The book can be viewed free of charge, but if they want to print it, readers need to access another web-based version, for which there is a small charge.
Intelligent Vision Systems for Industry was originally published in hard back by Springer-Verlag in 1997. Now the electronic version can be viewed at http://www.eeng.dcu.ie/~whelanp/ivsi/
The authors, Professors Bruce Batchelor of Cardiff University, UK, and Paul Whelan of Dublin City University, Ireland, have accumulated over 40 years' experience of researching in Machine Vision, designing and installing vision systems used in manufacturing industry.
"Publishing papers, documents and even books on the web is not new," said Professor Batchelor. "The innovation here is that, although the e-book can be read freely by anyone without payment, there is a small charge for printing, so we can cover some of our costs.
"In this way, we can make the book available to students and researchers who would otherwise not be able to read it. We can update it indefinitely, as new techniques are developed, thereby continuing to provide an up-to-date report on the state of this fast-moving subject."
Professor Batchelor explained: "Machine Vision has much to offer manufacturing industry. It is a fast, safe and hygienic sensing technology, capable of examining a huge variety of materials and products. It is concerned with the application of video sensing and image processing techniques to industrial inspection, measurement and robot guidance. It can greatly reduce production costs, while improving product and process safety."