DIGITAL IMAGE PROCESSING

UNIT I
Introduction and Image Processing

Digital Image Processing (DIP) is a software which is used to manipulate the digital images
by the use of computer system. It is also used to enhance the images, to get some important
information from it. For example: Adobe Photoshop, MATLAB, etc.

It is also used in the conversion of signals from an image sensor into the digital images.

A certain number of algorithms are used in image processing.

o Digital Image Processing is a software which is used in image processing. For example:
computer graphics, signals, photography, camera mechanism, pixels, etc.
o Digital Image Processing provides a platform to perform various operations like image
enhancing, processing of analog and digital signals, image signals, voice signals etc.
o It provides images in different formats.

Digital Image Processing allows users the following tasks

o Image sharpening and restoration: The common applications of Image sharpening and
restoration are zooming, blurring, sharpening, grayscale conversion, edges detecting, Image
recognition, and Image retrieval, etc.
o Medical field: The common applications of medical field are Gamma-ray imaging, PET scan,
X-Ray Imaging, Medical CT, UV imaging, etc.
o Remote sensing: It is the process of scanning the earth by the use of satellite and
acknowledges all activities of space.
o Machine/Robot vision: It works on the vision of robots so that they can see things, identify
them, etc.

Characteristics of Digital Image Processing

o It uses software, and some are free of cost.
o It provides clear images.
 o Digital Image Processing do image enhancement to recollect the data through images.
o It is used widely everywhere in many fields.
o It reduces the complexity of digital image processing.
o It is used to support a better experience of life.

Advantages of Digital Image Processing

o Image reconstruction (CT, MRI, SPECT, PET)
o Image reformatting (Multi-plane, multi-view reconstructions)
o Fast image storage and retrieval
o Fast and high-quality image distribution.
o Controlled viewing (windowing, zooming)

Disadvantages of Digital Image Processing

o It is very much time-consuming.
o It is very much costly depending on the particular system.
o Qualified persons can be used.
Fundamental Steps of Digital Image Processing:

1. Image Acquisition
Image acquisition is the first step of the fundamental steps of DIP. In this stage, an image is
given in the digital form. Generally, in this stage, pre-processing such as scaling is done.

2. Image Enhancement
Image enhancement is the simplest and most attractive area of DIP. In this stage details which
are not known, or we can say that interesting features of an image is highlighted. Such as
brightness, contrast, etc...

3. Image Restoration
Image restoration is the stage in which the appearance of an image is improved.

4. Color Image Processing

Color image processing is a famous area because it has increased the use of digital images on
the internet. This includes color modeling, processing in a digital domain, etc....
5. Wavelets and Multi-Resolution Processing
In this stage, an image is represented in various degrees of resolution. Image is divided into
smaller regions for data compression and for the pyramidal representation.

6. Compression
Compression is a technique which is used for reducing the requirement of storing an image. It
is a very important stage because it is very necessary to compress data for internet use.

7. Morphological Processing
This stage deals with tools which are used for extracting the components of the image, which
is useful in the representation and description of shape.

8. Segmentation
In this stage, an image is a partitioned into its objects. Segmentation is the most difficult tasks
in DIP. It is a process which takes a lot of time for the successful solution of imaging
problems which requires objects to identify individually.

9. Representation and Description

Representation and description follow the output of the segmentation stage. The output is a
raw pixel data which has all points of the region itself. To transform the raw data,
representation is the only solution. Whereas description is used for extracting information's to
differentiate one class of objects from another.

10. Object recognition

In this stage, the label is assigned to the object, which is based on descriptors.

11. Knowledge Base

Knowledge is the last stage in DIP. In this stage, important information of the image is
located, which limits the searching processes. The knowledge base is very complex when the
image database has a high-resolution satellite.
Applications of Digital Image Processing
Almost in every field, digital image processing puts a live effect on things and is growing
with time to time and with new technologies.

1) Image sharpening and restoration

It refers to the process in which we can modify the look and feel of an image. It basically
manipulates the images and achieves the desired output. It includes conversion, sharpening,
blurring, detecting edges, retrieval, and recognition of images.

2) Medical Field
There are several applications under medical field which depends on the functioning of
digital image processing.

o Gamma-ray imaging
o PET scan
o X-Ray Imaging
o Medical CT scan
o UV imaging

3) Robot vision
There are several robotic machines which work on the digital image processing. Through
image processing technique robot finds their ways, for example, hurdle detection root and
line follower robot.

4) Pattern recognition
It involves the study of image processing, it is also combined with artificial intelligence such
that computer-aided diagnosis, handwriting recognition and images recognition can be easily
implemented. Now a days, image processing is used for pattern recognition.
5) Video processing
It is also one of the applications of digital image processing. A collection of frames or
pictures are arranged in such a way that it makes the fast movement of pictures. It involves
frame rate conversion, motion detection, reduction of noise and colour space conversion etc.

Human Visual System

Although the field of digital image processing is built on a foundation of mathematics, human
intuition and analysis often play a role in the choice of one technique versus another, and this
choice often is made based on subjective, visual judgments. Thus, developing an
understanding of basic characteristics of human visual perception as a first step in our journey
through this book is appropriate. In particular, our interest is in the elementary mechanics of
how images are formed and perceived by humans. We are interested in learning the physical
limitations of human vision in terms of factors that also are used in our work with digital
images. Factors such as how human and electronic imaging devices compare in terms of
resolution and ability to adapt to changes in illumination are not only interesting, they are
also important from a practical point of view.
STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN EYE
Figure 2.1 shows a simplified cross section of the human eye. The eye is nearly a sphere
(with a diameter of about 20 mm) enclosed by three membranes: the cornea and sclera outer
cover; the choroid; and the retina. The cornea is a tough, transparent tissue that covers the
anterior surface of the eye. Continuous with the cornea, the sclera is an opaque membrane
that encloses the remainder of the optic globe. The choroid lies directly below the sclera. This
membrane contains a network of blood vessels that serve as the major source of nutrition to
the eye. Even superficial
injury to the choroid can lead to severe eye damage as a result of inflammation that restricts
blood flow. The choroid coat is heavily pigmented, which helps reduce the amount of
extraneous light entering the eye and the backscatter within the optic globe. At its anterior
extreme, the choroid is divided into the ciliary body and the iris. The latter contracts or
expands to control the amount of light that enters the eye. The central opening of the iris (the
pupil) varies in diameter from approximately 2 to 8 mm. The front of the iris contains the
visible pigment of the eye, whereas the back contains a black pigment. The lens consists of
concentric layers of fibrous cells and is suspended by fibers that attach to the ciliary body. It
is composed of 60% to 70% water, about 6% fat, and more protein than any other tissue in
the eye. The lens is colored by a slightly yellow pigmentation that increases with age. In
extreme cases, excessive clouding of the lens, referred to as cataracts, can lead to poor color
discrimination and loss of clear vision. The lens absorbs approximately 8% of the visible
light spectrum, with higher absorption at shorter wavelengths. Both infrared and ultraviolet
light are absorbed by proteins within the lens and, in excessive amounts, can damage the eye.
The innermost membrane of the eye is the retina, which lines the inside of the wall’s entire
posterior portion. When the eye is focused, light from an object is imaged on the retina.
Pattern vision is afforded by discrete light receptors distributed over the surface of the retina.
There are two types of receptors: cones and rods. There are between 6 and 7 million cones in
each eye. They are located primarily in the central portion of the retina, called the fovea, and
are highly sensitive to color. Humans can resolve fine details because each cone is connected
to its own nerve end. Muscles rotate the eye until the image of a region of interest falls on the
fovea. Cone vision is called photopic or bright-light vision. The number of rods is much
larger: Some 75 to 150 million are distributed over the retina. The larger area of distribution,
and the fact that several rods are connected to a single nerve ending, reduces the amount of
detail discernible by these receptors. Rods capture an overall image of the field of view. They
are not involved in color vision, and are sensitive to low levels of illumination. For example,
objects that appear brightly colored in daylight appear as colorless forms in moonlight
because only the rods are stimulated. This phenomenon is known as scotopic or dim-light
vision. Figure 2.2 shows the density of rods and cones for a cross section of the right eye,
passing through the region where the optic nerve emerges from the eye. The absence of
receptors in this area causes the so-called blind spot (see Fig. 2.1). Except for this region, the
distribution of receptors is radially symmetric about the fovea. Receptor density is measured
in degrees from the visual axis. Note in Fig. 2.2 that cones are most dense in the center area
of the fovea, and that rods increase in density from the center out to approximately 20° off
axis. Then, their density decreases out to the periphery of the retina. The fovea itself is a
circular indentation in the retina of about 1.5 mm in diameter, so it has an area of
approximately 1.77 mm2 . As Fig. 2.2 shows, the density of cones in that area of the retina is
on the order of 150,000 elements per mm2 . Based on these figures, the number of cones in
the fovea, which is the region of highest acuity

in the eye, is about 265,000 elements. Modern electronic imaging chips exceed this number
by a large factor. While the ability of humans to integrate intelligence and experience with
vision makes purely quantitative comparisons somewhat superficial, keep in mind for future
discussions that electronic imaging sensors can easily exceed the capability of the eye in
resolving image detail.
IMAGE FORMATION IN THE EYE
In an ordinary photographic camera, the lens has a fixed focal length. Focusing at various
distances is achieved by varying the distance between the lens and the imaging plane, where
the film (or imaging chip in the case of a digital camera) is located. In the human eye, the
converse is true; the distance between the center of the lens and the imaging sensor (the
retina) is fixed, and the focal length needed to achieve proper focus is obtained by varying the
shape of the lens. The fibers in the ciliary body accomplish this by flattening or thickening
the lens for distant or near objects, respectively. The distance between the center of the lens
and the retina along the visual axis is approximately 17 mm. The range of focal lengths is
approximately 14 mm to 17 mm, the latter taking place when the eye is relaxed and focused
at distances greater than about 3 m. The geometry in Fig. 2.3 illustrates how to obtain the
dimensions of an image formed on the retina. For example, suppose that a person is looking
at a tree 15 m high at a distance of 100 m. Letting h denote the height of that object in the
retinal image, the geometry of Fig. 2.3 yields 15 100 17 = h or h = 2 5. mm. As indicated
earlier in this section, the retinal image is focused primarily on the region of the fovea.
Perception then takes place by the relative excitation of light receptors, which transform
radiant energy into electrical impulses that ultimately are decoded by the brain.
BRIGHTNESS ADAPTATION AND DISCRIMINATION
Because digital images are displayed as sets of discrete intensities, the eye’s ability to
discriminate between different intensity levels is an important consideration

in presenting image processing results. The range of light intensity levels to which the human
visual system can adapt is enormous—on the order of 1010— from the scotopic threshold to
the glare limit. Experimental evidence indicates that subjective brightness (intensity as
perceived by the human visual system) is a logarithmic function of the light intensity incident
on the eye. Figure 2.4, a plot of light intensity versus subjective brightness, illustrates this
characteristic. The long solid curve represents the range of intensities to which the visual
system can adapt. In photopic vision alone, the range is about 106 . The transition from
scotopic to photopic vision is gradual over the approximate range from 0.001 to 0.1
millilambert (−3 to −1 mL in the log scale), as the double branches of the adaptation curve in
this range show.

IMAGE SAMPLING AND QUANTIZATION

As discussed in the previous section, there are numerous ways to acquire images, but our
objective in all is the same: to generate digital images from sensed data. The output of most
sensors is a continuous voltage waveform whose amplitude and spatial behavior are related to
the physical phenomenon being sensed. To create a digital image, we need to convert the
continuous sensed data into a digital format. This requires two processes: sampling and
quantization. Figure 2.16(a) shows a continuous image f that we want to convert to digital
form. An image may be continuous with respect to the x- and y-coordinates, and also in

amplitude. To digitize it, we have to sample the function in both coordinates and also in
amplitude. Digitizing the coordinate values is called sampling. Digitizing the amplitude
values is called quantization. The one-dimensional function in Fig. 2.16(b) is a plot of
amplitude (intensity level) values of the continuous image along the line segment AB in Fig.
2.16(a). The random variations are due to image noise. To sample this function, we take
equally spaced samples along line AB, as shown in Fig. 2.16(c). The samples are shown as
small dark squares superimposed on the function, and their (discrete) spatial locations are
indicated by corresponding tick marks in the bottom of the figure. The set of dark squares
constitute the sampled function. However, the values of the samples still span (vertically) a
continuous range of intensity values. In order to form a digital function, the intensity values
also must be converted (quantized) into discrete quantities. The vertical gray bar in Fig.
2.16(c) depicts the intensity scale divided into eight discrete intervals, ranging from black to
white. The vertical tick marks indicate the specific value assigned to each of the eight
intensity intervals. The continuous intensity levels are quantized by assigning one of the eight
values to each sample, depending on the vertical proximity of a sample to a vertical tick
mark. The digital samples resulting from both sampling and quantization are shown as white
squares in Fig. 2.16(d). Starting at the top of the continuous image and carrying out this
procedure downward, line by line, produces a two-dimensional digital image. It is implied in
Fig. 2.16 that, in addition to the number of discrete levels used, the accuracy achieved in
quantization is highly dependent on the noise content of the sampled signal.
In practice, the method of sampling is determined by the sensor arrangement used to generate
the image. When an image is generated by a single sensing element combined with
mechanical motion, as in Fig. 2.13, the output of the sensor is quantized in the manner
described above. However, spatial sampling is accomplished by selecting the number of
individual mechanical increments at which we activate the sensor to collect data. Mechanical
motion can be very exact so, in principle, there is almost no limit on how fine we can sample
an image using this approach. In practice, limits on sampling accuracy are determined by
other factors, such as the quality of the optical components used in the system. When a
sensing strip is used for image acquisition, the number of sensors in the strip establishes the
samples in the resulting image in one direction, and mechanical motion establishes the
number of samples in the other. Quantization of the sensor outputs completes the process of
generating a digital image. When a sensing array is used for image acquisition, no motion is
required. The number of sensors in the array establishes the limits of sampling in both
directions. Quantization of the sensor outputs is as explained above. Figure 2.17 illustrates
this concept. Figure 2.17(a) shows a continuous image projected onto the plane of a 2-D
sensor. Figure 2.17(b) shows the image after sampling and quantization. The quality of a
digital image is determined to a large degree by the number of samples and discrete intensity
levels used in sampling and quantization. However, as we will show later in this section,
image content also plays a role in the choice of these parameters.

REPRESENTING DIGITAL IMAGES

Let f (s ,t ) represent a continuous image function of two continuous variables, s and t. We
convert this function into a digital image by sampling and quantization, as explained in the
previous section. Suppose that we sample the continuous image into a digital image, f xy ( , ),
containing M rows and N columns, where (,) x y are discrete coordinates. For notational
clarity and convenience, we use integer values for these discrete coordinates: x M = − 012 ,,, ,
… 1 and y N = − 012 ,,, , … 1. Thus, for example, the value of the digital image at the origin
is f( , 0 0), and its value at the next coordinates along the first row is f( , 0 1). Here, the
notation (0, 1) is used to denote the second sample along the first row. It does not mean that
these are the values of the physical coordinates when the image was sampled. In general, the
value of a digital image at any coordinates (,) x y is denoted f xy ( , ), where x and y are
integers. When we need to refer to specific coordinates (, ) i j , we use the notation fij ( , ),
where the arguments are integers. The section of the real plane spanned by the coordinates of
an image is called the spatial domain, with x and y being referred to as spatial variables or
spatial coordinates. Figure 2.18 shows three ways of representing f xy ( , ). Figure 2.18(a) is a
plot of the function, with two axes determining spatial location and the third axis being the
values of f as a function of x and y. This representation is useful when working with
grayscale sets whose elements are expressed as triplets of the form (,,) x y z , where x and y
are spatial coordinates and z is the value of f at coordinates ( , ). x y We will work with this
representation briefly in Section 2.6. The representation in Fig. 2.18(b) is more common, and
it shows f xy ( , ) as it would appear on a computer display or photograph. Here, the intensity
of each point in the display is proportional to the value of f at that point. In this figure, there
are only three equally spaced intensity values. If the intensity is normalized to the interval [ ,
], 0 1 then each point in the image has the value 0, 0.5, or 1. A monitor or printer converts
these three values to black, gray, or white, respectively, as in Fig. 2.18(b). This type of
representation includes color images, and allows us to view results at a glance. As Fig.
2.18(c) shows, the third representation is an array (matrix) composed of the numerical values
of f xy ( , ). This is the representation used for computer processing. In equation form, we
write the representation of an M N* numerical array as

The right side of this equation is a digital image represented as an array of real numbers. Each
element of this array is called an image element, picture element, pixel, or pel. We use the
terms image and pixel throughout the book to denote a digital image and its elements. Figure
2.19 shows a graphical representation of an image array, where the x- and y-axis are used to
denote the rows and columns of the array. Specific pixels are values of the array at a fixed
pair of coordinates. As mentioned earlier, we generally use fij ( , ) when referring to a pixel
with coordinates ( , ). i j We can also represent a digital image in a traditional matrix form:

Clearly, a= fij(i,j) so Eqs. (2-9) and (2-10) denote identical arrays.

As Fig. 2.19 shows, we define the origin of an image at the top left corner. This is a
convention based on the fact that many image displays (e.g., TV monitors) sweep an image
starting at the top left and moving to the right, one row at a time. More important is the fact
that the first element of a matrix is by convention at the top left of the array. Choosing the
origin of f xy ( , ) at that point makes sense mathematically because digital images in reality
are matrices. In fact, as you will see, sometimes we use x and y interchangeably in equations
with the rows (r) and columns (c) of a matrix. It is important to note that the representation in
Fig. 2.19, in which the positive x-axis extends downward and the positive y-axis extends to
the right, is precisely the right-handed Cartesian coordinate system with which you are
familiar,† but shown rotated by 90° so that the origin appears on the top, left.

Spatial and grey level resolution

SPATIAL AND INTENSITY RESOLUTION
Intuitively, spatial resolution is a measure of the smallest discernible detail in an image.
Quantitatively, spatial resolution can be stated in several ways, with line pairs per unit
distance, and dots (pixels) per unit distance being common measures. Suppose that we
construct a chart with alternating black and white vertical lines, each of width W units (W
can be less than 1). The width of a line pair is thus 2W, and there are W 2 line pairs per unit
distance. For example, if the width of a line is 0.1 mm, there are 5 line pairs per unit distance
(i.e., per mm). A widely used definition of image resolution is the largest number of
discernible line pairs per unit distance (e.g., 100 line pairs per mm). Dots per unit distance is
a measure of image resolution used in the printing and publishing industry. In the U.S., this
measure usually is expressed as dots per inch (dpi). To give you an idea of quality,
newspapers are printed with a resolution of 75 dpi, magazines at 133 dpi, glossy brochures at
175 dpi, and the book page at which you are presently looking was printed at 2400 dpi. To be
meaningful, measures of spatial resolution must be stated with respect to spatial units. Image
size by itself does not tell the complete story. For example, to say that an image has a
resolution of 1024 1024 * pixels is not a meaningful statement without stating the spatial
dimensions encompassed by the image. Size by itself is helpful only in making comparisons
between imaging capabilities. For instance, a digital camera with a 20-megapixel CCD
imaging chip can be expected to have a higher capability to resolve detail than an 8-
megapixel camera, assuming that both cameras are equipped with comparable lenses and the
comparison images are taken at the same distance. Intensity resolution similarly refers to the
smallest discernible change in intensity level. We have considerable discretion regarding the
number of spatial samples (pixels) used to generate a digital image, but this is not true
regarding the number of intensity levels. Based on hardware considerations, the number of
intensity levels usually is an integer power of two, as we mentioned when discussing Eq. (2-
11). The most common number is 8 bits, with 16 bits being used in some applications in
which enhancement of specific intensity ranges is necessary. Intensity quantization using 32
bits is rare. Sometimes one finds systems that can digitize the intensity levels of an image
using 10 or 12 bits, but these are not as common. Unlike spatial resolution, which must be
based on a per-unit-of-distance basis to be meaningful, it is common practice to refer to the
number of bits used to quantize intensity as the “intensity resolution.” For example, it is
common to say that an image whose intensity is quantized into 256 levels has 8 bits of
intensity resolution. However, keep in mind that discernible changes in intensity are
influenced also by noise and saturation values, and by the capabilities of human perception to
analyze and interpret details in the context of an entire scene (see Section 2.1). The following
two examples illustrate the effects of spatial and intensity resolution on discernible detail.
Later in this section, we will discuss how these two parameters interact in determining
perceived image quality.
SOME BASIC RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN
PIXELS
paragraph, a 4-path between the two regions does not exist, so their union is not a connected
set).
Color Fundamentals
In this chapter we discuss fundamentals of color image processing using the Image
Processing Toolbox and extend some of its functionality by developing additional color
generation and transformation functions.
Color Image Representation in MATLAB As noted in Section 2.6, the Image
Processing Toolbox handles color images either as indexed images or RGB (red, green, blue)
images. In this section we discuss these two image types in some detail. 7.1.1 RGB Images
An RGB color image is an M X N X 3 array of color pixels, where each color pixel is a triplet
corresponding to the red, green, and blue components of an RGB image at a specific spatial
location (see Fig. 7.1 ). An RGB image may be viewed as a "stack" of three gray-scale
images that, when fed into the red, green, and blue inputs of a color monitor, produce a color
image on the screen. By convention, the three images forming an RGB color image are
referred to as the red, green, and blue component images. The data class of the component
images determines their range of values. If an RGB image is of class double, the range of
values is [O, 1 ]. Similarly, the range of values is [O, 255] or [O, 65535] for RGB images of
class uint8 or uint 1 6, respectively. The number of bits used to represent the pixel values of
the component images determines the bit depth of an RGB image. For example, if each
component image is an 8-bit image, the corresponding RGB image is said to be 24 bits deep.
Generally, the number of bits in all component images is the same. In this case, the number of
possible colors in an RGB image is (2" ) 3 where b is the number of bits in each component
image. For an 8-bit image, the number is 16,777,216 colors. Let fR, fG, and fB represent
three RGB component images. An RGB image is formed from these images by using the cat
(concatenate ) operator to stack the images:
 rgb_image = cat (3, fR , fG , fB)

The order in which the images are placed in the operand matters. In general, cat ( dim
, A 1 , A2 , . . . ) concatenates the arrays (which must be of the same size) along the
dimension specified by dim. For example, if dim = 1, the arrays are arranged vertically, if
dim = 2, they are arranged horizontally, and, if dim = 3, they are stacked in the third
dimension, as in Fig. 7.1. If all component images are identical, the result is a gray-scale
image. Let rgb_image denote an RGB image. The following commands extract the three
component images:

>> fR rgb_image (: , :, 1 ) ;
>> fG rgb_image (: , :, 2 ) ;
>> fB rgb_image (: , :, 3 ) ;

The RGB color space usually is shown graphically as an RGB color cube, as depicted
in Fig. 7.2. The vertices of the cube are the primary (red, green, and blue) and secondary
(cyan, magenta, and yellow) colors of light. To view the color cube from any perspective, use
custom function rgbcube:

rgbcube ( vx, vy , vz )

Typing rgbcube ( vx , vy , vz ) at the prompt produces an RGB cube on the MATLAB

desktop, viewed from point ( vx , vy , vz ). The resulting image can be saved to disk using
function print, discussed in Section 2.4. The code for function rgbcube follows.

FIGURE 7.2 (a) Schematic of the RGB color cube showing the primary and
secondary colors of light at the vertices. Points along the main diagonal have gray values
from black at the origin to white at point (1 . 1 , 1 ). (b)The RGB color cube.
Converting Between Color Spaces (Color Model)
As explained in the previous section, the toolbox represents colors as RGB values,
directly in an RGB image, or indirectly in an indexed image, where the color map is stored in
RGB format. However, there are other color spaces (also called color models) whose use in
some applications may be more convenient and/or meaningful than RGB. These models are
transformations of the RGB model and include the NTSC, YCbCr, HSY, CMY, CMYK, and
HSI color spaces. The toolbox provides conversion functions from RGB to the NTSC,
YCbCr, HSY and CMY color spaces, and back.
NTSC Color Space The NTSC color system is used in analog television. One of the main
advantages of this format is that gray-scale information is separate from color data, so the
same signal can be used for both color and monochrome television sets. In the NTSC format,
image data consists of three components: luminance (Y), hue (!), and saturation ( Q), where
the choice of the letters YIQ is conventional. The luminance component represents gray-scale
information, and the other two components carry the color information of a TV signal. The
YIQ components are obtained from the RGB components of an image using the linear
transformation

Note that the elements of the first row sum to 1 and the elements of the next two rows
sum to 0. This is as expected because for a grayscale image all the RGB components are
equal, so the I and Q components should be 0 for such an image. Function rgb2ntsc performs
the preceding transformation:
yiq_image = rgb2ntsc ( rgb_image)
where the input RGB image can be of class uint8, uint1 6, or double. The output
image is an M X N X 3 array of class double. Component image
yiq_image (:, : , 1) is the luminance,
yiq_image ( : , : , 2) is the hue, and
yiq_image ( : , : , 3) is the saturation image.

The YCbCr Color Space

The YCbCr color space is used extensively in digital video. In this format, luminance
information is represented by a single component, Y, and color information is stored as two
color-difference components, Cb and Cr. Component Cb is the difference between the blue
component and a reference value, and component Cr is the difference between the red
component and a reference value (Poynton (1 996]). The transformation used by the toolbox
to convert from RGB to YCbCr is
 The conversion function is
ycbc r_image = rgb2ycbcr ( rgb_image )

The input RGB image can be of class uintB, uint 16, or double. The output image is of the
same class as the input. A similar transformation converts from YCbCr back to RGB:
rgb_image = ycbr2rgb(ycbcr_image)

The input YCbCr image can be of class uint8, uint 1 6, or double. The output image is of the
same class as the input.

The HSV Color Space

HSY (hue, saturation, value) is one of several color systems used by people to select
colors (e.g., of paints or inks) from a color wheel or palette. This color system is considerably
closer than the RGB system to the way in which humans experience and describe color
sensations. In artists' terminology, hue, saturation, and value refer approximately to tint,
shade, and tone. The HSY color space is formulated by looking at the RGB color cube along
its gray axis (the axis joining the black and white vertices), which results in the hexagonally
shaped color palette shown in Fig. 7.5(a). As we move along the vertical (gray) axis in Fig.
7.5(b), the size of the hexagonal plane that is perpendicular to the axis changes, yielding the
volume depicted in the figure. Hue is expressed as an angle around a color hexagon, typically
using the red axis as the reference (0°) axis. The value component is measured along the axis
of the cone.

in the center of the full color hexagon in Fig. 7.5(a). Thus, this axis represents all
shades of gray. Saturation (purity of the color) is measured as the distance from the V axis.
The HSY color system is based on cylindrical coordinates. Converting from RGB to HSY
entails developing the equations to map RGB values (which are in Cartesian coordinates) to
cylindrical coordinates. This topic is treated in detail in most texts on computer graphics so
we do not develop the equations here. The MATLAB function for converting from RGB to
HSY is rgb2hsv, whose syntax is
hsv_image = rgb2hsv ( rgb_image )