• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.542-558
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• 2023

A digital focus index (DFI) is a value used to determine image focus in scientific apparatus and smart devices. Automatic focus (AF) is an iterative and time-consuming procedure; however, its processing time can be reduced using a general processing unit (GPU) and a multi-core processor (MCP). In this study, parallel architectures of a minimax search algorithm (MSA) are applied to two DFIs: range algorithm (RA) and image contrast (CT). The DFIs are based on a histogram; however, the parallel computation of the histogram is conventionally inefficient because of the bank conflict in shared memory. The parallel architectures of RA and CT are constructed using parallel reduction for MSA, which is performed through parallel relative rating of the image pixel pairs and halved the rating in every step. The array size is then decreased to one, and the minimax is determined at the final reduction. Kernels for the architectures are constructed using open source software to make it relatively platform independent. The kernels are tested in a hexa-core PC and an embedded device using Lenna images of various sizes based on the resolutions of industrial cameras. The performance of the kernels for the DFIs was investigated in terms of processing speed and computational acceleration; the maximum acceleration was 32.6× in the best case and the MCP exhibited a higher performance.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.253-259
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• 2004

in this study, we developed a Monte Carlo imaging simulation code written by the visual C$\^$++/ programing language for design optimization of a digital X-ray imaging system. As a digital X-ray imaging system, we considered a Gd$_2$O$_2$S(Tb) scintillator and a photosensor array, and included a 2D parallel grid to simulate general test renditions. The interactions between X-ray beams and the system structure, the behavior of lights generated in the scintillator, and their collection in the photosensor array were simulated by using the Monte Carlo method. The scintillator thickness and the photosensor array pitch were assumed to 66$\mu\textrm{m}$ and 48$\mu\textrm{m}$, respertively, and the pixel format was set to 256 x 256. Using the code, we obtained X-ray images under various simulation conditions, and evaluated their image qualities through the calculations of SNR (signal-to-noise ratio), MTF (modulation transfer function), NPS (noise power spectrum), DQE (detective quantum efficiency). The image simulation code developed in this study can be applied effectively for a variety of digital X-ray imaging systems for their design optimization on various design parameters.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.213-222
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• 1998

Electro-Optical Camera(EOC) is the main payload of the KOrea Multi-Purpose SATellite(KOMPSAT) with the mission of cartography to build up a digital map of Korean territory including a Digital Terrain Elevation Map(DTEM). This instalment which comprises EOC Sensor Assembly and EOC Electronics Assembly produces the panchromatic images of 6.6 m GSD with a swath wider than 17 km by push-broom scanning and spacecraft body pointing in a visible range of wavelength, 510~730 nm. The high resolution panchromatic image is to be collected for 2 minutes during 98 minutes of orbit cycle covering about 800 km along ground track, over the mission lifetime of 3 years with the functions of programmable gain/offset and on-board image data storage. The image of 8 bit digitization, which is collected by a full reflective type F8.3 triplet without obscuration, is to be transmitted to Ground Station at a rate less than 25 Mbps. EOC was elaborated to have the performance which meets or surpasses its requirements of design phase. The spectral response, the modulation transfer function, and the uniformity of all the 2592 pixel of CCD of EOC are illustrated as they were measured for the convenience of end-user. The spectral response was measured with respect to each gain setup of EOC and this is expected to give the capability of generating more accurate panchromatic image to the users of EOC data. The modulation transfer function of EOC was measured as greater than 16 % at Nyquist frequency over the entire field of view, which exceeds its requirement of larger than 10 %. The uniformity that shows the relative response of each pixel of CCD was measured at every pixel of the Focal Plane Array of EOC and is illustrated for the data processing.

• Journal of Broadcast Engineering
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.128-136
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• 2007

Since the multi-view video is a set of video sequences captured by multiple array cameras for the same three-dimensional scene, it can provide multiple viewpoint images using geometrical manipulation and intermediate view generation. Although multi-view video allows us to experience more realistic feeling with a wide range of images, the amount of data to be processed increases in proportion to the number of cameras. Therefore, we need to develop efficient coding methods. One of the possible approaches to multi-view video coding is to generate an intermediate image using view interpolation method and to use the interpolated image as an additional reference frame. The previous view interpolation method for multi-view video coding employs fixed size block matching over the pre-determined disparity search range. However, if the disparity search range is not proper, disparity error may occur. In this paper, we propose an efficient view interpolation method using initial disparity estimation, variable block-based estimation, and pixel-level estimation using adjusted search ranges. In addition, we propose a multi-view video coding method based on H.264/AVC to exploit the intermediate image. Intermediate images have been improved about $1{\sim}4dB$ using the proposed method compared to the previous view interpolation method, and the coding efficiency have been improved about 0.5 dB compared to the reference model.

• Proceedings of the Korean Information Science Society Conference
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• 2008.06d
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• pp.444-448
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• 2008

The ubiquitous smart home is the home of the future that takes advantage of context information from the human and the home environment and provides an automatic home service for the human. Human location and motion are the most important contexts in the ubiquitous smart home. We present a real-time human tracker that predicts human location and motion for the ubiquitous smart home. We used four network cameras for real-time human tracking. This paper explains the real-time human tracker's architecture, and presents an algorithm with the details of two functions (prediction of human location and motion) in the real-time human tracker. The human location uses three kinds of background images (IMAGE1: empty room image, IMAGE2:image with furniture and home appliances in the home, IMAGE3: image with IMAGE2 and the human). The real-time human tracker decides whether the human is included with which furniture (or home appliance) through an analysis of three images, and predicts human motion using a support vector machine. A performance experiment of the human's location, which uses three images, took an average of 0.037 seconds. The SVM's feature of human's motion recognition is decided from pixel number by array line of the moving object. We evaluated each motion 1000 times. The average accuracy of all the motions was found to be 86.5%.

• The KIPS Transactions:PartA
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• v.16A no.3
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• pp.209-216
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• 2009

The ubiquitous smart home is the home of the future that takes advantage of context information from the human and the home environment and provides an automatic home service for the human. Human location and motion are the most important contexts in the ubiquitous smart home. We present a real-time human tracker that predicts human location and motion for the ubiquitous smart home. We used four network cameras for real-time human tracking. This paper explains the real-time human tracker's architecture, and presents an algorithm with the details of two functions (prediction of human location and motion) in the real-time human tracker. The human location uses three kinds of background images (IMAGE1: empty room image, IMAGE2: image with furniture and home appliances in the home, IMAGE3: image with IMAGE2 and the human). The real-time human tracker decides whether the human is included with which furniture (or home appliance) through an analysis of three images, and predicts human motion using a support vector machine. A performance experiment of the human's location, which uses three images, took an average of 0.037 seconds. The SVM's feature of human's motion recognition is decided from pixel number by array line of the moving object. We evaluated each motion 1000 times. The average accuracy of all the motions was found to be 86.5%.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.50 no.7
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• pp.205-215
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• 2013

In digital imaging system, Bayer pattern is widely used and the observed image is degraded by optical blur during image acquisition process. Generally, demosaicing and deblurring process are separately performed in order to convert a blurred Bayer image to a high resolution color image. However, the demosaicing process often generates visible artifacts such as zipper effect and Moire artifacts when performing interpolation across edge direction in Bayer pattern image. These artifacts are emphasized by the deblurring process. In order to solve this problem, this paper proposes a deblurring algorithm combined with edge directional color demosaicing method. The proposed method is consisted of interpolation step and region classification step. Interpolation and deblurring are simultaneously performed according to horizontal and vertical directions, respectively during the interpolation step. In the region classification step, characteristics of local regions are determined at each pixel position and the directionally obtained values are region adaptively fused. Also, the proposed method uses blur model based on wave optics and deblurring filter is calculated by using estimated characteristics of local regions. The simulation results show that the proposed deblurring algorithm prevents the boosting of artifacts and outperforms conventional approaches in both objective and subjective terms.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.27 no.6A
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• pp.618-627
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• 2002

In processing images using 2 dimensional Discrete Wavelet Transform(2D-DWT), the method to process the pixels around the image boundary may affect the quality of image and the cost to implement in hardware and software. This paper proposed an effective method to treat the boundary pixels, which is apt to implement in hardware and software without losing the quality of the image costly. This method processes the 2-D image as 1-D array so that 2-D DWT is performed by considering the image with the serial-sequential data structure (Serial-Sequential Processing). To show the performance and easiness in implementation of the proposed method, an image compression codec which compresses image and reconstructs it has been implemented and experimented. It included log-scale fried quantizer, but the entropy coder was not implemented. From the experimental results, the proposed method showed the SNR of almost the same SNR(Signal to Noise Ratio) to the Periodic Expansion(PE) method when the compression ratio(excluding entropy coding) of 2:1, 15.3% higher than Symmetric Expansion(SE) method, and 9.3% higher than 0-pixel Padding Expansion(ZPE) method. Also PE method needed 12.99% more memory space than the proposed method. By considering only the compression process, SE and ZPE methods needed additional operations than the proposed one. In hardware implementation, the proposed method in this paper had 5.92% of overall circuit as the control circuit, while SE, PE, and ZPE method has 22%, 21,2%, and 11.9% as the control circuit, respectively. Consequently, the proposed method can be thought more effective in implementing software and hardware without losing any image quality in the usual image processing applications.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.324-325
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• 2014

Quantum wells infrared photodetectors (QWIPs) have been used to detect infrared radiations through the principle based on the localized stated in quantum wells (QWs) [1]. The mature III-V compound semiconductor technology used to fabricate these devices results in much lower costs, larger array sizes, higher pixel operability, and better uniformity than those achievable with competing technologies such as HgCdTe. Especially, GaAs/AlGaAs QWIPs have been extensively used for large focal plane arrays (FPAs) of infrared imaging system. However, the research efforts for increasing sensitivity and operating temperature of the QWIPs still have pursued. The modification of heterostructures [2] and the various fabrications for preventing polarization selection rule [3] were suggested. In order to enhance optical performances of the QWIPs, double barrier quantum well (DBQW) structures will be introduced as the absorption layers for the suggested QWIPs. The DBWQ structure is an adequate solution for photodetectors working in the mid-wavelength infrared (MWIR) region and broadens the responsivity spectrum [4]. In this study, InGaAs/GaAs/AlGaAs double barrier quantum well infrared photodetectors (DB-QWIPs) are successfully fabricated and characterized. The heterostructures of the InGaAs/GaAs/AlGaAs DB-QWIPs are grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) system. Photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy is used to examine the heterostructures of the InGaAs/GaAs/AlGaAs DB-QWIP. The mesa-type DB-QWIPs (Area : $2mm{\times}2mm$) are fabricated by conventional optical lithography and wet etching process and Ni/Ge/Au ohmic contacts were evaporated onto the top and bottom layers. The dark current are measured at different temperatures and the temperature and applied bias dependence of the intersubband photocurrents are studied by using Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR) system equipped with cryostat. The photovoltaic behavior of the DB-QWIPs can be observed up to 120 K due to the generated built-in electric field caused from the asymmetric heterostructures of the DB-QWIPs. The fabricated DB-QWIPs exhibit spectral photoresponses at wavelengths range from 3 to $7{\mu}m$. Grating structure formed on the window surface of the DB-QWIP will induce the enhancement of optical responses.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.565-571
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• 2001

The purpose of this study is to determine if a relationship exists among osteoporosis, alveolar bone density and periodontal disease in postmenopausal osteoporotic women and postmenopausal healthy women. Twenty-two women were evaluated for this study. They were attending the postmenopausal clinic, Seoul National University Hospital and generally healthy except osteoporosis. They had experienced menopause not less than one year when we began to examine them. Bone densities of lumbar area(L2-L4) was determined by DEXA(LUNAR-expert Co,. U.S.A). We diagnosed osteoporosis when T-score was below -2.5 and healthy state when T-score was over -1. Osteoporotic(10 female), not hormone-treated group and healthy control group(12 female) were asked for their age, menopausal age, menopausal period and the number of remaining teeth and examined clinically for plaque index(PI), gingival index(GI), clinical attachment loss(CAL) on their 6 Ramfjord index teeth. Intraoral radiographs were taken in maxillary anterior zone. All films were equally exposed and developed. Each films was digitized and analysed using image processing software, Scion image. Alveolar bone regions of interest were selected and Intensity of each pixel was quantized in the array ranging from 0(white) to 255(black). The two groups were comparable with respect age, menopausal age, menopausal period and number of remaining teeth. The osteoporotic women had significantly lower alveolar bone density than controls in maxilla. But no significant difference was found with respect clinical attachment loss, plaque index and gingival index. Supported by the Ministry of Public Health and Welfare, Korea (HMP-00-CH-10-0009).