Bartlane system

The Bartlane system ^[1] was a wirephoto technique invented in 1920 to transmit digitized newspaper images over submarine cable lines between London and New York. Named after its inventors Harry G. Bartholomew and Maynard D. McFarlane, ^[2] it was the first digital imaging system ever invented. ^{[3] [4]} It was first used to transmit a picture across the Atlantic in 1921. ^[5] Using the Bartlane system, images could be transmitted across the Atlantic in less than three hours.^{[ clarification needed ]} The images were initially coded with 5 gray levels, but this number was increased to 15 in 1929. ^[2] At the transmitter, the pattern on the telegraph tapes were made using special printing devices and decoded into the image at the receiver using telegraph printers equipped with appropriate typefaces. ^[6]

This system was also adapted with a photographic process in order to get more precise images in 1929, so that at the receiver the images were converted to a chemical medium.

References

1. Kobayashi, K. (January 2002). "Birth of a Digital Phototelegraph: The Bartlane System". Journal of the Institute of Image Electronics Engineers of Japan. 31 (2). The Institute of Image Electronics Engineers of Japan: 244–249 – via ResearchGate.
2. "The Bartlane Transmission System". DigicamHistory.com. Archived from the original on 10 February 2010. Retrieved 7 January 2010.
3. Dougherty, Edward R. (1999). Electronic Imaging Technology. SPIE Optical Engineering Press. pp. 7–8. ISBN   9780819430373 – via Google Books.
4. Trussell, H. J.; M. J. Vrhel (2008). Fundamentals of Digital Imaging. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   9780521868532 – via Google Books.
5. Rensen, Marius. "The Bartlane System". hffax.de. Retrieved 7 January 2010.
6. González, Rafael; Woods, Richard Eugene (2008). Digital image processing (3 ed.). Prentice Hall. ISBN   978-0-13-168728-8.