Pattern Recognition : Ideas in Practice

Pattern recognition is a child of modern technology; electronics and computers in particular have inspired research and made it possible to develop the subject in a way which would have been impossible otherwise. It is a rapidly growing research field which began to flourish in the 1960s and which is beginning to produce commercial devices. Significant developments have been made, both in the theory and practical engineering of the subject, but there is evidence of a schism developing between these two approaches. Practical machines have usually been designed on an ad hoc basis, with little use being made of advanced theory. It is difficult to provide a rigorous mathematical treatment of many problems pertinent to a practical situation. This is due, in part at least, to a conceptual rift between theory and practice. The mathematics of optimal systems is well developed, whereas pragmatists are more concerned with vaguer ideas of reasonable and sufficient. In some situations, the quest for optimality can constrain research and retard practical progress. This can occur, for example, if too narrow a view is taken of "optimal": the accuracy of a system may be optimal whereas its speed, cost, or physical size may be grossly suboptimal. The objective of this book is to present a glimpse of the pragmatic approach to pattern recognition; there already exist a number of excellent texts describing theoretical developments. Front Matter....Pages i-xv Setting the Scene....Pages 1-14 A Review of Optical Pattern Recognition Techniques....Pages 15-39 Pattern Recognition with Networks of Memory Elements....Pages 41-64 Classification and Data Analysis in Vector Spaces....Pages 65-116 Decision Trees, Tables, and Lattices....Pages 117-141 Parallel Processing Techniques....Pages 143-174 Digital Image Processing....Pages 175-202 Cases in Scene Analysis....Pages 203-228 The Control of a Printed Circuit Board Drilling Machine by Visual Feedback....Pages 229-250 Industrial Sensory Devices....Pages 251-286 Image Analysis of Macromolecular Structures....Pages 287-300 Computer- Assisted Measurement in the Cytogenetic Laboratory....Pages 301-329 Vehicle Sounds and Recognition....Pages 331-361 Current Problems in Automatic Speech Recognition....Pages 363-396 Pattern Recognition in Electroencephalography....Pages 397-426 Scene Analysis: Some Basics....Pages 427-462 Social Aspects of Pattern Recognition....Pages 463-471 Back Matter....Pages 473-485