This book offers an integral view of image processing from image acquisition to the extraction of the data of interest. The discussion of the general concepts is supplemented with examples from applications on PC-based image processing systems and ready-to-use implementations of important algorithms. The fifth edition has been completely revised and extended. The most notable extensions include a detailed discussion on random variables and fields, 3-D imaging techniques and a unified approach to regularized parameter estimation. The complete.text of the book is now available on the accompanying CD-ROM. It is hyperlinked so that it can be used in a very flexible way. The CD-ROM contains a full set of exercises to all topics covered by this book and a runtime version of the image processing software heurisko. A large collection of images, image sequences, and volumetric images is available for practical exercises.