IEEE/EMBS Summer School'96
Image Understanding : from Pragmatism to Methodology


Image Understanding : from Pragmatism to Methodology

Catherine Garbay

Faculté de Médecine

Grenoble, France


The lecture will build on a number of examples and case studies in order to get a very pragmatic view of the problem to be solved, and the means available to solve them, in terms of representation, reasoning and control modes. To complement this pragmatic approach, the lecture will also address the methodological issues that are raised by the design of an image understanding system that is both efficient, adequate and usable. A systemic approach will be taken to this end, in which understanding an image will be considered as a dynamic process issuing from the interaction between different - complex - systems : the system of the scene to be analyzed, the one of the expert / user who knows - at least to some extent- what is seeked and how to find it, and the one of the computerized apparatus to be conceived. Two methodological approaches may then be considered : either conceive a system with a strong cou pling to the environment (the scene) to analyze, or conceive a system with a strong coupling to the user, which opposes constructivist and positivist views on image understanding. Both viewspoints will be examined, as well as the potential of a compromise between them.


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