Thirty years ago pattern recognition was dominated by the learning machine concept: that one could automate the process of going from the raw data to a classifier. The derivation of numerical features from the input image was not considered an important step. One could present all possible features to a program which in turn could find which ones would be useful for pattern recognition. In spite of significant improvements in statistical inference techniques, progress was slow. It became clear that feature derivation was a very complex process that could not be automated and that features could be symbolic as well as numerical. Furthennore the spatial relationship amongst features might be important. It appeared that pattern recognition might resemble language analysis since features could play the role of symbols strung together to form a word. This led. to the genesis of syntactic pattern recognition, pioneered in the middle and late 1960's by Russel Kirsch, Robert Ledley, Nararimhan, and Allan Shaw. However the thorough investigation of the area was left to King-Sun Fu and his students who, until his untimely death, produced most of the significant papers in this area. One of these papers (syntactic recognition of fingerprints) received the distinction of being selected as the best paper published that year in the IEEE Transaction on Computers. Therefore syntactic pattern recognition has a long history of active research and has been used in industrial applications.

This volume contains the proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute on "Image Sequence Processing and Dynamic Scene Analysis" held 21 June - 2 July, 1982 in Hotel Maritim, Braunlage/Harz, Federal Republic of Germany. The organizing eommittee of the institute consists of T.S. Huang (Director), H.G. Musmann (Co Director), H.H. Nagel (Consultant), and C.E. Liedtke and W. Geuen (Local 'arrangement). This Institute was devoted to the rapidly emerging field of image sequence processing and dynamic scene analysis which has man! important applications in cluding target tracking, television bandwidth compression, highway traffic moni toring, and analysis of heart wall motion for medical diagnosis. The lectures and discussions in this Institute fell into three overlapping categories: Motion estimation; pattern recognition and artificial intelligence techniques in dynamic scene analysis; and, applications. 1) Motion estimation - One of the most important problems in image sequence analysis and dynamic scene analysis is displacement and motion estimation. For example, in interframe coding using temporal DPCM, displacement estimation and compensation can improve efficiency significantly. Also, estimated motion parameters can be powerful cues in target segmentation, detection, and classification. In this Institute, a number of recently developed techniques for displacement and motion estimation were discussed.

Since the 1960s, a significant effort has been underway to program computers to “see” the human face—to develop automated systems for identifying faces and distinguishing them from one another—commonly known as Facial Recognition Technology. While computer scientists are developing FRT in order to design more intelligent and interactive machines, businesses and states agencies view the technology as uniquely suited for “smart” surveillance—systems that automate the labor of monitoring in order to increase their efficacy and spread their reach. Tracking this technological pursuit, Our Biometric Future identifies FRT as a prime example of the failed technocratic approach to governance, where new technologies are pursued as shortsighted solutions to complex social problems. Culling news stories, press releases, policy statements, PR kits and other materials, Kelly Gates provides evidence that, instead of providing more security for more people, the pursuit of FRT is being driven by the priorities of corporations, law enforcement and state security agencies, all convinced of the technology’s necessity and unhindered by its complicated and potentially destructive social consequences. By focusing on the politics of developing and deploying these technologies, Our Biometric Future argues not for the inevitability of a particular technological future, but for its profound contingency and contestability.