Image Processing Fundamentals

Dr. S. SENTHIL KUMAR

Professor - ECE
How are images represented in
the computer?
Color images
Conventional Coordinate for Image
Representation

(Images from Rafael C. Gonzalez and Richard E.

Wood, Digital Image Processing, 2nd Edition.
Digital Image Types : Intensity Image

Intensity image or monochrome image

each pixel corresponds to light
intensity
normally represented in gray scale (gray
level).

Gray scale
values
Digital Image Types : RGB Image

Color image or RGB image:

each pixel contains a vector
representing red, green and
blue components.

RGB
components
 Image Types : Binary Image

Binary image or black and white image

Each pixel contains one bit :
1 represent white
0 represents black

Binary
data
 Image Types : Index Image

Index image
Each pixel contains index
number
pointing toColor
a color in a color
Table
table
Index Red Green Blue
No. component component component

1 0.1 0.5 0.3

2 1.0 0.0 0.0
3 0.0 1.0 0.0
4 0.5 0.5 0.5
5 0.2 0.8 0.9
Index … … … …
value
 A Simple model of image formation
⚫ The scene is illuminated by a single source.
⚫ The scene reflects radiation towards the camera.
⚫ The camera senses it via chemicals on film.
 Camera optics
⚫ In practice, the aperture must be larger to admit more light.
⚫ Lenses are placed to in the aperture to focus the bundle of rays
from each scene point onto the corresponding point in the image
plane
What is light?
⚫ The visible portion of the electromagnetic (EM) spectrum.
⚫ It occurs between wavelengths of approximately 400 and
700 nanometers.
 Short wavelengths
⚫ Different wavelengths of radiation have different
properties.
⚫ The x-ray region of the spectrum, it carries sufficient
energy to penetrate a significant volume or material.
 Long wavelengths
⚫ Copious quantities of infrared (IR) radiation are emitted
from warm objects (e.g., locate people in total darkness).
 Long wavelengths (cont’d)
⚫ “Synthetic aperture radar” (SAR) imaging techniques
use an artificially generated source of microwaves to probe
a scene.
⚫ SAR is unaffected by weather conditions and clouds (e.g.,
has provided us images of the surface of Venus).
Range images
⚫ An array of distances to the objects in the scene.
⚫ They can be produced by sonar or by using laser
rangefinders.
Sonic images
⚫ Produced by the reflection of sound waves off an object.
⚫ High sound frequencies are used to improve resolution.
 CCD (Charged-Coupled Device) cameras
⚫ Tiny solid state cells convert light energy into electrical
charge.
⚫ The image plane acts as a digital memory that can be read
row by row by a computer.
 Frame grabber
⚫ Usually, a CCD camera plugs into a computer board
(frame grabber).
⚫ The frame grabber digitizes the signal and stores it in its
memory (frame buffer).
Image digitization

⚫ Sampling means measuring the value of an image at a finite number

of points.
⚫ Quantization is the representation of the measured value at the
sampled point by an integer.
Image digitization (cont’d)
Image quantization(example)
⚫ 256 gray levels (8bits/pixel) 32 gray levels (5 bits/pixel) 16 gray levels (4 bits/pixel)

⚫ 8 gray levels (3 bits/pixel) 4 gray levels (2 bits/pixel) 2 gray levels (1 bit/pixel)

Image sampling
original image
(example)
sampled by a factor of 2

sampled by a factor of 4 sampled by a factor of 8

Digital image
⚫ An image is represented by a rectangular array of integers.
⚫ An integer represents the brightness or darkness of the
image at that point.
⚫ N: # of rows, M: # of columns, Q: # of gray levels
⚫N = ,M= ,Q= (q is the # of bits/pixel)
⚫ Storage requirements: NxMxQ (e.g., N=M=1024, q=8, 1MB)
Image file formats
⚫ Many image formats adhere to the simple model shown below
(line by line, no breaks between lines).
⚫ The header contains at least the width and height of the image.
⚫ Most headers begin with a signature or “magic number” - a
short sequence of bytes for identifying the file format.
Common image file formats
⚫ GIF (Graphic Interchange Format) -
⚫ PNG (Portable Network Graphics)
⚫ JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group)
⚫ TIFF (Tagged Image File Format)
⚫ PGM (Portable Gray Map)
⚫ FITS (Flexible Image Transport System)
Comparison of image formats
 Key Stages in Digital Image Processing:
Image Acquisition
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

Image Morphological
Restoration Processing

Image
Segmentation
Enhancement

Image Object
Acquisition Recognition

Representation
Problem
& Description
Domain Colour Image Image
Processing Compression
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

Image Morphological
Restoration Processing

Image
Segmentation
Enhancement

Image Object Recognition

Acquisition

Representation &
Problem Description
Domain Colour Image Image
Processing Compression
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

Image Morphological
Restoration Processing

Image
Segmentation
Enhancement

Image Object
Acquisition Recognition

Representation
Problem & Description
Domain Colour Image Image
Processing Compression
 Image Morphological
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

Restoration Processing

Image
Enhancement Segmentation

Image Object Recognition

Acquisition

Representation &
Problem Description
Domain Colour Image Image
Processing Compression
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

Image Morphological
Restoration Processing

Image
Segmentation
Enhancement

Image Object Recognition

Acquisition

Representation &
Problem Description
Domain Colour Image Image
Processing Compression
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

Image Morphological
Restoration Processing

Image
Segmentation
Enhancement

Image Object
Acquisition Recognition

Representation
Problem
& Description
Domain Colour Image Image
Processing Compression
Images taken from Gonzalez & Woods, Digital Image Processing (2002)

Image Morphological
Restoration Processing

Image
Segmentation
Enhancement

Image Object
Acquisition Recognition

Representation
Problem & Description
Domain Colour Image Image
Processing Compression
 :
Image Compression

Image Morphological
Restoration Processing

Image
Segmentation
Enhancement

Image Object Recognition

Acquisition

Representation &
Problem Description
Domain Colour Image Image
Processing Compression
 Colour Image Processing

Image Morphological
Restoration Processing

Image
Segmentation
Enhancement

Image Object Recognition

Acquisition

Representation &
Problem Description
Domain Colour Image Image
Processing Compression
Components of an Image Processing System
Network

Image
Computer Mass storage
Displays

Specialized Image
Hardcopy image processing
processing software
hardware

Problem Domain Typical

Image sensors general-purpose
DIP system
Components of an Image Processing System
1. Image Sensors
Two elements are required to acquire digital images. The
first is the physical device that is sensitive to the energy
radiated by the object we wish to image (Sensor). The
second, called a digitizer, is a device for converting the
output of the physical sensing device into digital form.
Components of an Image Processing System
2. Specialized Image Processing Hardware
Usually consists of the digitizer, mentioned before, plus
hardware that performs other primitive operations, such as an
arithmetic logic unit (ALU), which performs arithmetic and
logical operations in parallel on entire images.

This type of hardware sometimes is called a front-end

subsystem, and its most distinguishing characteristic is
speed. In other words, this unit performs functions that
require fast data throughputs that the typical main computer
cannot handle.
Components of an Image Processing System
3. Computer
The computer in an image processing system is a general-
purpose computer and can range from a PC to a
supercomputer. In dedicated applications, sometimes
specially designed computers are used to achieve a required
level of performance.
Components of an Image Processing System
4. Image Processing Software
Software for image processing consists of specialized
modules that perform specific tasks. A well-designed
package also includes the capability for the user to write
code that, as a minimum, utilizes the specialized modules.
Components of an Image Processing System
5. Mass Storage Capability
Mass storage capability is a must in a image processing
applications. And image of sized 1024 * 1024 pixels
requires one megabyte of storage space if the image is not
compressed.
Digital storage for image processing applications falls into
three principal categories:
1. Short-term storage for use during processing.
2. on line storage for relatively fast recall
3. Archival storage, characterized by infrequent access
Components of an Image Processing System
5. Mass Storage Capability
⚫ One method of providing short-term storage is computer
memory. Another is by specialized boards, called frame
buffers, that store one or more images and can be accessed
rapidly.
⚫ The on-line storage method, allows virtually instantaneous
image zoom, as well as scroll (vertical shifts) and pan
(horizontal shifts). On-line storage generally takes the form
of magnetic disks and optical-media storage. The key factor
characterizing on-line storage is frequent access to the stored
data.
⚫ Finally, archival storage is characterized by massive storage
requirements but infrequent need for access.
Components of an Image Processing System
6. Image Displays
The displays in use today are mainly color
(preferably flat screen) TV monitors. Monitors are
driven by the outputs of the image and graphics
display cards that are an integral part of a computer
system.
Components of an Image Processing System
7. Hardcopy devices
Used for recording images, include laser printers,
film cameras, heat-sensitive devices, inkjet units and
digital units, such as optical and CD-Rom disks.
Components of an Image Processing System
8. 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 communications with remote sites
via the internet are not always as efficient.