The graphic information contained in the image is converted by means of a television camera to a video signal constituted by a succession of lines, each line being sampled sequentially so as to obtain an ordered series of points which is stored in memory. The method consists in selecting a parent point forming part of an isolated figure of the image. All the points in which the level of blackening on the image exceeds an adjustable threshold value are isolated automatically by marking with an automaton coupled with the memory. All the marked points corresponding to the figure are extracted from the memory and the figure is reconstituted from the points.
Resolution or size changing of scanned objects can be accomplished on contour coded data using the information obtained in the boundary following of exterior and interior borders of objects. The compressed boundary following data has its resolution changed by scale factor multiplying after decoding. The rescaled image is placed into a memory store for display. Uncompressed data is resolution changed by boundary following the stored image to obtain the object boundary coordinates. These coordinates are concurrently multiplied by a scale factor, compared to the scaled coordinate of the previous boundary picutre element and either contour encoded to compress the shrunken image or directed to a second memory store for display. The coordinates of each successive point are changed by the multipliers that scale the coordinates by the consolidation ratios. Each coordinate is affected separately. Any rational reduction factor can be achieved.
The invention provides a method for manufacturing eclectic masks, the method comprising a computation of contour signals and a step of entering them in portions of a proper memory medium wherein said computation is conducted, by CPU, simultaneously with the usual treatment of image signals in the photographical plate making process. Said portions for contour signals are allotted in said medium so as to have the same addresses as those for the usual image signals stored in other medium, or more conveniently each of the contour signals is incorporated into each of the image signals, so that in a layout operation on a monitor screen the eclectic mask composed of corrected contour signals can be easily and accurately superposed on or collated with the pictorial image of the picture to be formed on the printing plate.
In a system for visual telecommunications, e.g. for use by deaf people, an electronic camera (20) makes an image of a moving subject for transmission. The TV type image is passed through a contour extractor (25) to be converted to an animated cartoon line-drawing type image. The contour image is then compressed by means including a sampler (28) for image reduction, a difference detector (30) for selecting only points which change from one image to the next, a filter (34) for rejecting isolated points in the contour image, and an encoder (36) for converting sequences of on/off bits into data words for transmission, via a modem (14) over a telephone line (15). At the other end of the line a similar transmitter/receiver system decodes the received words and reconstitutes the successive images for display on a screen (46). The resulting animated cartoon type of display is adequate for communication by sign language or by lip reading, and is capable of being sufficiently compressed to be transmitted over a normal telephone line.
A scene which is divided into a plurality of pixels is raster scanned. During each scan an analog signal derived from a binary number and representing a given light intensity is compared against other analog signals representing the light intensity of each of the pixels. At any time when the light intensity of a pixel is greater than the given light intensity, the binary number associated with that given light intensity is stored in a register of a multiregister memory whose registers are assigned to the respective pixels. After each scan the given light intensity is increased.
An operator-interactive automated chromosome analysis system is employed by an operator to locate and identify acceptable metaphase spreads, form a karyotype by rearranging the identified metaphase spreads in accordance with a predetermined arrangement of the twenty-three pairs of chromosomes naturally occurring in human beings, and display the karyotype on a display or a hardcopy printout, or both. The system comprises the following elements: a mechanized microscope system; a microscope and closed circuit television arrangement for microscopically scanning the chromosome spreads; a metaphase detector producing an output indicating metaphase detection; a television monitor for viewing the detected metaphase spreads; a photographic printer for producing a hardcopy representation of the detected metaphase spreads; and a computer, including a video interface, for controlling the mechanized microscope stage to locate the metaphase spreads, for analyzing the metaphase detector output to determine the location and grades of metaphases, for displaying a patient identifier on the monitor or hardcopy, and for rearranging and displaying the detected metaphase spreads so as to produce the karyotype.
