"This volume presents the first unified approach to image quality research and modelling to have been applied to systems design and verified in practical applications…intended particularly for image scientists and product engineers, but portions of it should prove useful to individuals involved in project management, manufacturing quality control, marketing, business research, systems performance analysis, human factors and usability assessment, trade journal evaluations, and standard definitions. It is hoped that this publication will focus new attention on, and stimulate further advances in, the fascinating field of image quality."-Optik, 116 (2005)

• Characterization and quality: can image quality be usefully quantified ; the probablistic nature of perception; just noticable differences; quantifying preference; properties of ideal interval and ratio scales; establishing image quality standards;calibrated psychometrics using quality rulers; practical implementation of quality rulers; a general equation to fit quality loss functions; scene and observer variability; predicting overall quality from image attributes. Design of objective metrics:overview of objective metric properties; testing objective metrics using psychometric data; a detailed example of objective metric design.