Sadayasu Ono

All-digital super high definition images

Abstract In this paper, we will present a survey of the all-digital super high definition (SHD) image specifications currently under development by the authors to support this type of media integration. We will discuss specification requirements, encoding and support technologies, and present a survey of signal processing systems. Especially, we will focus on the NOVI-II experimental system which was created to develop signal processing architectures for all-digital SHD image processing, as well as to evaluate compression schemes for SHD images. Of course, any discussion of media integration cannot fail to touch on hypermedia, so we will also examine the relationship of hypermedia to super high definition images.

Real time switching and streaming transmission of uncompressed 4K motion pictures

In this paper we describe the worlds first Trans-Pacific and Trans-Atlantic real-time switching and streaming transmission of uncompressed 4K motion pictures. This demonstration, of an advanced networked media application, conveyed the 23rd Kyoto Prize events, held on Nov. 10 and 11, 2007, from Kyoto, Japan to Stockholm, Sweden in real-time with life-like image quality. Multiple live 4K streams from different cameras were switched over the network into a single uncompressed stream at the directors request, and transmitted to Stockholm via 10 Gbit Ethernet connections over 21,000 km using the Global Lambda Integrated Facility (GLIF). We introduce several new technologies, including an uncompressed 4K video streaming system using Internet Protocol (IP) transmission and a shared line approach to gap-less video switching control. The Kyoto Prize 2007 demonstration proves the feasibility of using the IP infrastructure for next generation video switching and distribution networks, even at very high speeds across great distances.

Super-high-definition digital movie system

We have developed a digital move communication system for SHD images. The system can transmit extra high quality digital full color movies of 2048 by 2048 pixel resolution using 622 Mbps ATM transmission systems, and display them at the frame rate of 60 frames per second. The system consists of an image data server, ATM transport interfaces, a real-time JPEG decoder and an SHD image display frame buffer. The motion SHD images have such high quality that the system has been designed for professional movie applications such as tele- medicine, education and commercial movie theaters. The image data server is constructed on a workstation to store motion image data and transmit them to the decoder via 622 Mbps ATM links. The real-time decoder is a parallel DSP system to decode the received movie data stream into raw SHD move images. The frame buffer is connected to the decoder via optical links offering at total of 12 Gbps to show complete movie images on CRTs or large size projectors.

Comparative study of transform coding for super high definition images

The characteristics of super-high-definition images with resolutions of up to 4096*2880 pixels are examined by autocorrelation measurement, and these values are compared with an image having spatial resolution comparable to existing TV. In order to obtain the basic characteristics of such images and coding performance, a simulation system including a digital camera with 4096*4096 pixels and a frame memory and monitor system with 2048*2048 pixels is set up. Two different DCT (discrete cosine transform) coding schemes, DCT with adaptive bit allocation and DCT with variable-length coding, are applied to evaluate the performance of transform coding on super-high-definition images.<<ETX>>

Application of Super High Definition Images in Telemedicine: System Requirements and Technologies for Teleradiology and Telepathology

It was recognized early on that the digitization of medical information would advance the efficiency of diagnostic technology. However, the digitization of image data, which makes up the majority of medical information, is dependent on advances in technologies such as input, processing, transmission, storage, and display. Insufficient advances in such technologies has effectively limited the digitization of image data for medical use. The result of this has been non-networked systems or LANs confined to a single hospital. Such isolated systems integrate only portions of digital medical images such as x-ray computer tomography (CT), magnetic resonance (MR), and computed radiography (CR).Fortunately, recent advances in the areas of super high definition image I/O, high-quality encoding, super high speed transmission, and high-capacity storage has turned the tide in favor of the digitization and networking of all medical information. This paper will focus on the digitization and networking of medical image information used within hospitals and provide a multifaceted study of the technologies necessary for these advances. This will allow us to discuss the present state of related technical developments and the level that has been attained so far. In addition, we have targeted image information that demands the highest level of quality (radiological and pathological images) for application in medical diagnosis using super high definition images, the image technology being developed by the authors of this paper. We will cover the concrete issues and approaches to solutions that must be investigated when building and networking a digital system.

Architecture and performance of a multicomputer type digital signal processing system 'NOVI'

The authors introduce a parallel DSP (digital signal processing) system called NOVI, consisting of 36 processor nodes. NOVI has a multicomputer architecture, which provides high programmability and effective scheduling capability. Its program-development-assist system facilitates powerful debugging functions to observe all states of NOVI and to control its execution. Each processor node comprises a transputer, a floating-point ALU (arithmetic logic unit), and 1 Mbyte of local memory, which can deal with even rather large tasks within a single node. An interconnection board allows easy reconfiguration into various network topologies.<<ETX>>

Hierarchical coding of super high definition images with subband+multistage VQ

A subband based hierarchical coding algorithm is proposed and an examination is made of its coding performance for super high definition images. Several quadrature mirror filters are examined from the viewpoints of reconstruction accuracy, coding gain, and low pass characteristics. The two-stage vector quantization scheme is also introduced to control quantization accuracy in each subband. Hierarchical image reconstruction and efficient bit-rate compression can simultaneously be obtained by using the proposed algorithm.<<ETX>>

Performance of a multicomputer type DSP system 'NOVI' for motion picture coding

The architecture and performance of a multicomputer-type digital signal-processing (DSP) system are discussed. The NOVI system has been created to examine methods for organizing parallel DSP systems and developing parallel programs for a wide range of DSP applications. NOVI presently consists of 36 processing nodes, in each of which an INMOS Transputer is used as a CPU. Its parallel program debugging assistant system facilitates powerful debugging functions to observe all program states. A load-balancing technique using interframe prediction and layered large-grain data flow is proposed to achieve higher performance for data-dependent algorithms such as motion-picture coding. The expected performance of the NOVI system with the proposed technique is also discussed.<<ETX>>

Super high definition image digitizing system

A very-high-resolution image digitizing system that handles both still and motion images is presented. The system mainly consists of a high-resolution CCD line scanner and high-precision film transport equipment. Resolution characteristics are measured directly using test charts, and resolution of over 2048 pixels is obtained in both the vertical and horizontal direction. Therefore, this system can generate test sequences for super-high-definition images that have at least 2048*2048 pixels. Various corrections, such as shading-, gamma-, and color-correction and edge enhancement, are made, and good reproductions of original photo images are obtained. Sixteen standard images are digitized and prepared for coding simulations and other applications.<<ETX>>

Inter-hospital PACS designed for teleradiology and teleconference using a secured high-speed network

We developed a tele-radiology and tele-conference system between our related hospitals. This system consisted of the image database, the WWW server, WWW browsers, high resolution CRT displays, the videoconference system and an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network. In advance X-ray images were stored into the Image Save And Carry magneto- optical (MO) disks, then images on the MO were transferred to the image database. The image database was created from MO disks. Total amount of images reached 100 GB and the number of the image was 65,000. The ATM network connected the hospitals each other. The ATM network device provided the permanent virtual circuit function. The transmission speed was from 6Mbit/second to 155 Mbit/second. The client station consisted of the WWW browser and the super high definition CRT display which had the 2k X 2k full color frame memory and 54 X 54 cm square display area. The result of the query was transformed to a hypertext markup language. Then a browser on a client machine displayed the result. The server could retrieve some images in about ten seconds and transmit an image from a server to a client in 2-10 seconds that depend on the network speed. At the tele- radiology, both terminals could display same image and physicians could talk each other by the videoconference system. We solved the security problems by the PVC methods and the on time password device. The ATM network showed the high transmission performance and good security. Physicians were able to use this system with no special training and this system brought us an effective utilization of the image.