Huang went on to the United States to study at theMassachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). At MIT he worked initially withPeter Elias, who was interested ininformation theory and image coding, and then withWilliam F. Schreiber. At that time scanning equipment was not commercially available, so it was necessary to build ascanner for digitizing and reproducing images. Computer programs were written inassembly language using a prototypeLincoln LabTX-0 computer. Descriptions of digitized images were stored onpaper tape with punched holes.[3] Huang was supervised by Schreiber for both his M.S. thesis,Picture statistics and linearly interpolative coding (1960),[4] and his Sc.D. thesis,Pictorial noise (1963).[5] His master's work focused on algorithms for image coding using adaptive techniques for interpolation with sensitivity to edges. His doctorate included work on the subjective effects of pictorial noise across a spectrum.[3]
Huang accepted a position on the faculty of the Department of Electrical Engineering at MIT, and remained there from 1963 to 1973.[3] He accepted a position as an electrical engineering professor and director of the Information and Signal Processing Laboratory atPurdue University in 1973, remaining there until 1980.[3]
In 1980 Huang accepted a chair in electrical engineering at theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).[3] On April 15, 1996, Huang became the first William L. Everitt Distinguished Professor in Electrical & Computer Engineering at UIUC.[6] He was involved with theCoordinated Science Laboratory (CSL), and served as head of the Image Formation and Processing Group of theBeckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology and co-chair of the Beckman Institute's research track on Human Computer Intelligent Interaction.[7][8] As of 2012, he was named a Swanlund Chair, the highest endowed title at UIUC.[9][10] Huang retired from teaching as of December 2014, but continued to be active as a researcher.[11]
Huang was a founding editor of theInternational Journal of Computer Vision, Graphics and Image Processing, and of Springer-Verlag'sSpringer Series in Information Sciences. He helped to organize the first International Picture Coding Symposium (1969), the first International Workshop on Very Low Bitrate Video Coding (1993), and the first International Conference on Automatic Face and Gesture Recognition (1995), all of which became repeated events.[7]
Huang's research tended to focus on the development of general concepts, methodologies, theories, and algorithms which have wide application to multimodal and multimedia signal processing.[3] While still at MIT, he developed the first algebraic procedure for testing the stability conditions oftwo-dimensional filters, based on double bilinear transformation and the Ansell method.[12] He also published ondigital holography.[13] While at Purdue, he worked onnonlinear filters, particularlymedian filters, which became a standard technique for the removal of noise in images.[14]
Some of his earliest work dealt withimage compression, extending later into areas of enhancement, restoration and analysis. He developed approaches for binary document compression that utilized 2-dimensional scanned information, examining the changes from one line of a scan to the next, and detecting transition points at which a subsequent line differs. Statistical predictions and experimental results of the model's performance conformed well.[3] In 1969, Huang and Grant Anderson were one of the first teams to propose a method for blocktransform coding,[15] building on the work of J. J. Y. Huang and Peter M. Schultheiss.[16][17]
In 1984, Tsai and Huang were the first to present a frequency-domain multi-frame method which related thediscrete Fourier transform of observed low-resolutionsatellite images from the acquisition stage to the continuous Fourier transform of the high-resolution image, using theinverse Fourier transform to obtain a final image with increased resolution.[18][19] Huang also worked onwavelet methods of encoding and onfractal coding. Wavelet coding is particularly important forcontent based image retrieval frommultimedia databases containing images, video, audio, and text. It enables searches to be done on smaller encoded images rather than on full-size retrieved images.[3] Other research areas of importance include the use ofrelevance feedback in adapting database systems to user intentions (when browsing or searching),[20] and constructing tables of contents and semantic indexes for video using multimedia information (image sequence, audio, and closed-captions if available).[21]
In the area of 3-D modelling, Huang worked on the identification of three-dimensional motion and the structure of rigid objects given multiple images in which corresponding features can be identified.[22] This work was important for the compression of television images, for the development of image standards, and for research into human and computer vision.[3] Huang also worked on the 3-D modeling, analysis, and synthesis of images of the human face, hands, and body. The initial motivation behind this research was to support low bitrate 3-D model-based video coding for video phone and teleconferencing. The idea was that if a 3-D model of the user could be transmitted and reconstructed at the receiving end, it would then be sufficient to extract and send movement information to drive the 3-D model and regenerate the video sequence. Tools developed for this type of scenarios are applicable to many other problems as well, including virtual space conferencing with avatars, and electronic games.[23]
Huang considered image and speech processing to be fundamentally similar,[3] and worked with speech recognition and sound processing as well as images. Huang, Mark Hasegawa-Johnson, and their students created a database of speech, recorded in automobiles, that is usable as abenchmark for testing audio-visual speech recognition algorithms.[24] They also developed methods for detecting audio elements that are likely to attract human attention, and are using them to enable humans to more effectively go through large amounts of audio recordings to find important information.[25]
Huang did important work in multimodalhuman computer interaction and interface design.[26] He was one of the first researchers to combine audio and video-based techniques for identification of human affective states.[27] More recent work by Huang and others attempts to "develop a series of algorithms to extract information from multi-modality in an optimal way",[28] screening large amounts of data from multiple sources and optimizing the types and amounts of data that are compressed and transmitted. Such opportunistic sensing research has applications in both military and civilian use.[28][29]
Huang also hoped to develop more natural and effective ways for humans to interact with a computer or virtual environment using speech and gesture.[3] Research projects include visualhand tracking andgesture recognition;[30] the use of visual lip reading to enhance audio speech recognition accuracy; and integration ofspeech recognition and visual gesture analysis in the controlling of displays in virtual environments.[23]
He also worked on audio-visual recognition of gender, age group, and emotion. His work in gender andemotion detection received media attention when his software was used to examine theMona Lisa, concluding that the portrait was of a female (not, as some had theorized, based onDa Vinci himself) and that her enigmatic smile was more happy than sad.[31][32]
In 2015, Huang worked with Ann Willemsen-Dunlap in an interdisciplinary project to develop a 3-D computer-generated avatar, capable of showing appropriate emotions, to be used in online communication of medical information to patients.[33]
As of 2010[update] Huang had published more than 21 books and been an author on more than 600 papers.[35] Representative publications by Thomas Huang include:
Jaimes, A., Gatica-Perez, D., Sebe, N., Huang, T.S. (2007), "Human-centered Computing: Toward a Human Revolution",IEEE Computer, 40(5), pp. 30–34.
Cohen, I., Cozman, F., Sebe, N., Cirelo, M., Huang, T.S. (2004), "Semi-supervised Learning of Classifiers: Theory, Algorithms and Their Applications to Human-Computer Interaction",IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 26(12), pp. 1553–1567.
Pan, H., Levinson, S.E., Huang, T.S., and Liang, Z.P. (2004), “A Fused HMM Model with Application to Bimodal Speech Processing,”IEEE Transactions On Signal Processing, 52/3, pp. 573– 581.
Zhou, X.S. and Huang, T.S. (2003), "Relevance Feedback in Image Retrieval: A Comprehensive Review,"ACM Multimedia Systems Journal, pp. 536–544.
Bruckstein, A.M., Holt, R.J., Huang, T.S., andNetravali, A.N. (2000), "New Devices for 3D Pose Estimation: Mantis Eyes, Agam Paintings, Sundials, and Other Space Fiducials," International Journal of Computer Vision, pp. 131–139.
Huang supervised more than 100 graduate students. In 2012, the Thomas and Margaret Huang Fund for Graduate Research was created in response to appeals by former students James J. Kuch and Chang Wen Chen, to celebrate the contributions of Huang and his wife as mentors and teachers as well as his contributions as a researcher. The fund will provide scholarships to support students in Human-Computer Intelligent Interaction at the Beckman Institute.[50][51]
^Bovik, Alan C.; Chen, Chang Wen; Goldgof, Dmitry (2002). Bovik, Alan C.; Chen, Chang Wen; Goldgof, Dmitry (eds.).Advances in image processing and understanding : a Festschrift for Thomas S. Huang. Series in Machine Perception and Artificial Intelligence. Vol. 52. Singapore: World Scientific.doi:10.1142/5042.ISBN978-981-238-091-3.
^Reports of the President and of the Treasurer. John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. 1971. p. 56.
^Huang, Thomas Shi-Tao (1960).Picture Statistics and Linearly Interpolative Coding (Master's Thesis ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering.
^Huang, Thomas Shi-Tao (1963).Pictorial noise (Sc.D. Thesis ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering.
^abXiong, Ziyou; Radhakrishnan, Regunathan; Divakaran, Ajay; Rui, Yong; Huang, Thomas S. (2006)."About the authors".A unified framework for video summarization, browsing, and retrieval with applications to consumer and surveillance video. Amsterdam: Elsevier/Academic Press. pp. 263–264.ISBN978-0-12-369387-7.
^Huang, T. (June 1972). "Stability of two-dimensional recursive filters".IEEE Transactions on Audio and Electroacoustics.20 (2):158–163.doi:10.1109/TAU.1972.1162364.
^Huang, T.S. (1971). "Digital holography".Proceedings of the IEEE.59 (9):1335–1346.doi:10.1109/PROC.1971.8408.
^Huang, T.; Yang, G.; Tang, G. (1979). "A fast two-dimensional median filtering algorithm".IEEE Transactions on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing.27 (1):13–18.doi:10.1109/tassp.1979.1163188.
^Anderson, Grant; Huang, Thomas S. (1971). "Picture bandwidth compression by piecewise Fourier transformation".IEEE Transactions on Communications.19 (2):133–140.doi:10.1109/tcom.1971.1090630.An earlier version of this paper appeared in the proceedings of the Purdue University Centennial Symposium on Systems and Information Sciences, held 28–30 April 1969.
^Huang, J. J. Y.; Schultheiss, Peter M. (1963). "Block quantization of correlated Gaussian random variables".IEEE Transactions on Communications Systems.11 (3):289–296.doi:10.1109/tcom.1963.1088759.
^Nebeker, Frederik (1998)."Going Digital: The 1960s"(PDF).Signal Processing: The Emergence of a Discipline, 1948-1998. Piscataway, NJ: IEEE Press. pp. 55–87. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 25 July 2015. Retrieved24 July 2015.
^Tsai, R.; Huang, T. (1984). "Multiframe Image Restoration and Registration".Advances in Computer Vision and Image Processing. JAI Press Inc. pp. 317–339.
^Xiong, Ziyou; Radhakrishnan, Regunathan; Divakaran, Ajay; Rui, Yong; Huang, Thomas S. (2006).A unified framework for video summarization, browsing, and retrieval with applications to consumer and surveillance video. Amsterdam: Elsevier/Academic Press.ISBN978-0-12-369387-7.
^Huang, T.S.; Netravali, A.N. (2002). "Motion and structure from feature correspondences: a review".Proceedings of the IEEE.82 (2):252–268.doi:10.1109/5.265351.
^Sharma, R.; Pavlovic, V.I.; Huang, T.S. (May 1998). "Toward multimodal human-computer interface".Proceedings of the IEEE.86 (5):853–869.doi:10.1109/5.664275.
^Huang, Thomas S.; Chen, Lawrence S.; Tao, Hai (April 1998). "Bimodal emotion recognition by man and machine".Proceedings of ATR Workshop on Virtual Communication Environments.
^Pavlovic, V.I.; Sharma, R.; Huang, T.S. (July 1997). "Visual interpretation of hand gestures for human-computer interaction: a review".IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence.19 (7):677–695.CiteSeerX10.1.1.353.4090.doi:10.1109/34.598226.S2CID7185733.
^Beckman Institute at the University of Illinois (2005)."Research Profile: Thomas Huang"(PDF).Annual Report 2005-06. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. pp. 18–19.
^"Thomas S. Huang". ECE Illinois, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Archived fromthe original on October 6, 2011. RetrievedMay 28, 2010.
