically inspected
for cracks, deformations,
dimensional correctness, and
color.

The inspection speed is

about 40 tiles per minute.
Defective tiles are eliminated
from the production process
before further refinement
takes place.

Courtesy: Thüringen research program "Image Processing, Pattern

Recognition and Engineering Vision Systems" (Germany)

Quality Assurance
Autonomous Machine Perception

A Robot

Region to be inspected
(Picture of a tunnel)

Close lookup Identified Defective Region

Application: Surveillance

Car Tracking Project

from CMU: Tracking
cars in the surrounding
road scene and then
generating a "bird's
eye view" of the road.

Courtesy of Simon Baker: http://www.ri.cmu.edu/projects/project_526.html

 Number plate identification
Application: Surveillance

The vehicle approached the secured area, and starts the cycle
by stepping over a magnetic loop detector (which is the most
popular vehicle sensor). The loop detector senses the car and
its presence is signaled to the LPR unit.
Application: Surveillance

The LPR unit activates the illumination (invisible

Infra-red in most cases) and takes pictures of the front
or rear plates from the LPR camera (shown at the left
side of the gate). The images of the vehicle include the
plate and the pixel information is read by the LPR
unit's image processing hardware (the frame grabber).
Application: Surveillance

The LPR unit analyzes the image with different image

processing software algorithms, enhances the image, detects
the plate position, extracts the plate string, and identifies the
fonts using special artificial intelligence methods (such as
Neural Networks)
Application: Surveillance

The LPR unit checks if the vehicle appears on a predefined

list of authorized cars, and if found - it signals to open the
gate by activating its relay. The unit can also switch on a
green "go-ahead" light or red "stop" light. The unit can also
display a Welcome! message with personalized data.
Application: Surveillance

The authorized vehicle enters into the secured

area. After passing the gate its detector closes the
gate. Now the system waits for the next vehicle to
approach the secured area
Application: Surveillance

A Number Plate Recognition system

Application: Surveillance

The plate number is used to produce a violation fine on speed or

red-light systems The manual process of preparing a violation fine
is replaced by an automated process which reduces the time. The
fines can be viewed and paid on-line.
Applications: Crime Investigation

Fingerprint enhancement
Forensic Application

Thresholding
operation
Deciphered Image

Oblitered Image Median Filtering

Enhanced Image
Cheque validation

Image segmentation
Water marking application

Encrypted Image Decrypted Image

Enhanced to a
color image
What are the difficulties?
 Poor understanding of the human vision syst
em

Do you see a young or an old lady?

Just some fun visual perception games

Can you count the dots?

More …

Do you see squares?

More at http://scientificpsychic.com/graphics/index.html
Looking ahead:

Image Processing: Fundamentals