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We left NINDB for the IPU in the early 1970s and became the Image Processing Section (IPS) at NCI about 1980, and moved to the Park Building, Parklawn Drive, in Rockville. Although the members of the IPS went on to work in other areas not directly related to the RTPP, this history will concentrate on the work that was directly related to the RTPP.

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uniqueArchitecture
uniqueArchitecture
The unique RTPP parallel-bus architecture (at that time)

One of the unique aspects of the RTPP was to implement the design as special-purpose parallel hardware with a flexible bus-architecture and a microcoded instruction set that reflected the types of operations routinely performed in image processing [3-4, TR-2, TR-7, TR-7a, TR-22]. Although other image processing computers were available, such as the ILLIAC-III exit disclaimer, using a microcode architecture enabled an image processor to be constructed and built less expensively but with greater flexibility than building it entirely with discrete hardware. The special-purpose hardware could make real-time results possible (defined as reasonably fast enough to incorporate human feedback in tuning algorithms, such as interactively adjusting detection thresholds, etc.). A National Technical Information Service (NTIS)technical report [TR-7] describing the RTPP was one of the frequently requested reports one month as reported in their monthly newsletter for November 1976 under computer topics.

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  • Lewis Lipkin, M.D., (mathematics and physical chemistry, and a neuropathologist), Head of the Image Processing Section (IPS); previously the (PRB, NINDB) and then the Image Processing Unit (IPU) in the NCI.
  • Peter Lemkin, Ph.D. & M.S. EE, computer scientist and electrical engineer, IPS/NCI, and previously in (PRB, NINDB) and in IPU/NCI
  • George Carman, M.S. EE, electrical engineer and computer hardware architecture, Technical Development Section (TDS), NINDB; Carman Engineering (now Lucidyne Corp exit disclaimer).
  • Morton Schultz, B.S. EE, electrical engineer, IPS/NCI, and previously in IPU/NCI
  • Bruce Shapiro, Ph.D., B.S. math & physics, computer scientist, IPS/NCI, and previously in (PRB, NINDB),and in IPU/NCI
  • Sprague Hazard, mechanical engineer (contractor consultant)
  • Peter Kaiser, B.S. CS, computer scientist (IPU) in the NCI
  • Earl Smith, M.S. CS, computer scientist (IPU) in the NCI
  • Dan Kilgore, B.S. EE, computer programmer [Digital Equipment Corp exit disclaimer (DEC) software engineer]
  • Tom Duval and later Jim Camper, electronics technicians - helped construct the RTPP racks, and power-supplies cabinets
  • Cambion Corporation, wire-wrapped the remaining 63 buffer memory boards and the back-planes

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InstitutesLegend
InstitutesLegend
Where: PRB was the Perinatal Research Branch in the National Institute of the Neurological Disease and Blindness (NINDB). IPU was the Image Processing Unit of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The IPU later became the Image Processing Section (IPS).

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ListOfRTPPusers
ListOfRTPPusers
Who: The initial participants were Dr. Lewis Lipkin, myself, and George Carman. Later in the process, Morton Schultz and Bruce Shapiro joined the design group. Peter Kaiser and Earl Smith participated for a few years. During this time, Bruce Shapiro and I were part-time Ph.D. students in the Computer Science Department of the University of Maryland with Professor Azriel Rosenfeld, one of the early leaders in the field of image processing. Both Bruce [35, 37, 38, 39, TR-BAS78] and I [8,12, TR-653, TR-655] wrote dissertations on image processing. We were able to combine some of our applied NIH research as part of our Ph.D. research and use what we were learning about image processing and computer science to our NIH research. George was able to apply many of the ideas he had learned with his masters in Computer Hardware Architecture.

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WhoLegend
WhoLegend
Major RTPP users and their biomedical research

Below are some of the biomedical research projects in which the RTPP played a role.

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