英文原文DigitalImageProcessingandEdgeDetection1.DigitalImageProcessingInterestindigitalimageprocessingmethodsstemsfromtwoprincipalapplicant-ionareas:improvementofpictorialinformationforhumaninterpretation；andprocessingofimagedataforstorage,transmission,andrepresentationforau-tenuousmachineperception.Animagemaybedefinedasatwo-dimensionalfunction,f(x,y),wherexandyarespatial(plane)coordinates,andtheamplitudeoffatanypairofcoordinates(x,y)iscalledtheintensityorgrayleveloftheimageatthatpoint.Whenx,y,andtheamplitudevaluesoffareallfinite,discretequantities,wecalltheimageadigitalimage.Thefieldofdigitalimageprocessingreferstoprocessingdigitalimagesbymeansofadigitalcomputer.Notethatadigitalimageiscomposedofafinitenumberofelements,eachofwhichhasaparticularlocationandvalue.Theseelementsarereferredtoaspictureelements,imageelements,peels,andpixels.Pixelisthetermmostwidelyusedtodenotetheelementsofadigitalimage.Visionisthemostadvancedofoursenses,soitisnotsurprisingthatimagesplaythesinglemostimportantroleinhumanperception.However,unlikehumans,whoarelimitedtothevisualbandoftheelectromagnetic(EM)spec-trump,imagingmachinescoveralmosttheentireEMspectrum,rangingfromgammatoradiowaves.Theycanoperateonimagesgeneratedbysourcesthathumansarenotaccustomedtoassociatingwithimages.Theseincludeultra-sound,electronmicroscopy,andcomputer-generatedimages.Thus,digitalimageprocessingencompassesawideandvariedfieldofapplications.Thereisnogeneralagreementamongauthorsregardingwhereimageprocessingstopsandotherrelatedareas,suchasimageanalysisandcomputervi-son,start.Sometimesadistinctionismadebydefiningimageprocessingasadisciplineinwhichboththeinputandoutputofaprocessareimages.Webelievethistobealimitingandsomewhatartificialboundary.Forexample,underthisdefinition,eventhetrivialtaskofcomputingtheaverageintensityofanimage(whichyieldsasinglenumber)wouldnotbeconsideredanimageprocessingoperation.Ontheotherhand,therearefieldssuchascomputervisionwhoseultimategoalistousecomputerstoemulatehumanvision,includinglearningandbeingabletomakeinferencesandtakeactionsbasedonvisualinputs.Thisareaitselfisabranchofartificialintelligence(AI)whoseobjectiveistoemulatehumanintelligence.ThefieldofAIisinitsearlieststagesofinfancyintermsofdevelopment,withprogresshavingbeenmuchslowerthanoriginallyanticipated.Theareaofimageanalysis(alsocalledimageunderstanding)isinbe-teenimageprocessingandcomputervision.Therearenoclear-cutboundariesinthecontinuumfromimageprocessingatoneendtocomputervisionattheother.However,oneusefulparadigmistoconsiderthreetypesofcomputerizedprocessesinthiscontinuum:low-,mid-,andhigh-levelprocesses.Low-levelprocessesinvolveprimitiveopera-tonssuchasimagepreprocessingtoreducenoise,contrastenhancement,andimagesharpening.Alow-levelprocessischaracterizedbythefactthatbothitsinputsandoutputsareimages.Mid-levelprocessingonimagesinvolvestaskssuchassegmentation(partitioninganimageintoregionsorobjects),descriptionofthoseobjectstoreducethemtoaformsuitableforcomputerprocessing,andclassification(recognition)ofindividualobjects.Amidlevelprocessischaracterizedbythefactthatitsinputsgenerallyareimages,butitsoutputsareattributesextractedfromthoseimages(e.g.,edges,contours,andtheidentityofindividualobjects).Finally,higher-levelprocessinginvolves“makingsense”ofanensembleofrecognizedobjects,asinimageanalysis,and,atthefarendofthecontinuum,performingthecognitivefunctionsnormallyassociatedwithvision.Basedontheprecedingcomments,weseethatalogicalplaceofoverlapbetweenimageprocessingandimageanalysisistheareaofrecognitionofindividualregionsorobjectsinanimage.Thus,whatwecallinthisbookdigitalimageprocessingencompassesprocesseswhoseinputsandoutputsareimagesand,inaddition,encompassesprocessesthatextractattributesfromimages,uptoandincludingtherecognitionofindividualobjects.Asasimpleillustrationtoclarifytheseconcepts,considertheareaofautomatedanalysisoftext.Theprocessesofacquiringanimageoftheareacontainingthetext,preprocessingthatimage,extracting(segmenting)theindividualcharacters,describingthecharactersinaformsuitableforcomputerprocessing,andrecognizingthoseindividualcharactersareinthescopeofwhatwecalldigitalimageprocessinginthisbook.Makingsenseofthecontentofthepagemaybeviewedasbeinginthedomainofimageanalysisandevencomputervision,dependingonthelevelofcomplexityimpliedbythestatement“makingsense.”Aswillbecomeevidentshortly,digitalimageprocessing,aswehavedefinedit,isusedsuccessfullyinabroadrangeofareasofexceptionalsocialandeconomicvalue.Theareasofapplicationofdigitalimageprocessingaresovariedthatsomeformoforganizationisdesirableinattemptingtocapturethebreadthofthisfield.Oneofthesimplestwaystodevelopabasicunderstandingoftheextentofimageprocessingapplicationsistocategorizeimagesaccordingtotheirsource(e.g.,visual,X-ray,andsoon).Theprincipalenergysourceforimagesinusetodayistheelectromagneticenergyspectrum.Otherimportantsourcesofenergyincludeacoustic,ultrasonic,andelectronic(intheformofelectronbeamsusedinelectronmicroscopy).Syntheticimages,usedformodelingandvisualization,aregeneratedbycomputer.Inthissectionwediscussbrieflyhowimagesaregeneratedinthesevariouscategoriesandtheareasinwhichtheyareapplied.ImagesbasedonradiationfromtheEMspectrumarethemostfamiliar,esp.-especiallyimagesintheX-rayandvisualbandsofthespectrum.Electromagnet-icewavescanbeconceptualizedaspropagatingsinusoidalwavesofvaryingwavelengths,ortheycanbethoughtofasastreamofmasslessparticles,eachtravelinginawavelikepatternandmovingatthespeedoflight.Eachmasslessparticlecontainsacertainamount(orbundle)ofenergy.Eachbundleofenergyiscalledaphoton.Ifspectralbandsaregroupedaccordingtoenergyperphoton,weobtainthespectrumshowninfig.below,rangingfromgammarays(highestenergy)atoneendtoradiowaves(lowestenergy)attheother.ThebandsareshownshadedtoconveythefactthatbandsoftheEMspectrumarenotdistinctbutrathertransitionsmoothlyfromonetotheother.Imageacquisitionisthefirstprocess.Notethatacquisitioncouldbeassimpleasbeinggivenanimagethatisalreadyindigitalform.Generally,theimageacquisitionstageinvolvespreprocessing,suchasscaling.Imageenhancementisamongthesimplestandmostappealingareasofdigitalimageprocessing.Basically,theideabehindenhancementtechniquesistobringoutdetailthatisobscured,orsimplytohighlightcertainfeaturesofinterestinanimage.Afamiliarexampleofenhancementiswhenweincreasethecontrastofanimagebecause“itlooksbetter.”Itisimportanttokeepinmindthatenhancementisaverysubjectiveareaofimageprocessing.Imagerestorationisanareathatalsodealswithimprovingtheappearanceofanimage.However,unlikeenhancement,whichissubjective,imagerestorationisobjective,inthesensethatrestorationtechniquestendtobebasedonmathematicalorprobabilisticmodelsofimagedegradation.Enhancement,ontheotherhand,isbasedonhumansubjectivepreferencesregardingwhatconstitutesa“good”enhancementresult.ColorimageprocessingisanareathathasbeengaininginimportancebecauseofthesignificantincreaseintheuseofdigitalimagesovertheInternet.Itcoversanumberoffundamentalconceptsincolormodelsandbasiccolorprocessinginadigitaldomain.Colorisusedalsoinlaterchaptersasthebasisforextractingfeaturesofinterestinanimage.Waveletsarethefoundationforrepresentingimagesinvariousdegreesofresolution.Inparticular,thismaterialisusedinthisbookforimagedatacompressionandforpyramidalrepresentation,inwhichimagesaresubdividedsuccessivelyintosmallerregions.Compression,asthenameimplies,dealswithtechniquesforreducingthestoragerequiredsavinganimage,orthebandwidthrequiredtransmittingit.Althoughstoragetechnologyhasimprovedsignificantlyoverthepastdecade,thesamecannotbesaidfortransmissioncapacity.ThisistrueparticularlyinusesoftheInternet,whicharecharacterizedbysignificantpictorialcontent.Imagecompressionisfamiliar(perhapsinadvertently)tomostusersofcomputersintheformofimagefileextensions,suchasthejpgfileextensionusedintheJPEG(JointPhotographicExpertsGroup)imagecompressionstandard.Morphologicalprocessingdealswithtoolsforextractingimagecomponentsthatareusefulintherepresentationanddescriptionofshape.Thematerialinthischapterbeginsatransitionfromprocessesthatoutputimagestoprocessesthatoutputimageattributes.Segmentationprocedurespartitionanimageintoitsconstituentpartsorobjects.Ingeneral,autonomoussegmentationisoneofthemostdifficulttasksindigitalimageprocessing.Aruggedsegmentationprocedurebringstheprocessalongwaytowardsuccessfulsolutionofimagingproblemsthatrequireobjectstobeidentifiedindividually.Ontheotherhand,weakorerraticsegmentationalgorithmsalmostalwaysguaranteeeventualfailure.Ingeneral,themoreaccuratethesegmentation,themorelikelyrecognitionistosucceed.Representationanddescriptionalmostalwaysfollowtheoutputofasegmentationstage,whichusuallyisrawpixeldata,constitutingeitherthebound-rayofaregion(i.e.,thesetofpixelsseparatingoneimageregionfromanother)orallthepointsintheregionitself.Ineithercase,convertingthedatatoaformsuitableforcomputerprocessingisnecessary.Thefirstdecisionthatmustbemadeiswhetherthedatashouldberepresentedasaboundaryorasacompleteregion.Boundaryrepresentationisappropriatewhenthefocusisonexternalshapecharacteristics,suchascornersandinflections.Regionalrepresentationisappropriatewhenthefocusisoninternalproperties,suchastextureorskeletalshape.Insomeapplications,theserepresentationscomplementeachother.Choosingarepresentationisonlypar