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“Digital picture processing”—An introduction
104
Book Reviews
useful in practice and well formulated from a pedagogical point of view (e.g., Chapter 5--"Statistical Testing of Real Time Software"--and Chapter 6-"Simulation and System Validation"). However, some parts of the text are so general and indefinite that they are of little usefulness and are rather boring and tiresome to read (e.g., Chapter 2-"Software Realiability and Software L i f e - C y c l e " and Chapter 7--"Conclusions"). Also, there are chapters dealing with important problems but giving rise to some critical remarks. For instance, the title of Chapter 3--"Structural Analysis and Proof"--promises more than it contains and it contains less than is required if one wants to apply the given results in practice. It is the most controversial chapter of the book being at the same time the most important one. Other chapters given less reason to doubts and yet, for example, in Chapter 4---"Systematic Testing"--it is not explained how it could be obtained in practice that a concurrency software program accepts a given sequence of outputs resulting from permutation. Without this point being clarified, considerations on testing are barely academic. In this chapter, based on an article from 1968, a synchro-
nisation process is regarded using join and fork methods which are getting out of use (though after some modifications form part of the UNIX system) whereas no more up-to-date formulations can be found. Summarising, despite the above critical remarks, the book may be regarded as useful and worth reading (though in my opinion it is not one of those which are read several times) and therefore one should have it on one's shelf. I believe, however, that this book should inspire the authors to write a work on a similar subject but more closely connected with the signal processing area where problems of modern multiprocessing structures of information processing would be taken into account examining the mechanisms of concurrent processes and complex data structures. In my opinion, that is the book we are waiting for!
"Digital Picture Processing'mAn Introduction, by
well defined and the use of vector algebra is elegant. Several sampling and quantization procedures are presented for one-dimensional (l-D) as well as for 2-D signals. The signal concept having been clearly introduced, some linear signal transforms are presented such as the transversal, recursive, 2-D separable and parallel multistage digital filters. Some orthogonal transforms like DFT, Walsh, Haar, etc. are also described and some classical implementations are given. To end this first part, some digital statistical methods, mostly applied to images, are described. The greylevel histogram, the correlation function and spectrum, as well as some interesting methods for measuring picture noise, are presented. In the second part, three selected image processing application fields are selected. First, corrective
L.P. Yaroslavsky, Institute for Information Transmission Problems, Yermolovoy Str. 19, SU-101447 Moscow, U.S.S.R. In: Springer Series in Information Sciences. Publishers: Springer-Verlag, Heidelbergplatz 3, D-1000 Berlin 33, Fed. Rep. Germany, 1985, ISBN 3-540-11934-5 and 0-387-11934-5.
This book is a good introduction to the field of digital signal and image processing. It is composed of two parts called "Fundamentals of the Theory of Digital Signal Processing" and "Image Processing", respectively. In the first part, basic notions like signal space, basic functions, and signal transformations are introduced. The mathematical formalism is very Signal Processing
R. TADEUSIEWICZ Institute of Automation Academy of Mining and Metallurgy Al. Mickiewicza 30 30059 Krakow Poland
Book Reviews
105
algorithms used to eliminate image distortions like additive noise, defocussing, blur and nonlinear brightness scale alteration are demonstrated. Second, some picture enhancement techniques such as adaptive image quantization, adaptive nonlinear transformations, and adaptive image filtering are described. Third, the problem of localizing an object in a picture with various degrees of uncertainty (about the object and about the image inhomogeneity) is addressed. In conclusion, this book is very clear and well written, has a strong mathematical formalism and therefore constitutes a very good introduction to
the subject of digital signal and image processing. My only regret concerns the image processing part in which the picture is treated as a whole, even if not homogeneous. The author could have given the flavour of the segmentation philosophy which, if used as preprocessing, considerably improves the efficiency of the image processing algorithms.
"The New World of the Information Society", edited by J.M. Bennett and T. Pearcey (Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Computer Communication, Sydney, Australia, October 30November 2, 1984---Conference hosted by the Overseas Telecommunications Commission (Australia) & Telecom Australia, sponsored by the International Council for Computer Communication (ICCC)). Published by: Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. (North-Holland), P.O. Box 1991, 1000 BZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1985, xlii+886 pp., ISBN 0-444-87649-9, price: Dfl. 225.00
ence, many new advances have been made. Therefore, this book primarily provides historical perspective that could be useful to investigators in the field of Computer Communications. This book could not be recommended in its present form as a textbook for the study of Computer Communication because it contains little introductory material. Also, the book is not organized in a desirable pedagogical order. In addition, the book is physically large and inconvenient to handle and contains no index. With a great deal of editing and the addition of introductory information, this book could be useful as a reference book for a course in Computer Communication. I personally could envision using this collection as a source of potential research topics for graduate students seeking a thesis topic. A positive feature of the book is the reporting of the results of many experimental communications systems; these preliminary results are seldom recorded in the more academic archival journals. Therefore, it would be useful to have this book in an Engineering Library.
This book suffers the same drawbacks as most collections of conference papers. It is a compilation of a very large number of papers given at a conference, with quality ranging from excellent to poor. They are all restricted in length and often this limitation does not permit an adequate coverage of the topic. In many cases, the papers were repetitious. On the other hand, there were several unique papers of high quality. The collection of papers is a good record of the status of Computer Communication at the time the papers were presented--November 1984. However, with the rapid development of this area of technology in the 20 months since the confer-
Michel K O C H E R CERAC Institute Chemin des Larges Pibces 1024 Ecublens Switzerland
Dean W. LYTLE Electrical Engineering Department University of Washington Seattle, WA 98195 U.S.A. Vol. 12, No. 1, January 1987
Book Reviews
useful in practice and well formulated from a pedagogical point of view (e.g., Chapter 5--"Statistical Testing of Real Time Software"--and Chapter 6-"Simulation and System Validation"). However, some parts of the text are so general and indefinite that they are of little usefulness and are rather boring and tiresome to read (e.g., Chapter 2-"Software Realiability and Software L i f e - C y c l e " and Chapter 7--"Conclusions"). Also, there are chapters dealing with important problems but giving rise to some critical remarks. For instance, the title of Chapter 3--"Structural Analysis and Proof"--promises more than it contains and it contains less than is required if one wants to apply the given results in practice. It is the most controversial chapter of the book being at the same time the most important one. Other chapters given less reason to doubts and yet, for example, in Chapter 4---"Systematic Testing"--it is not explained how it could be obtained in practice that a concurrency software program accepts a given sequence of outputs resulting from permutation. Without this point being clarified, considerations on testing are barely academic. In this chapter, based on an article from 1968, a synchro-
nisation process is regarded using join and fork methods which are getting out of use (though after some modifications form part of the UNIX system) whereas no more up-to-date formulations can be found. Summarising, despite the above critical remarks, the book may be regarded as useful and worth reading (though in my opinion it is not one of those which are read several times) and therefore one should have it on one's shelf. I believe, however, that this book should inspire the authors to write a work on a similar subject but more closely connected with the signal processing area where problems of modern multiprocessing structures of information processing would be taken into account examining the mechanisms of concurrent processes and complex data structures. In my opinion, that is the book we are waiting for!
"Digital Picture Processing'mAn Introduction, by
well defined and the use of vector algebra is elegant. Several sampling and quantization procedures are presented for one-dimensional (l-D) as well as for 2-D signals. The signal concept having been clearly introduced, some linear signal transforms are presented such as the transversal, recursive, 2-D separable and parallel multistage digital filters. Some orthogonal transforms like DFT, Walsh, Haar, etc. are also described and some classical implementations are given. To end this first part, some digital statistical methods, mostly applied to images, are described. The greylevel histogram, the correlation function and spectrum, as well as some interesting methods for measuring picture noise, are presented. In the second part, three selected image processing application fields are selected. First, corrective
L.P. Yaroslavsky, Institute for Information Transmission Problems, Yermolovoy Str. 19, SU-101447 Moscow, U.S.S.R. In: Springer Series in Information Sciences. Publishers: Springer-Verlag, Heidelbergplatz 3, D-1000 Berlin 33, Fed. Rep. Germany, 1985, ISBN 3-540-11934-5 and 0-387-11934-5.
This book is a good introduction to the field of digital signal and image processing. It is composed of two parts called "Fundamentals of the Theory of Digital Signal Processing" and "Image Processing", respectively. In the first part, basic notions like signal space, basic functions, and signal transformations are introduced. The mathematical formalism is very Signal Processing
R. TADEUSIEWICZ Institute of Automation Academy of Mining and Metallurgy Al. Mickiewicza 30 30059 Krakow Poland
Book Reviews
105
algorithms used to eliminate image distortions like additive noise, defocussing, blur and nonlinear brightness scale alteration are demonstrated. Second, some picture enhancement techniques such as adaptive image quantization, adaptive nonlinear transformations, and adaptive image filtering are described. Third, the problem of localizing an object in a picture with various degrees of uncertainty (about the object and about the image inhomogeneity) is addressed. In conclusion, this book is very clear and well written, has a strong mathematical formalism and therefore constitutes a very good introduction to
the subject of digital signal and image processing. My only regret concerns the image processing part in which the picture is treated as a whole, even if not homogeneous. The author could have given the flavour of the segmentation philosophy which, if used as preprocessing, considerably improves the efficiency of the image processing algorithms.
"The New World of the Information Society", edited by J.M. Bennett and T. Pearcey (Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Computer Communication, Sydney, Australia, October 30November 2, 1984---Conference hosted by the Overseas Telecommunications Commission (Australia) & Telecom Australia, sponsored by the International Council for Computer Communication (ICCC)). Published by: Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. (North-Holland), P.O. Box 1991, 1000 BZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1985, xlii+886 pp., ISBN 0-444-87649-9, price: Dfl. 225.00
ence, many new advances have been made. Therefore, this book primarily provides historical perspective that could be useful to investigators in the field of Computer Communications. This book could not be recommended in its present form as a textbook for the study of Computer Communication because it contains little introductory material. Also, the book is not organized in a desirable pedagogical order. In addition, the book is physically large and inconvenient to handle and contains no index. With a great deal of editing and the addition of introductory information, this book could be useful as a reference book for a course in Computer Communication. I personally could envision using this collection as a source of potential research topics for graduate students seeking a thesis topic. A positive feature of the book is the reporting of the results of many experimental communications systems; these preliminary results are seldom recorded in the more academic archival journals. Therefore, it would be useful to have this book in an Engineering Library.
This book suffers the same drawbacks as most collections of conference papers. It is a compilation of a very large number of papers given at a conference, with quality ranging from excellent to poor. They are all restricted in length and often this limitation does not permit an adequate coverage of the topic. In many cases, the papers were repetitious. On the other hand, there were several unique papers of high quality. The collection of papers is a good record of the status of Computer Communication at the time the papers were presented--November 1984. However, with the rapid development of this area of technology in the 20 months since the confer-
Michel K O C H E R CERAC Institute Chemin des Larges Pibces 1024 Ecublens Switzerland
Dean W. LYTLE Electrical Engineering Department University of Washington Seattle, WA 98195 U.S.A. Vol. 12, No. 1, January 1987