ABSTRACT
Modern digital technology has made it possible to manipulate multidimensional signals with systems that range from simple digital circuits to advanced parallel computers. The goal of this manipulation can be divided into three categories:
. Image processing-image in ! image out
. Image analysis-image in ! measurements out
. Image understanding-image in ! high-level description out
We will focus on the fundamental concepts of ‘‘image processing.’’ Space does not permit us to make more than a few introductory remarks about ‘‘image analysis.’’ ‘‘Image understanding’’ requires an approach that differs fundamentally from the theme of this book. Further, we will restrict ourselves to two-dimensional (2D) image processing although most of the concepts and techniques that are to be described can be extended easily to three or more dimensions. Readers interested in either greater detail than presented here or in other aspects of image processing are referred to [1-10].
