| acceptable tolerance: |
|---|
|
In the blob compressor, the
acceptable tolerance is the amount
of variation allowed between
equivalent blobs in the clustering
process.
|
| alias: |
|
Describes a color aberration due
to heterogeneous pixel spacing.
For example, if it occurs in the
sampling, due to harmonics
between the sampling and event
frequencies, it is known as a
Johnson alias. On a monitor, it
is more likely due to inductive
ringing in the monitor cable.
|
| application service provider (ASP): |
|
An Internet server operator that
end users to run one or more
programs on the Internet or
associated server. The process or act of running a program on a network or associated server. |
| attribute: |
|
A special characteristic of text character (such
as Bold or Italics).
|
| batch mode: |
|
A computer process that runs
without user assistance.
|
| beta mismatch: |
|
A mismatch between two
semiconductors (usually
transistors) where the same bias
results in different amounts of
conductivity.
|
| bi-tonal: |
|
A description of a two color
image. For example an image that
has black and white but no
shades of gray.
|
| bit: |
|
The smallest data element inside
a computer. It has two states
which are denoted as a 1 and a
0.
|
| bit map: |
| [First Definition]
A method of storing an image by
using a single bit to represent
one of two colors (usually black
and white). [Second Definition] A non-proprietary file format that (in most cases) saves each color of each pixel as one byte. The file extension is usually *.BMP. |
| blob: |
|
A group of adjacent pixels that
are all exactly the same color.
A blob is sometimes used
synonymously with region, but a
region is often used as a group
of adjacent pixels that are
combined together. A region
contains the implication that
the pixels may not all be
exactly the same color. For example, a region might be used to refer to the entire area of a light gray can sitting on a black background (the background would not be part of the region). The light gray can might have slightly darker gray decorations, but the whole would still be in the same region. |
| blob compressor: |
|
A proprietary raster compressor
that is built into Pac-n-Zoom.
It is a geometrical compressor
with hierarchical ordering.
|
| border: |
|
A place where one color stops and
another color starts. A border
implies an abrupt change whereas
a transition doesn't.
|
| charge coupled devices (CCD): |
|
These are also known as charge
coupled semiconductors. They are
semiconductors that are
specially fabricated to detect
light. They are the sensors used
in cameras and scanners to
change light into electricity.
On this site, the issues
presented by CCDs are considered
to be the same as those from
light diodes and CMOS sensors.
|
| chromatic aberrations: |
|
Optical systems have an exact
focus at a specific wavelength
of light. Since light usually
has more than one wavelength,
distortions occur because the
light does not match the exact
wavelength the optical system is
focused at. Therefore chromatic
aberations are essentially
aberations resulting from
different colors (or
wavelengths) of light.
|
| clock coupling: |
|
An electronic noise that mixes
the clock signal into another
signal. This usually occurs from
inductive and capacitive
coupling between traces on a
circuit board or integrated
circuit. The affect is compounded
because the rising edge of the
clock can cause many transistors
to switch simultaneously.
|
| cluster: |
|
In the
blob compressor, a cluster
is a constellation of
patterns
that repeated within the
acceptable tolerance.
|
| color bleeding: |
|
In printing and other real
processes, color bleeding is
considered a problem. It is when
two adjacent colors get mixed
together. In the virtual world,
color bleeding is often a
desired effect.
|
| color flutter: |
|
A noise that occurs because the
color shade is half way between
two discrete values and the
color presented vacillates
between those values. As an
analogy, a digital speedometer
has flutter when the car is
going 54.5 miles per hour, and
the speedometer vacillates
between 54 and 55.
|
| color segmenter: |
|
A major part of the Pac-n-Zoom
program. The color segmenter
segments a
color while image enhancing the
quality of the picture by
performing
image restoration.
|
| comma delimited file: |
|
[First Definition] A file whose
data records are delimited by
commas. These are used
primarily by spread sheets and
databases. [Second Definition] A non- proprietary file format supported by Pac-n-Zoom and has an extension of *.CDL. It is easily parsed into databases for the purposes of debug. |
| command line interface (CLI): |
|
A text based interface where the
user enters commands at a
prompt (such as a DOS prompt). The initial user command is interactive, but the interface can be manipulated into a batch processing mode. |
| continuous tone: |
|
A term used to describe an image
whose color is constantly
changing. The implication is
that each pixel is a slightly
different color than the
preceding pixel.
|
| contour line: |
|
A term used to describe the
visible edges of a blob. Contour
lines are often used in negative
sense to describe a photograph
that doesn't have enough colors.
|
| contrast: |
|
The amount of color change divided
by the number of pixels.
Therefore, large and fast color
changes have a high contrast.
|
| convolver: |
|
A device that integrates data,
instructions, libraries, or other
elements over a series of
iterations.
|
| dark current: |
|
Thermodynamic noise in a charged
coupled device.
|
| data resolver: |
|
A Pac-n-Zoom filter that
eliminates repeating single
pixel vacillations on the edges
of segmented blobs. It is
incorporated into the segmenter.
The data resolver is incorporated
inside the blob compressor.
|
| data segment: |
|
A group of data inside a
frame as
shown in the following
example.
|
| data tagger: |
|
The part of the Pac-n-Zoom
technology that converts raster
into primitive vector.
|
| data tagger configuration: |
|
A non-von-Neumann computer that
has two parts. The first part is
called the data tagger and it
passes judgments on incoming
data. These judgments become
instructions and are passed to a
convolver. The convolver is
usually a conventional (von
Neumann) computer or a state
machine that accepts separate
data and instructions.
|
| depth of field: |
|
Optics will focus at some
specific distance. The depth of
field will indicate how well a
specific part of a picture will
focus by how far it varies from
the focal point.
|
| discreet cosine transform: |
|
The discreet cosine transform
converts spatial information to
"frequency" or spectral
information, with the X and Y axes
representing frequencies of the
signal in different dimensions.
This allows for "lossy"
compression of image data by
determining which information can
be thrown away without
compromising the image.
The DCT is used in many compression and transmission codecs, such as JPEG, MPEG and others. The pixels when transformed are arranged from the most significant pixel to the least significant pixel. The DCT functions themselves are lossless. Pixel loss occurs when the least significant pixels are quantitized to 0 (from nyx.net). |
| DjVu: |
|
A wavelet-based (but uses other
technologies as well) technology
originally be Bell Labs (AT&T).
In 2000, DjVu was acquired by
Lizard Tech.
|
| document handling: |
|
An industry that deals with moving
paper files to the computer.
|
| document imaging: |
|
A subset of the document
handling industry that deals
with converting the document
from a paper to an electronic
representation.
|
| edge detection segmentation: |
|
Segmentation that finds the edges
of blobs to build a border around
the blob.
|
| extraction: |
|
The process of pulling information
from a picture. The information
could be any thing. Some typical
extractions are recognition,
location, color, area, and
perimeter.
|
| feature: |
|
Any parameter of an image. Some
typical features are edges,
colors, areas, and locations.
|
| font: |
|
The style of text character (such
as Courier or Times Roman).
|
| frame: |
|
A set of data that pertains to a
configuration, data, or command.
Frames are found in text files.
The
syntax or
example of
a frame can be found here.
|
| frame grabber: |
|
An electronic device (usually a
computer board) that stores at
least one video frame.
|
| geometrical compressor: |
|
A compression algorithm that
reduces geometrical shapes into
a more efficient representation
(usually tags). Geometrical
compressors are not currently
popular because they require a
segmented image to provide
competitive compression.
|
| GIF: |
|
A proprietary statistical
compressor with its name (GIF)
used as the file extension.
|
| Glider: |
|
The glider is the part of the
Pac-n-Zoom system that promotes
the primitive vector into the
final output. The final output
might be raster or another form
of vector.
|
| graphical user interface (GUI): |
|
An interactive user interface
usually dominated by a mouse,
track-ball, or some other
pointing device. In the
predominant interaction, the
user points at a screen icon and
clicks a button to select the
process the icon represents.
|
| HDTV: |
|
An abbreviation for high
definition television. It is the
high definition television
signal mandated in the United
States. It is 1,080 lines and
has 1920 pixels in a line.
|
| heap memory: |
|
When memory is dynamically
allocated by the programmer
(usually with a variation of
malloc() and free()), the
allocated memory is from the
computer memory system known as
the heap. The heap is allocated
at run time.
|
| histogram: |
|
A graph that plots the most
predominant colors against a
spectrum of colors.
|
| HTML: |
|
An abbreviation for hypertext
markup language. It is the
publishing language of the world
wide web. In other words, it is
the standard format for an
Internet page.
|
| Huffman encoding: |
|
A statistical compression method
that converts characters into
variable length bit strings.
Most-frequently occurring
characters are converted to
shortest bit strings; least
frequent, the longest. Compression
takes two passes. The first pass
analyzes a block of data and
creates a tree model based on its
contents. The second pass
compresses the data via the model.
Decompression decodes the variable
length strings via the tree. (from
computing-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com)
|
| image restoration: |
|
The process of rebuilding a
picture that was distorted by a
known process.
|
| Interlaced Video: |
|
Video that is created by
interlacing (interweaving) to
consecutive pictures to create a
single picture. In interlaced video, the first field is painted into every other line of the video display screen. The second field is then painted into the lines left blank. |
| interleave file format: |
|
A non-proprietary raster file
format that is popular on the
Amiga Computer. The file name
extension is *.IFF.
|
| Johnson noise: |
|
An electronic noise with a
thermodynamic origin. The
voltage of Johnson noise is
white noise with a voltage
squared noise spectral density.
|
| joint photographers expert group (JPEG): |
|
A standards committee that
published a file format used for
compression. The most popular
version of it uses a discrete
cosine transform to discard
(hopefully) less significant
colors. A common file name extension for JPEG files is *.JPG. |