Summary: The exponential explosion of images and videos concerns everybody's common life, since this media is now present everywhere and in all human activities. Scientists, artists and engineers, in any field, need to be aware of the basic mechanisms that allow them to understand how images are essentially information carriers. Images bear a strong evocative power, because their perception quickly brings into mind a number of related pictorial contents of past experiences, and even of abstract concepts like pleasure, attraction or aversion. This book analyzes the visual hints, thanks to which, images are generally interpreted, processed and exploited, both by humans and computer programs. Comprehensive introductory text Introduces the reader to the large world of imagery on which many human activities are based, from politics to entertainment, from technical reports to artistic creations Provides a unified framework where both biological and artificial vision are discussed through visual cues, through the role of contexts and the available multi-channels to deliver information.

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Includes bibliographical references.

Natural and artificial vision -- Visual cues -- The role of contexts -- Channeling the information.

The exponential explosion of images and videos concerns everybody's common life, since this media is now present everywhere and in all human activities. Scientists, artists and engineers, in any field, need to be aware of the basic mechanisms that allow them to understand how images are essentially information carriers. Images bear a strong evocative power, because their perception quickly brings into mind a number of related pictorial contents of past experiences, and even of abstract concepts like pleasure, attraction or aversion. This book analyzes the visual hints, thanks to which, images are generally interpreted, processed and exploited, both by humans and computer programs. Comprehensive introductory text Introduces the reader to the large world of imagery on which many human activities are based, from politics to entertainment, from technical reports to artistic creations Provides a unified framework where both biological and artificial vision are discussed through visual cues, through the role of contexts and the available multi-channels to deliver information.

Electronic reproduction. Amsterdam : Elsevier Science & Technology, 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web. System requirements: Web browser. Title from title screen (viewed on May 10, 2011). Access may be restricted to users at subscribing institutions.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

Foreword (p. ix)
Preface (p. xi)
Acknowledgments (p. xv)
1 Natural and Artificial Vision (p. 1)
Natural Vision (p. 3)
Artificial Vision (p. 4)
Destructuring Images (p. 5)
Structuring Images (p. 6)
The V-Schema (p. 7)
Images as Information Carriers (p. 8)
Dissecting Images (p. 9)
Artificial Vision Strategies (p. 10)
Refining (p. 11)
Scanning (p. 12)
Focusing (p. 14)
Tracking (p. 15)
Hypothesis Testing (p. 15)
Implementing on the Fly (p. 16)
Conclusions (p. 16)
2 Visual Cues (p. 19)
The Human Headway (p. 19)
Image Computer-Processing Tracks (p. 20)
The Photometric Track (p. 21)
Local Rendering (p. 21)
Photometric Analysis (p. 25)
Image Synthesis Following the Phong's Model (p. 27)
Global Rendering (p. 27)
Chromatic Clues (p. 33)
The Morphological Track (p. 44)
Shape Representation (p. 46)
Shape Extraction (p. 62)
Region Extraction (p. 71)
The Spatial Track (p. 77)
Space Modeling (p. 77)
Space Extraction (p. 88)
Decision Methods (p. 99)
Statistical Decision (p. 100)
Structural Decision (p. 101)
Semantic Decision (p. 104)
Conclusion (p. 105)
3 The Role of Contexts (p. 115)
Contexts According to Artists (p. 115)
Direct Retrieval (p. 116)
Recognition-Based Retrieval (p. 116)
Search-Based Retrieval (p. 117)
Context in Natural and Artificial Vision (p. 119)
An Operative Definition of Context and Events (p. 121)
The Perception and Action Framework (p. 123)
The Biological Solution (p. 123)
The Multiresolution Artificial Approach (p. 124)
A Common Paradigm for Biological and Artificial Vision (p. 125)
Direct Retrieval (p. 128)
The Biological Visual Search (p. 129)
The Artificial Visual Search (p. 132)
Recognition-Based Retrieval (p. 134)
The Biological Visual Classification (p. 134)
The Computer Vision Solution (p. 137)
Search-Based Retrieval (p. 146)
Biological Context-Bound Interpretation (p. 146)
The Automatic Behavior Analysis Track (p. 147)
Contexts and New Technologies (p. 153)
Toward Multimedia: Image Retrieval via Context (p. 153)
Cooperative Data Analysis (p. 164)
4 Channeling the Information (p. 177)
Filling the Channels (p. 177)
Multimedia Exploitation (p. 179)
Icons and Metaphors (p. 183)
Content Structure (p. 183)
Social Interaction (p. 184)
Role Rendering (p. 184)
Multimedia Exploitation (p. 185)
Seeing Through the Web (p. 186)
Looking with the Web (p. 187)
Ambient Intelligence (p. 192)
Augmented Reality (p. 194)
Pictorial Indexing (p. 195)
Annotation (p. 197)
Multimedia Communication (p. 199)
Icons and Metaphors (p. 201)
Current Icons (p. 203)
The Blending Approach (p. 204)
Structuring the Content (p. 206)
Adding a New Channel (p. 206)
Adding Pictures (p. 207)
Representation Grammars (p. 208)
Media Organization (p. 210)
Social Interaction (p. 211)
Usability (p. 212)
Accessibility (p. 219)
Cognitive Networks (p. 223)
Role Definition for Virtual Realism (p. 224)
Reality and Illusion (p. 224)
Games (p. 227)
Animation (p. 229)
Cyberspace (p. 231)
Final Remarks and Conclusions (p. 232)

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Virginio Cantoni received the Laurea (cum laude) in Electronic Engineering in 1972 from Pavia University, Italy. He was a researcher of the Italian National Research Council from 1975 to 1983, and is presently a Full Professor of Computer Programming at Pavia University. From 1989 to 1995 Cantoni was Director of the Deparment of Computer Engineering, and from 1985 to 1990, he was the President of the Italian Group of the International Association for Pattern Recognition. He has been a Visiting Professor at Rutgers University, and has been Invited Professor at the Paris XI University. Levialdi is a Fellow of the IAPR and a senior member of IEEE.

Dr Stefano Levialdi, IEEE Life Fellow, has published 300 papers on image processing, image communication and, in these last years, his research has focused on Human/Computer Interaction (visual languages and usability). He is Full Professor of Computer Science at Sapienza, Rome University since 1981. He won the Chair of Excelence at Carlos III University in Madrid. He has organized, chaired and contributed to over 50 International meetings. He is the Director of LUA (Laboratory of Usability and Accessibility at Sapienza). He is now retired, but works for the Elsevier Journal (JVLC) and reviews national research projects. His email is: stefano.levialdi@gmail.com