Fundamentals of image processing for personal computers

Photographic images make an important contribution to medical education. Conventional means of display have included 35-mm projection, film, videotape, and more recently, analog videodiscs that accompany computer-based text. The availability of compact discs, with their enormous storage capacity, and of powerful central processing units now permits consideration of digital storage of visual images for display by the personal computer. The data processing required for the representation and transfer of high-quality images is forbidding, however, even with today's technology. The problem is compounded if one anticipates display of full-motion video. In this tutorial we first review the nature of analog signals and the process of capturing them in digital format. We then consider mass storage and the concept of compressing data into smaller amounts of information that can be processed and transferred by personal computers with the use of optical disc drives. A look into the future provides a vision of high-definition television-quality video in digital format.