Digital image is a 2D array of numbers or pixels.

If the digital image is supposed to viewed by a human it must be converted to an analog image on some display device(CRT monitor), medium(Hard copy). Digital image must be re-constructed for its better view on the output devices. How ever all reconstructions of analog signals are approximations. Consider the contexts below. Nuclear medicine image (96* 128, 6bit) to be printed on a laser printer film (4k*5k, 12bit) CR image(2k*2.5k, 12bit) to be displayed on a CRT monitor (1.2k*1k, 8bit) The problems which occur in the above situations are, How do we match the gray scales(tonescale) ? How do we match the image size ? Tonescale depends on :Image processing applied Calibration of output device Dynamic range of output device Viewing conditions Observer

When we consider the problem of matching the image size with the particular output device we have to use image scaling techniques for image's better view on the output device. There are two main image scaling techniques as Decimation(sub-sampling) Interpolation Decimation (Sub- Sampling) This technique is used when the image matrix is too larger for the output device. Decimation method will be determined by the degree of reduction and the image quality concerns.

In some cases decimation is dangerous because high frequency signals can be neglected during sub-sampling and cause artifacts. For a proper decimation process digital image is required to be smoothed first to remove any signal frequencies that are higher than half of the new sampling frequency.

Interpolation Interpolation image scaling technique is used when the image is too smaller in scale than the requirement of the particular output device. When an image is scaled up, new pixels are created which will require new pixel values to make the new image appear in continuous in space and in gray scale. What Interpolation process does is add enough pixel values to the image matrix which is going to to be sent to the device to be displayed. With that process device can provide the impression that the image is continuous in space and continuous in values. But excessive interpolation can degrade the image quality. Commonly interpolation process uses the known pixel values to calculate or produce new pixels anywhere within the image. Interpolation doesn't add new information or details to the image when creating new pixels. There are three interpolation techniques that are frequently used. Nearest neighbour interpolation (Pixel Replication) Linear or Bilinear interpolation Cubic (spline) interpolation (non linear interpolation) Nearest neighbour interpolation replicates pixels equals to the value of a centre pixel of each block. Nearest neighbour method inserts hard edges around pixels. This method can be applied for text and some images like nuclear medicine.

Bilinear interpolation considers the closest 2*2 neighbourhood of known pixel values surrounding the unknown pixel's computed location. It then takes the weighted average of these 4 pixels to arrive at its final, interpolated value. The weight on each of the 4 pixel value is based on the computed pixel's distance from each of the known points. This method is easy to implement and it provides smoothing effect. It is also good to suppress high frequency structures or noise.

Cubic interpolation is a method which determines the pixel values of unknown pixels nonlinearly depend on the known pixel values around the unknown pixels. This method can produce more accurate reconstructions for an image but more complex and costly to implement.

References Slideshare.net. n.d.. Image Processing Basics. [online] Available at: http://www.slideshare.net/lethanhnam/image-processing-basics?from_search=1 [Accessed: 29 Jun 2013]. En.wikipedia.org. 2009. Cubic Hermite spline - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia . [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubic_interpolation [Accessed: 29 Jun 2013]. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nearest_neighbor_interpolation. 2013. Nearest-neighbor interpolation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nearest_neighbor_interpolation [Accessed: 29 Jun 2013].

Image Re-Construction Methods

An Individual Assignment By S.M.U.C Seneviratne (UWU/IIT/10/0038)

Academic Year: 2012/2013 Semester II June 2013

Course :Introduction to Multimedia & Hypermedia Technology (CST 363-2) Lecturer : Mr. Kalinga Ihalagedera

Faculty Of Science And Technology, Uva Wellassa University, Sri Lanka.