Main Content

bwpack

Pack binary image

collapse all in page

Syntax

BWP = bwpack(BW)

Description

BWP = bwpack(BW) packs the binary image BW into the uint32 array BWP, which is known as a packed binary image. Because each pixel value in the binary image has only two possible values, 1 and 0, bwpack can map each pixel to a single bit in the packed output image.

example

Examples

collapse all

Open Live Script

Read binary image into the workspace.

BW = imread('text.png');
imshow(BW)

Figure contains an axes object. The hidden axes object contains an object of type image.

Pack the image.

BWp = bwpack(BW);

Dilate the packed image.

BWp_dilated = imdilate(BWp,ones(3,3),'ispacked');

Unpack the dilated image and display it.

BW_dilated = bwunpack(BWp_dilated, size(BW,1));
imshow(BW_dilated)

Figure contains an axes object. The hidden axes object contains an object of type image.

Input Arguments

collapse all

Binary image, specified as a 2-D numeric or logical matrix. For numeric input, any nonzero pixels are considered to be 1 (true).

Output Arguments

collapse all

Packed binary image, returned as a numeric matrix of data type uint32.

Data Types: uint32

Tips

  • Binary image packing is used to accelerate some binary morphological operations, such as dilation and erosion. If the input to imdilate or imerode is a packed binary image, then the function uses a specialized routine to perform the operation faster.

  • Use bwunpack to unpack packed binary images.

Algorithms

bwpack processes the input image pixels by column, mapping groups of 32 pixels into the bits of a uint32 value. The first pixel in the first row corresponds to the least significant bit of the first uint32 element of the output array. The first pixel in the 32nd input row corresponds to the most significant bit of this same element. The first pixel of the 33rd row corresponds to the least significant bit of the second output element, and so on. If BW is M-by-N, then BWP is ceil(M/32)-by-N. This figure illustrates how bwpack maps the pixels in a binary image to the bits in a packed binary image.

The elements in the first 32 rows of the first column of an input binary image map to the first element of a uint32 matrix.

Extended Capabilities

Version History

Introduced before R2006a

expand all

See Also

| |