Interactive Image Processing Research Articles

Interactive Image Processing Software Package

In this paper, Interactive Image Processing Software MSIMAGE is described. The software has been developed for Image Enhancement, Compression (Transformations) and Filtering (FIR & IIR) techniques. The main thrust is in developing a software which is interactive, efficient and user friendly, capable of giving insight to image processing to students in educational institutions.This interactive image processing software (MSIMAGE) is completely developed in FORTRAN IV (ANSI 77) language, and executed in a microcomputer.

A system for one- and two-dimensional signal processing for X-ray scattering, tunneling-and atomic force microscopy applications

A system has been implemented for the acquisition, processing and display of one- and two-dimensional signals. The hardware is based on an advanced signal processor with integrated floating point circuitry which has been interfaced to IBM PC/XT, AT and Microchannel as well as VME and Multibus II buses. The application software has been written in Turbo Pascal under MS-DOS and is also operational on VME and Multibus II systems. The man/machine interface is menu driven and fast graphics is supported by the signal processor. The system is presently applied for X-ray small angle scattering, tunneling- and atomic force microscopy where the users require fast interactive image processing with high accuracy. Further applications, including microtomography are under consideration.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Methods of Venus radiolocation map synthesis using strip images of VENERA-15 and VENERA-16 space stations

The methodology and the results of Venus northern hemisphere (approximately to 30°N) map synthesis are described. The synthesis was carried out in the Institute for Information Transmission Problems of the USSR Academy of Sciences using the data of strip survey of Venus surface received from VENERA-15 and VENERA-16 space stations. Interactive image processing system of the institute was used for this purpose. The problem of map synthesis was divided into four stages— pre-processing of about 300 strips images available, geometrical transformation of the strips and the synthesis of so-called sectors from 10–16 strips, joining all the 19 sectors into 34 map sheets and filling the polar area in the middle of the central sheet. The main mode of work in the course of map synthesis was the interaction of the operator with the system. This enabled to achieve high accuracy of strips referencing, indistinguishability of the borders between strips and sectors, the absence of false objects, and, as a result, high visual quality of the map.

New products and projects

Abstract This paper briefly describes the latest developments which have been made a CMS, Lannion, in the field of sea surface parameter restitution, i.e. the use of an interactive image processing system for sea surface temperature (SST) analysis over the Mediterranean Sea, the combined use of Meteosat and Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data for SST field production, the routine production of surface solar irradiance fields and the survey of phytoplankton blooms with visible AVHRR data. This last experiment was made at the request of a group of French oceanographers.The other developmentsare parts of a programme aiming to retrieve small-scale characteristics of the ocean-atmosphere thermodynamics. The next main step of this programme is the extension of the use of an image processor to include an operational survey of the north-east Atlantic.

Image processing with personal computers

Abstract Modern powerful personal computers, having memory sizes in the megabyte range are well suited for interactive image processing. User-friendly low-cost systems can strongly stimulate a widespread use of image processing. Aspects necessary for such systems are discussed: • The necessary image processing elements for such systems, • user interaction; command interpreter, macro command system and Window Management System. Two existing packages are described: TIM, which runs on an IBM personal computer and makes use of a commercially available frame grabber, and AIM, an educational (public domain) image processing package, which was originally developed for the Atari ST computer. Both packages share the philosophy that certain facilities are needed for an image processing program to be useful. Their origin is common: the Pattern Recognition group of the University of Technology in Delft. They differ in certain implementational aspects, but demonstrate clearly the possibilities of image processing with PCs.

Characterization and thermal shock testing of yttria-stabilized zirconia coatings

Abstract Industrially manufactured partially stabilized zirconia thermal barrier coatings were characterized and tested. Optical microscopy tests were employed for qualitative and quantitative characterization of the coating structures as sprayed and after testing. Particular emphasis was given to the porosity of the ceramic coatings with regard to the size, shape and distribution of the pores by use of an interactive image processing system. In addition, the nature and quantity of phases in the ceramic coatings were determined using X-ray diffraction analysis. Thermal shock resistance was detected by burner rig tests.

Design of custom hip stem prostheses using three-dimensional CT modeling.

Long life expectancy, demand for high activity levels, and bone loss at the time of revision motivate the search for reliable and successful noncemented hip stem designs. It is hypothesized that improved implant fit may increase the longevity of noncemented total joints. Quantitative X-ray CT has enabled the use of a computerized stem design program, which designs an optimal-fit hip stem for individual femurs. Computed tomography and interactive image processing methods are used to generate the individual three-dimensional femoral models, which are used by the stem design program. Optimal-fit design provides maximum stem-bone contact while satisfying the requirement of being surgically insertable. Previous methods of custom implant design, including those that use three-dimensional CT modeling, have not provided optimal stem-bone fit. Quantitative results of this new process are presented.

Assessing the Fundamental Limits of Electron-Beam Imaging

A long-overdue Nobel Prize in Physics for the development of the transmission electron microscope was awarded in 1986 to Professor Dr. Ernst Ruska, some fifty-three years after his demonstration of the superiority of electron-beam imaging. The microscope originally designed by Ruska did not differ significantly from the instruments in use today, a half century later, nor were early practitioners unaware of the image resolution potential inherent in electron-beam optics. We are now, at last, running into the limits of that potential, at least as judged by the quantity of effort expended for increasingly diminishing returns. The present point-resolution limit under axial illumination stands at about 0.15 nm and is unlikely to be lowered significantly without signal successes in design and application of novel correction schemes for spherical aberration or in sophistication of interactive image processing methods.

An approach to digital signal processing for ultrasonics research

The increasingly sophisticated techniques for the extraction of information from ultrasonic data entail a corresponding increase in complexity of the software used. An interactive signal and image processing package, called TWODIMSY, has been developed at the Ultrasonics Institute to allow non-programmers an entry to digital signal processing, and to simplify the task of staff involved in programming. We present an outline of the design considerations which shaped TWODIMSY, and a brief history of its ancestors. A detailed description of the package is given, including the type of computational facilities provided and the approach taken to solve the problems of data storage, operator interface and documentation.

A microcomputer system for remotely sensed image data on ecological environments

Abstract Remotely sensed digital image data represented by Landsat MSS data are becoming a useful addition to conventional sources for a wide range ecological environments as well as conventional data sources. However, just the results of the analyzed data and its display are not always sufficient for putting them into practical use. In order to investigate a regional ecological environment from various viewpoints on the spot, the conventional data ought to be considered as well as the remotely sensed digital image data. An interactive image processing system was developed for this purpose. In this paper the development of Hiroshima Image Processing System (HIPS) is described. HIPS consists of the hardware of microcomputers and peripheral I/O devices for image data processing and the software for interactively processing remotely sensed image data and other ecological data. HIPS was designed and manufactured on an experimental basis within limited research expense, aiming not only to contribute to education and research of remote sensing in the institute, but also to perform further research in various fields.

Personal Computer Based Image Processing With Halftoning

A versatile and useful personal computer based procedure to generate halftone representation of digitized image data is presented. This feature provides limited interactive image processing capability for a basic personal computer work station without having to acquire a video monitor and a digital-to-analog converter board. The generated halftone images can be displayed on the standard dot-addressable graphics monitor, and/or they can be printed on regular paper via an associated printer. The halftoning procedure is based on an error diffusion technique in which dots are produced randomly, one at a time, based on both the local gray level value and some accumulated measure of the error due to previous assignments. The key elements in halftoning, such as dynamic, spatial, and display medium resolutions, are defined, and the mathematical correspondence among them is established.

An interactive image processing system for microcomputers

AbstractThis paper considers a symbolic representation of images which is adequate for interactive image processing, and reports an actual system constructed on a minicomputer. The system is closely associated with an LISP. Some attributes of image data and procedures are represented by a frame structure often used in studies of AI or knowledge engineering. Both image data and image processing procedures are managed by frames. Meanwhile, image processing routines can be developed in both low‐and high‐level languages such as ASSEMBLER, FORTRAN or C, and they can easily be linked to the system by specific functions. Consequently, flexible and high‐speed processing can be realized. If some knowledge of image processing is given, this system will be available for fundamental studies of image description and image understanding.

An Image Processing Language with Icon-Assisted Navigation

This paper describes a generic image processing language IPL, and a programming environment supporting the language primitives for an image information system. The central notion of IPL is that it allows the user to navigate through the image database and manipulate images using generalized icons. The image processing language IPL consists of three subsets: the logical image processing language LIPL, the interactive image processing language IIPL, and the physical image processing language PIPL. This paper presents the main concepts of this generic language, some examples, and a scenario.

2-Deoxyglucose uptake in the central nervous system during systemic hypercapnia in the peripherally chemodenervated rat

Changes in 2-deoxyglucose (2-DG) uptake in the central nervous system during systemic hypercapnia were determined by the [3H]2-DG autoradiographic method in peripherally chemodenervated rats. Autoradiographs were made from serial transverse sections of the brain and analyzed by a computer-based interactive image processing system for areas having increases or decreases in metabolic activity compared with control animals. The most pronounced change shown by autoradiographs of the hypercapnic animals was a generalized decrease in the metabolism of the gray matter throughout the central nervous system with respect to the normocapnic controls. However, several central structures showed evidence of either no change or an increased metabolism in the hypercapnic animals. In the brain stem these areas were localized to the ventrolateral region of the nucleus of the solitary tract rostral to the obex, around the region of the nucleus retroambiguus, in a region of the ventrolateral medullary reticular formation extending rostrally from the obex to the level of the intramedullary rootlets of the facial nerve, in the region of the ventral nucleus raphe pallidus, and in the region of the lateral parabrachial nucleus. In the diencephalon these regions included the supraoptic nucleus and the dorsal hypothalamic area, extending into the caudal portion of the paraventricular nucleus. The thoracolumbar cord showed activation of the lateral aspects of the dorsal horns, the region of lamina X and the region of the intermediolateral nucleus. These data may be interpreted as a functional map of the central structures activated in hypercapnia in the peripheral chemodenervated rat. It appears likely that these structures are involved in mediating the cardiorespiratory responses associated with the activation of central chemoreceptors by the increased carbon dioxide concentrations.

Data structures for image processing in a C language and Unix environment

A variety of single-address image, graphic, and image-operator data structures and a library of support subroutines have been implemented in the C programming language. These facilitate efficient and representation-independent procedure implementation, and have been used to construct a set of image processing tools in a Unix environment which make a flexible interactive image processing system.

Digital processing of film radiographs

Initial clinical experience with a system for the digitization, processing, and display of film radiographs is described. Film is digitized using a high-intensity laser scanner; the recorded image data may then be subjected to a wide variety of processing options, with display of processed images on television monitors. The possibilities of clinical applications to processing and display of chest radiographs and film mammograms are described. A comparison of conventional analog subtraction and digitized film subtraction angiography indicated equivalent diagnostic capability, with the advantage of flexible, interactive image processing with the digital technique. A specially designed, energy-selective cassette permits dual-energy imaging from two films effectively exposed to different x-ray energy spectra. Dual-energy imaging may be capable of the characterization of body materials, including lung nodules, and useful for eliminating obscuring radiographic shadows overlying regions of interest.

Image processing on the IBM personal computer

The Palo Alto Scientific Center has developed an experimental image processing system based upon the IBM Personal Computer. It provides a variety of commonly used image processing functions in an environment that connects the programs through a menu convenient for both casual and experienced users. The System is implemented using a compiled BASIC program coupled with assembly language subroutines. Its performance is impressive, providing interactive multispectral image processing and image analysis capability for small images.

Use of Landsat multispectral scanner data for detection and reconnaissance mapping of iron oxide staining in mineral exploration, central East Greenland

Test area; color anomalous hydrothermal alteration associated with stockwork molybdenum mineralization. Tertiary Malmbjerg molybdenum occurrence. Interactive digital image processing system combined with computerized color plots. Special ratio and factor analysis techniques. The best results with ratio techniques are obtained when band 4/band 5 is displayed as cyan (red), band 5/band 7 as magenta (green), and band 6/band 7 as yellow (blue). A characteristic pink to orange color corresponds to areas of limonitic rocks. Using factor analysis, color composites displaying F2 as magenta (green), F3 as cyan (red), and F4 as yellow (blue) with a visually determined color stretch discriminates very effectively with yellow-orange to red-orange colors representing limonitic rocks. More than 50 significant rust zones located. Ratio and factor analysis techniques were applied to reconnaissance mapping of Precambrian metamorphic and Devonian volcanic terrains covering more than 30,000 km 2 of ice-free area in a province of 500 km long by 300 km wide, resulting in the localization of 38 major (surface area > 0.5 km 2 ) rust zones in Precambrian metamorphic terrain.--Modified journal abstract.

Some results of speech analysis by parallel processor

Commercially available parallel processors with special cellular computer architecture are able to perform certain nonlinear transformations, viz., the covering transformations much more efficiently than Von Neumann type machines. Additionally, these computers' interactive image processing capabilities often result in discovering insightful ways of approaching old problems. It is natural to inquire whether the inherent advantages of cellular processors would be of benefit in speech analysis. This paper discusses the early results obtained by treating the speech spectrogram as an “image” and analyzing this “image” on a Cytocomputer™. Results include the characterization of the distinctive features of speech in mathematical morphological terms. Examples of morphological transformations of speech spectrograms will be presented which suggest applications in speech analysis, automatic speech recognition, speech synthesis, bandwidth compression, and speech enhancement.

Parallel processing in machine vision

SUMMARYMachine vision systems incorporating highly parallel processor architectures are reviewed. A new processor architecture, the image flow computer, is presented in detail. An interactive image processing programming language based on mathematical morphology is then presented. A detailed example of the use of the system for the inspection of a particular industrial part concludes the presentation.