COMPUTER

VISION

LECTURE 04
 DIGITAL IMAGE PROCESSING
• Image processing is a method to perform some operations on
an image, in order to get an enhanced image or to extract
some useful information from it.
• It is a type of signal processing in which input is an image and
output may be image or characteristics/features associated
with that image.
• Image processing involves changing the nature of an image in
order to either
1. Improve its pictorial information for human interpretation,
2. Render it more suitable for autonomous machine
perception.
 DIGITAL IMAGE PROCESSING
• Ultimate goal of computer vision is to use computers to
emulate human vision, including learning and being able to
make inferences and take actions based on visual inputs.
• This area itself is a branch of artificial intelligence (AI) whose
objectives is to emulate human intelligence.
• The area of image analysis (also called image understanding)
is in between image processing and computer vision.
• There are no clear-cut boundaries in the continuum from image
processing at one end to computer vision at the other.
however, one useful paradigm is to consider three types of
computerized processes.
 DIGITAL IMAGE PROCESSING
• Three computerized processes are:
1. Low level processes
2. Medium level processes
3. High level processes
• Low level processes involve primitive operations such as
image preprocessing to reduce noise, contrast enhancement,
and image sharpening. A low-level process is characterized by
the fact that both its inputs and outputs are images.
• Mid-level processing on images involves tasks such as
segmentation, description of those objects to reduce them to a
form suitable for computer processing, and classification
(recognition) of individual objects.
 DIGITAL IMAGE PROCESSING
• A mid-level process is characterized by the fact that its inputs
generally are images, but its outputs are attributes extracted
from those images (e.g., edges, contours, and the identity of
individual objects).
• Finally, higher-level processing involves “making sense” of
an ensemble of recognized objects, as in images analysis,
and, at the far end of the continuum, performing the cognitive
functions normally associated with vision.
 ASPECTS OF DIGITAL IMAGE
PROCESSING
• Image Enhancement
• This refers to processing an image so that the result is more
suitable for a particular application.
• It is subjective technique in a sense that is based on human
subjective preferences regarding what constitutes a “good”
enhancement result.
• The idea behind enhancement techniques is to bring out
detail that is obscured, or simply to highlight certain features
of interest in an image.
• Example include:
• sharpening or de-blurring an out of focus image,
• highlighting edges,
• improving image contrast, or brightening an image,
• removing noise.
 ASPECTS OF DIGITAL IMAGE
PROCESSING
• Image Restoration
• This may be considered as reversing the damage done to an image
by a known cause, for example:
• removing of blur caused by linear motion,
• removal of optical distortions.
• It is objective technique in the sense that restoration techniques tend
to be based on mathematical or probabilistic models of image
degradation.
• Segmentation
• This involves subdividing an image into constituent parts, or isolating
certain aspects of an image
• In general, autonomous segmentation is one the most difficult tasks
in digital image processing.
• For example:
• Finding lines, circles, or particular shapes in an image,
• In an aerial photograph, identifying cars, trees, buildings, or roads.
 ASPECTS OF DIGITAL IMAGE
PROCESSING
• Compression
• Deals with techniques for reducing the storage required to
save an image, or the bandwidth required to transmit it.
• Morphological processing
• Deals with tools for extracting image components that are
useful in the representation and description of shape.
• Color Image Processing
• An area that deals with the spectrum of frequencies of an
image.
• It has been gaining in importance because of the
significant increase in the use of digital images over the
internet.
IMAGE SHARPENING
REMOVING NOISE FROM IMAGE
IMAGE RESTORATION
FINDING EDGES IN AN IMAGE
 IMAGE PROCESSING STEPS
1. Image Acquisition
2. Pre-Processing
3. Feature Extraction
4. Detection/Segmentation
 IMAGE ACQUISITION
• A digital image is produced by one or several image sensors.
• These sensors may include:
• Light sensitive cameras.
• Range sensors.
• Tomography
• Radar and ultra-sonic cameras, etc.
• Depending on the type of sensor, the resulting image data is
an ordinary 2D image, a 3D volume, or an image sequence.
• The pixel values typically correspond to light intensity in one or
several spectral bands.
IMAGE ACQUISITION
 IMAGE PRE-PROCESSING
• Before a computer vision method can be applied to image data
in order to extract some specific piece of information.
• It is usually necessary to process the data in order to assure
that is satisfies certain assumptions implied by the method.
• Examples may include:
• Re-sampling in order assure that the image coordinate
system is correct.
• Noise reduction in order to assure that sensor noise does
not introduce false information.
• Contrast enhancement to assure that relevant information
can be detected.
 FEATURE EXTRACTION
• Image features at various levels of complexity are extracted
from the image data
• Typical examples of such features are:
• Lines, edges and ridges
• Localized interest points such as corners, blobs or points
• More complex features may be related to texture, shape or
motion

Ridge: Edge formed where two sloping sides of roof meet at the top.
Blob: spot of color.
 DETECTION/SEGMENTATION
• At some point in the processing a decision is made about
which image points or regions of the image are relevant for
further processing.
Examples:
• Selection of a specific set of interest points
• Segmentation of one or multiple image regions which contain a
specific object of interest.
 COMPONENTS OF GENERAL
PURPOSE IMAGE PROCESSING
SYSTEM
 COMPONENTS OF GENERAL PURPOSE
IMAGE PROCESSING SYSTEM
• Image Sensors
• Two elements are required to acquire digital images.
• The first is a physical device that is sensitive to the energy
radiated by the object intended to image.
• The second, called a digitizer, is a device for converting
the output of the physical sensing device into digital form.
• Specialized Image Processing
• Hardware usually consists of the digitizer and hardware
that performs other primitive operations, such as an
arithmetic logic unit (ALU) performing arithmetic and
logical operation in parallel on entire images.
• This types of hardware sometimes is called a front-end
subsystem.
 COMPONENTS OF GENERAL PURPOSE
IMAGE PROCESSING SYSTEM
• Image Processing Software
• It consists of specialized modules performing specific
tasks. A well-designed package includes the capability for
the user to write code that, as a minimum, utilizes the
specialized modules.
• More sophisticated software packages allow the
integration of those modules and general-purpose software
commands from at least one computer language.
 COMPONENTS OF GENERAL PURPOSE
IMAGE PROCESSING SYSTEM
• Mass Storage
• Mass storage capability is a mandatory in image
processing applications.
• An image of size 1024X1024 pixels, in which the intensity
of each pixel in as 8-bit quantity, requires one megabyte of
storage space if the image is not compressed
• Digital storage for image processing application falls into
three principal categories:
1. Short term Storage required during processing
2. On-line Storage for relatively fast recall
3. Archival Storage characterized by infrequent access
 COMPONENTS OF GENERAL PURPOSE
IMAGE PROCESSING SYSTEM
• Image Displays
• Image displays in use today are mainly color (preferably
flat screen) TV monitors. Monitors are driven by the
outputs of image and graphics display cards that are an
integral part of the computer system.

• Hardcopy Devices
• Hardcopy devices for recording images include laser
printers, film cameras, heat-sensitive devices, inkjets units,
and digital units, such as optical and CD-ROM disks.
 COMPONENTS OF GENERAL PURPOSE
IMAGE PROCESSING SYSTEM
• Networking
• Networking is almost a default function in any computer
system in use today. Because of the large amount of data
inherent in image processing applications, the key
consideration in image transmission is bandwidth. In
dedicated networks, this typically is not a problem, but
communication with remote sites via the internet are not
always as efficient. Fortunately, this situation is improving
quickly as a result of optical fiber and other broadband
technologies.
 CONCLUSION

Ultimate goal of computer vision is to emulate human vision

Including
• Learning, to make inferences and take actions based on visual
input.