Image file formats

About: Image file formats is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 10349 publications have been published within this topic receiving 102407 citations.

Interactive image tagging

Abstract: Techniques are described for performing automatic generation of one or more tags associated with an image file. One or more ink annotations for a displayed image are received. Handwriting recognition processing of the one or more ink annotations is performed. A string is generated and the string includes one or more recognized words used to form the one or more tags associated with the image file. The handwriting recognition processing and generating the string are performed in response to receiving the ink annotations.

"Virtual microscopy" and the internet as telepathology consultation tools: diagnostic accuracy in evaluating melanocytic skin lesions.

Abstract: The Internet offers a widely available, inexpensive tool for telepathology consultations. It allows the transfer of image and text files through electronic mail (e-mail) or file transfer protocols (FTP), using a variety of microcomputer platforms. We studied the use of the Internet and "virtual microscopy" tools for the diagnosis of 35 skin biopsies, including a variety of benign and malignant melanocytic lesions. Digitized images from these lesions were obtained at 40x and 100x optical magnification, using a high resolution digital camera (Microlumina, Leaf Systems, Southborough, MA), a light microscope with a phototube adapter and a microcomputer with a Pentium 166 MHz microprocessor. Two to four images of each case were arranged on a "canvas" to represent the majority or an entire biopsy level, using Photoshop software (Adobe Systems Inc., San Jose, CA). The images were compressed using Joint Photographers Expert Group (JPEG) format. The images were then viewed on a computer video monitor in a manner that closely resembles light microscopy, including scrolling by using the "hand tool" of Photoshop and changing magnification digitally up to 4 times without visible image degradation. The image files, ranging in size from 700 kilobytes to 2.1 megabytes (average 1.6 megabytes) were attached to e-mail messages that contained clinical information, using standard Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension (MIME) protocols and sent through the Internet, for interpretation by a dermatopathologist. The consultant could open the images from the e-mail message, using Microsoft Outlook Express (Microsoft Corp., Redmond, WA) and Photoshop software, scroll them, change magnification and render a diagnosis in a manner that closely simulates light microscopy. One hundred percent concordance was obtained between the telepathology and traditional hematoxylin and eosin slide diagnoses. The Internet and relatively inexpensive "virtual microscopy" tools offer a novel technology for dermatopathology consultations. Potential applications of this technology to pathology and technical problems posed by the use of an open, widely distributed network to share sensitive medical information are discussed.

Compressed image virtual editing system

Abstract: In an image compression system using a typical image compression scheme, a pointer array is provided to point to each of the many MCUs in a compressed image file. From all the blocks of an image, a subset of the blocks is selected as a virtual image. The virtual image is edited, and each edited block is compressed into an edited block. The edited block is compressed into an edited MCU and placed in an edited block region, and the pointer to the original MCU is changed to point to the new MCU. In this way, the pointer array can be modified to perform an Undo operation. An edge table is provided to hold values where each value, when combined with the differential value for a block on the edge of the virtual image, provides an absolute value for the block without reference to blocks beyond the edge of the virtual image. The entries in the edge table are determined from the compressed MCUs without the blocks being fully decompressed. More than one edge table can be provided. In an image editor, a virtual image is decompressed from a compressed image, the virtual image is processed, and recompressed. The recompressed, edited blocks are then placed in an edited block memory. In an alternate embodiment, values to be combined with a differential value are held in an offset table for all the selectable blocks.

A Detailed Analysis of Optical Character Recognition Technology

Abstract: In many different fields, there is a high demand for storing information to a computer storage disk from the data available in printed or handwritten documents or images to later re-utilize this information by means of computers. One simple way to store information to a computer system from these printed documents could be first to scan the documents and then store them as image files. But to re-utilize this information, it would very difficult to read or query text or other information from these image files. Therefore a technique to automatically retrieve and store information, in particular text, from image files is needed. Optical character recognition is an active research area that attempts to develop a computer system with the ability to extract and process text from images automatically. The objective of OCR is to achieve modification or conversion of any form of text or text-containing documents such as handwritten text, printed or scanned text images, into an editable digital format for deeper and further processing. Therefore, OCR enables a machine to automatically recognize text in such documents. Some major challenges need to be recognized and handled in order to achieve a successful automation. The font characteristics of the characters in paper documents and quality of images are only some of the recent challenges. Due to these challenges, characters sometimes may not be recognized correctly by computer system. In this paper we investigate OCR in four different ways. First we give a detailed overview of the challenges that might emerge in OCR stages. Second, we review the general phases of an OCR system such as pre-processing, segmentation, normalization, feature extraction, classification and post-processing. Then, we highlight developments and main applications and uses of OCR and finally, a brief OCR history are discussed. Therefore, this discussion provides a very comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art of the field.

System and method for managing video evidence

Abstract: A system and method is disclosed for accepting, storing, retrieving, manipulating, and otherwise managing video images having potential evidentiary significance. A video image intake station collects surveillance, crime scene, police traffic stop, or other video images captured by a video image capture device and generates individual video image files. Each of the generated images files are uploaded to a server, and indexed and stored in a searchable database. For redundancy, a back-up copy of each image file is made and stored in an archive. Once image files have been placed in a searchable database, individual image files may be searched and accessed by users who have been granted appropriate access rights by an administrator. Users with an appropriate level of access rights can download an image file, have an image file e-mailed to an Internet address, or output an image file in any known or suitable output format (e.g., to a CD-ROM, DVD, floppy disk, or other media) for further processing or analysis. These image files may comprise original, un-edited image files, and/or redacted or edited image files depending on their relevancy and/or admissibility in a legal proceeding.