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Interactive Image Processing System 
Using General Purpose Computer 
Masanori UEHARA 
FUJITSU Ltd. 
Japan 
Working Group I /3 
1. Introduction 
With the progress in digital image processing technologies, 
systems for processing remotely sensed data has been improved 
rapidly. The author developed a minicomputer-based interactive 
image processing system for remote sensing in 1979. Since 
then, the system has been constantly upgraded with advanced 
image processing technology and specific needs of customers 
in a practical manner. 
Under the consideration of current changes in needs of 
customers and the trend of handling complex digital data, the 
author developed and implemented the new system on a large 
scale general purpose computer in April, 1983. This system can 
handle large volume of data, such as Thematic Mapper, and 
allow multiple interactive users to use simul taneously. 
This system is currently in operation at many computing 
centers. 
In designing a general purpose computer based system for 
processing remotely sensed data, the design philosophy and 
system functions are described in this paper. The problems of 
the system for present and future use are also discussed. 
2. Design Philosophy 
In designing a system for processing remotely sensed data, 
the design philosophy behind the system to be configured is 
to handle large volume of data and then supply the capability 
of multiple interactive use 
(1) The system should supply a wide variety of processing 
modes to simplify man-machine operation 
The image processing does not always arrive at a unique 
solution. The computer can not evaluate the generated image 
quality and the computed results, through the colour tone. 
A large part of image quality evaluation still depends 
heavily upon human eyes. 
The system shall employ the menu method to simplify man- 
machine interactive operation. The system shall then supply 
a wide variety of processing modes to customers, having 
functions for processing large volume of data as a background 
job and scheduling functions. 
(2) The system should be flexible enough to link with other 
programs 
In order to meet specific needs of customers, the system