Digital Cameras - Week 1

We have reached the end of ebooks. I applaud my group members for providing me with interesting and thought provoking comments. For the next few weeks, I will be discussing the wonderful world of digital cameras. I must say, since I purchased my own digital camera I don't know how I survived without one.
The article that I cut and pasted uses some sophisticated language but provided me with a better understanding of the workings of digital cameras.



AUTHOR:
Petko Dinev, Imperx
TITLE:
Digital Cameras in Control Applications
SOURCE:
Control Engineering 54 no4 IM5-IM8 Ap 2007
COPYRIGHT:
Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved. To contact the publisher: http://www.reedbusiness.com
Machine vision is an increasingly valuable technology for industrial control, with uses in automated quality inspection, error detection, parametric measurements, and automated assembly. A key component of such systems, affecting the cost, speed, and accuracy of applied machine vision, is the digital camera. Understanding camera specifications and their importance in various vision tasks is an essential step toward applying machine vision to industrial control.Machine vision systems have three main elements: an image processor, a frame grabber, and a camera. The image processor is the programmable computer element that works with the stored image to extract whatever information the application requires. The frame grabber collects the high-resolution images that the processor needs to access. Both are relatively straightforward electronic devices where memory depth and processing speed are the main parameters.The key, and most complex, element of a machine-vision system is the camera. Most systems now employ digital cameras, which use charge-coupled devices (CCDs) as the image sensors. A CCD consists of an array of square photosensitive cells that convert incoming photons to electrons and accumulate the resulting charge. Cells are wired in series, forming rows and columns, with each cell representing one picture element, or pixel.During image readout, control lines in the CCD cause cells to transfer their charge to an adjacent cell in a row or column, moving the accumulated charge along in bucket-brigade fashion. Reading an image from a digital camera thus consists of many repeated row-and-column transfers that ultimately move cell contents past a charge sensor and digitizer to produce the camera output one pixel at a time.
Resolution vs. speedOne of a digital camera's primary parameters is its resolution, which has two components: the number of sensing elements (pixels) in the CCD array, and the size of each sensing element. Pixel counts can range from a few hundred thousand to many millions. Element sizes typically run from 5 to 12 1/4m on each edge.A second key parameter is frame rate, or the speed with which the camera can deliver successive images. Because row-and-column readout limits speed, the pixel count and frame rate of a camera are intertwined: the more pixels a camera offers, the slower its frame rate. The rule is not hard-and-fast, however. A finer-geometry semiconductor process usually allows faster shift rates, so two cameras of the same pixel count could have significantly different frame rates if they use CCDs made with different processes. Also, camera sensors may be designed to break the image into sections for simultaneous readout through multiple ports. Breaking the image into four equal sections, for example, can speed the image readout by a factor of four. It is also possible under software control to read out only an "area of interest" in the image rather than the full sensor array, reducing the transfer time.While resolution and frame rate are the camera parameters developers consider most often, several others merit investigation. One is the dynamic range, or number of bits per pixel. This parameter affects the memory size needed in the frame grabber as well as the arithmetic precision needed in the image processor. It also has an impact on the sensor's exposure latitude. Cameras with a few bits per pixel will support more restricted lighting conditions than a camera offering more bits.A sensor's sensitivity also dictates the lighting conditions required for operation. Low light or the need to use fast shutter speeds to eliminate motion-related image blurring require a more sensitive camera. The camera's wavelength-dependent sensitivity may also be important. Depending on the application, infrared, ultraviolet, or even x-ray lighting may be needed, and the camera's wavelength sensitivity should match. Finally, a camera's ability to produce color or monochrome images can be important.These various parameters all interact to dictate a camera's cost. Typically, larger pixel-count cameras are more expensive. Similarly, faster frame rates for a given resolution also tend to boost camera cost. Trying to simultaneously achieve high frame rates and high resolution usually requires cameras with multi-port readouts, which add cost and complexity.
Varying vision requirementsThe right set of camera parameters for a given application depends on what the machine vision system is trying to achieve. Three common applications are visual inspection, contactless measurement, and identification and orientation of objects. Each has different vision requirements.Inspection systems typically take an image and compare it to a template or "known-good" image to identify variations. Here, a high-quality image is often required for the image processor to make reliable comparisons. This means that the camera must offer high resolution and many bits per pixel. Color capability may also be requiredContactless measurement systems take pictures of objects, then count the number of pixels the object occupies, translating that count into a dimensional value. High resolution may be required in such systems, but bits-per-pixel may not need to be as high. Often, the image processor extracts only edges or outlines from the image, so wide dynamic ranges and color typically are not needed.Object identification and orientation applications have varying requirements. In many cases, the image processing system seeks to identify reference marks called fiducials in the image. The resolution required depends on the size of these marks relative to the overall image size. Identification applications may also need color capability.
Matching the applicationMatching the camera to the application depends on performance as well as function. In an inspection application, for instance, the image area to inspect and the size of defects to be detected set the camera's resolution requirement. Finding small defects in large objects requires high resolution. One such system, used to rapidly inspect glass panels of high-definition plasma televisions, looks for defects as small as 5 ?1/4m on a panel 2.5 m wide. This system requires a dozen 11 megapixel cameras to image the entire sheet in one frame! A system for inspecting the screw threads on bottle tops, on the other hand, can work with much lower resolution, as defects must be much more substantial to compromise the bottle.Measurement systems similarly depend on the size of the object involved and the precision needed to establish the resolution requirement. A system measuring threads on a 10-mm-long machine with 1 1/4m precision will require an image with at least 10k pixels in a line. If measuring the length with millimeter precision, however, much lower resolution can be tolerated.Identification-system requirements can vary widely, depending on the nature of the matching template. A system to verify that pills being loaded into bottles are the right type (a safety feature in pharmaceutical manufacturing) may need to identify general shape, end cap color, and visible markings at a fairly modest resolution. A system for automated assembly of circuit boards, on the other hand, may need very high resolution. The system needs to measure positions of fiducial marks on boards in an assembly frame with high accuracy to control movement of component-placement arms.
Frame rate sets throughputIn all these systems, the camera frame rate establishes system throughput. The higher the frame rate, the more inspections, measurements, or identifications the system can accomplish in a given time. Because throughput affects manufacturing cost, the tendency is to choose the fastest camera available.The camera is not the only system element to be considered, however. Frame grabber and image processor speeds also may create limits. For instance, if image processing requirements are complex, a simple embedded processor may be unable to complete them as fast as the camera can supply frames. Thus, high throughput increases camera and other system costs.Similarly, resolution requirements affect costs beyond the camera. Optics needed for larger image areas and finer details are more expensive. In addition, the optical design becomes more critical as better images are needed. Stray light in the wrong place can easily compromise system accuracy.Resolution and frame rate thus have compound effects on system costs, so the benefits of machine vision systems in manufacturing must be evaluated carefully. Early detection of errors saves wasted effort and materials, but that savings must offset the cost of a vision system with the required throughput to be practical. Developers will need to determine the tradeoffs between vision system performance, system throughput, and cost savings to arrive at the right combination for their machine-vision systems.Unfortunately for many installations, machine vision resolution and throughput requirements may vary over time. For instance, changing product dimensions or production line reconfigurations may force replacement of machine vision cameras if they cannot match the new requirements. One way to avoid such replacements is to use a programmable camera in the first place. Programmable cameras allow users to change effective resolution and frame rates under software control so they can be matched to the application without an equipment change.The interplay of performance parameters with system costs makes the evaluation of cameras for control applications a challenging exercise. Programmable cameras can help by adding flexibility to the solution, but they are not a substitute for sound engineering. Developers need to understand application needs in detail, along with the benefits a machine-vision system will offer, to determine the optimum combination of camera parameters.ADDED MATERIALPetko Dinev, ImperxPetko Dinev is president of Imperx, www.imperx.com

Concluding ebooks and cyberbullying

This is the last week of discussing ebooks. I have to admit, when I was first assigned that topic, I was not thrilled. I thought I would not be able to find any information. Surprisingly, there is alot of information out there. I learned that when ebooks first hit the market years ago, there was a big hype and people expected them to be very popular. But, they weren't and nobody really discussed them. Now, they are trying to make a comeback by targeting certain markets, such as textbooks. I think this is a great idea. I always hated lugging around my huge textbooks so I feel in this venue they could be successful. As with anything, they do have their pros and cons. Again, I feel that if they are used in the right venue, ebooks have a future.
This week in my class, the topic of discussion is cyberbullying. I feel that cyberbullying is just as bad as face to face bullying and should be stopped by all means. In schools, we as educators have to work with our parents to make sure that children our using the computers safely and not recklessly. It is an important partnership that must be fostered.
Again, thank you for your comments and next week I will be moving on to the topic of digital cameras.

Week 4 - Last week of ebooks

This week I found an interesting artcile on integrating ebooks into libraries. This of course poses many challenges. How will the public respond to ebooks in the library? There are many hurdles that libraries will have to deal with. It would be interesting to find how many public libraries have integrated ebooks into their collections and how big their collections are. In my opinion, I would think most libraries would be opposed to ebooks. Please share your thoughts.

http://www.emeraldinsight.com.libezproxy2.syr.edu/10.1108/02640470510582790

What have we learned about ebooks?

This will be the final week ebooks are discussed. Next week I will begin discussing digital cameras. I found an interesting article about integrating ebooks into libraries. This process poses many challenges. Please share your thoughts.

http://www.emeraldinsight.com.libezproxy2.syr.edu/10.1108/02640470510582790

This week I have was given a great website that lists the pros and cons of ebooks. It was given to me by a fellow classmate, Melody who also has a blog. I like how it lists the pros and cons.
Another comment was made about how ebooks can be useful to people with disabilities which I think is a great suggestion. Pleas check out the article and share your thoughts.

http://www.caravanbooks.com/pros-cons.html

Week 3 - The quest continues

So for week 3, I was able to find a positive article on ebooks. They are actually trying to make a comeback. The article I found compared ebooks to steroids because they are trying to make them bigger, better and faster. It has mentions four new companies that are getting into the business of ebooks: Knovel, ProQuest, ebrary, and Springer.
This week I will also be discussing game-based learning. Please share your thoughts.

http://www.infotodayblog.com/2007/06/06/e-books-on-steroids/#comment-1881

Searching for Positive Information

So far in my quest for finding information on ebooks, I have not found any positive information. This weeks article stated all the reasons why they have not become successful. It did state that they needed to start on a smaller scale which is a start. I do agree that when I am reading a book for enjoyment I want to curl up in a comfortable spot and read. Bringing my laptop and trying to curl up with it just doesn't seem to work. I am still searching.

Week 2

Hello Everyone! I am doing this backwards this week. I posted an article in the previous post about ebooks and why they are not successful. This week I would like to hear your thoughts about why you think ebooks are not successful. The article previously mentioned that ebooks need to find there niche and I feel that is the key to there success. Ebooks are trying to appeal to everyone and they need to focus more on individual groups and then expand from there. I can't wait to hear your thoughts.

Here is an interesting article about why e-books are not successful. The author gives seven solid reasons why e-books are not as successful as they could be. About seven years ago, many businesses projected that ebooks would be highly profitable but that is not the case. Please share your thoughts.


http://www.econtentmag.com/Articles/ArticleReader.aspx?ArticleID=18144&Query=eBooks

Link to Article

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6341867.html

Sorry about the mistake. I am still learning.

E-books Struggling To Find a Niche
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Lack of content and standards and a plethora of platforms are stumbling blocks, but is the future in phones?
By Michael Rogers -- Library Journal, 6/15/2006

While ebooks in various incarnations have been on librarians' radar screens for roughly a decade, publishers, designers, and business execs speaking at the International Digital Publishing Forum: Connected & Mobile 2006 in New York City, May 24, claim ebooks are still struggling for a foothold. IDPF president Steve Potash contends that “from all the available content in the world, audio/video and pictures have found a larger audience” than ebooks.

The reasons are many. First and foremost is lack of adequate content. Dan Rose, Amazon.com's director of digital media, claims that it's a “chicken and egg” scenario: “Publishers don't want to pay for conversion because there's not enough customers, and there's not enough customers because there's not enough content from publishers.”

Another hurdle is a lack of standards and a plethora of platforms, many of which are brandcentric. Speakers traced at least ten different platforms for individual manufacturer's devices. Most consumers won't invest in more than one, leaving them blocked from the others' content. Potash advised all content providers to use the OEBPS format (which Adobe announced it is embracing), so consumers can access ebooks across platforms.

Although nearly all previous ebook reading devices withered, consumer giant Sony is trying its hand with the release of the Sony Reader. The diminutive gizmo (it weighs nine ounces) holds 80 titles, the screen is viewable in direct sunlight, and the battery is good for viewing 7500 pages on a single charge. No word on price. Along with ebooks, it also handles business documents and Word text files. Whether Sony can succeed where so many others in the U.S. market have not (many speakers say this country is years behind others in certain areas of technology) will be interesting to see.

Cells from hell

While hawking his company's new reader, the iLiad, William Endhoven of iRex Technologies said that despite all the hours now spent in front of computer screens both generating and absorbing information, most people still don't read at length on PCs: “Beyond three or four pages, people still print everything out.” Endhoven and others assert that ebooks need to be more than just digital images of pages. They have to find their own identity as a new entity, capitalizing on all the riches that technology can bring.

Martin Gorner, Mobipocket's senior software architect, says that the public soon may be holding the future of ebooks in the palm of their hands—literally. Predicting that PDAs and BlackBerrys are endangered species, Gorner believes that in five or so years, everything—Internet, email, and all assorted downloads including ­ebooks—will be handled by smartphones. Screens are getting larger, and resolution is improving to the point where the public will read on their phone screens, he said. Mobility is key. People don't want to download files to their PCs only to have to copy them over to the PDA; they want wireless access through a single device, and that magic wand will be smartphones by Nokia and other manufacturers.

Information snacks

Elizabeth Mackey, general manager for ereader/motricity, concurs with Gorner, saying that smartphones will be 25 percent of all phone sales by 2010, as portability creates demand, and offered the frightening mantra, “If you're not on their screen, you're not in their world.” Agreeing that there's a shortage of ebook content, Mackey went a step further, adding that along with full-length texts there should be “information snacks,” shorter, smaller texts.

Mackey maintains that every electronic device sold should come with free ebooks to ensure that “reading is part of what these devices are about” and suggests that publishers bundle an author's popular recent work with backlist titles. She also says device developers need to form relationships with librarians who know the public's reading desires better than anyone.

Panelist Malle Vallik, Harlequin Enterprise's director of new business development, quickly answered the call for information snacks. Since launching an ebook line of its signature romance novels in October 2005 with 65 titles, Harlequin has had such an overwhelming response that it is moving 40 percent of its frontlist into the digital realm by this July and, as a bonus, is launching “Harlequin Minis,” 10,000-word short stories that can be downloaded for 99¢.

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6341867.html

The World of e-Books

For the next month I plan on researching and discussing the topic of e-Books. Personally, I have no experience with using e-Books. I have heard of them and know what they are but do not use them. I would much rather pick up a book (in print) and hold and read it. I plan to discuss the positives and the negatives and by the end of the month maybe my mind will be changed and you’re out there in cyberspace as well.

“An e-book (also: e-Book, e-book), sometimes called an electronic book, is an electronic (or digital) equivalent of a conventional printed book. The term has occasionally been used ambiguously to refer to either an individual work in a digital format or a hardware device used to read books in digital format - more specifically called an e-book device or e-book reader. E-books are an emerging and rapidly changing technology that can include other formats such as online magazines or digital books designed to be listened to as audio books.
The term e-text is a broader term than e-book and is also used for the particular case of data in ASCII text format, rather than books in proprietary file formats. It also includes the academic e-text, which commonly contains components such as facsimile images, apparatus criticus, and scholarly commentary on the work from one or more editors specially qualified to edit the author or work in question.
An e-book is commonly bundled by a publisher for distribution (as an e-book, an ezine, or an Internet newspaper), whereas e-text is distributed in plain text on the Web, or - in the case of academic works - in the form of discrete media such as compact discs. Metadata relating to the text are sometimes included with e-text (though it appears more frequently with e-book). Metadata commonly include details about author, title, publisher, and copyright date; less common are details regarding language, genre, relevant copyright conventions, etc.” (www.wikipedia.org)


http://www.wikipedia.org

Corrections!

I made a few mistakes in my first post so I would like to correct them. First, I typed in the word ad and it was supposed to me add. Next, I went to Manhattanville College in Purchase, NY. I apologize for the mistakes. Thanks.

Introduction and Short Bio

Welcome to my first blog. My name is Janine Henry and I am brand new to the world of blogging. I have read some other people's blog but this is my first. I would like to introduce myself for starters. I am 27 years old and I have lived in New York my entire life. So far I have had a couple different careers since graduating college. I graduated from the University of Rhode Island with a bachelors degree in animal science. My dream was always to work with animals. I worked as a vet tech for a year and did not enjoy it. My mother knew I wanted to change careers so she suggested I go into teaching. She saw an add in the paper for Manhattan College Jumpstart program for teaching. So, I checked it out and two years later I graduated with my masters degree in education. I got a job as a fifth grade teacher in the South Bronx. I have currently been teaching for 4 years. My school received a grant for a beautiful Robin Hood Library and I applied for the job and here I am becoming a future librarian.

I am currently a graduate student at Syracuse University on the way to receiving my masters in information and library science. I am taking a class and one of the assignments is to start and maintain a blog. I hope everyone out there in information land will work with me.