Automated quality assurance image processing system

An image processing system for automated quality control of converting optical images into corresponding digital data, said system comprising:

• (a) sensing means for discriminating digital sensor signals corresponding to an image differential density of an image of black bits (b) said digital sensor signals having a fill factor;
• (b) compressing means for compressing said digital sensor signals to generate compressed signals, said compressed signals comprising (c) bits per image and defining compression ratio, wherein a product of said compression ratio and said fill factor which is equal to a quality quotient of b/c, said quality quotient being related to resolution and quality of information rather than quantity of information in said image;
• (c) histogram hardware means coupled to said compression means for generating histograms corresponding to said image, and histogram analyzer means for analyzing said histograms wherein said histogram hardware means includes means for deconvolving a video histogram representative of an image into a plurality of qualified histograms representative respectively of background data, foreground data, and signal isolated pixel noise and edge transitions;
• and
• (d) means for verifying a quality assurance parameter based upon comparable data from the histograms.