Intelligent Image Processing examines the fundamentals of personal imaging and wearable computing with a concentration on the EyeTap technology invented by the author. EyeTap technology comprises eyeglasses or contact lenses that cause the eye itself to function, in effect, as if it were both a camera and a display. Modern embodiments of this invention use a laser system having no moving parts to provide infinite depth of focus from the inside of the eye, out to infinity. The invention eliminates the distinction between cyberspace and the real world, allowing a shared visual experience and shared visual memory among multiple users.

There are a wide range of commercial applications for this technology, including telephones that allow users to see each other’s points of view, and systems that improve the sight of the visually impaired. These systems have been proven for electronic news gathering in hostile environments such as fires, floods, riots, and documenting human rights violations–all giving rise to a new genre of first-person cinematography. The invention blurs the boundary between seeing and recording, and the boundary between computing and thinking. It will radically change the way pictures are taken, memories are shared, and news is documented.

The author approaches the fundamental ideas of wearable computing and personal imaging by providing an historical overview of the subject that takes the reader from his original wearable photographic computer inventions of the 1970s, through to the modern EyeTap system. This fascinating technology promises to change the way we live and the way we communicate, and Intelligent Image Processing provides a detailed, technical, and stimulating guide for those who wish to learn about or contribute to this promising future.

About the Author

STEVE MANN is Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering at the University of Toronto.