Estimating Gaussian Markov random field parameters in anonstationary framework: application to remote sensing imaging

In this paper, we tackle the problem of estimating textural parameters. We do not consider the problem of texture synthesis, but the problem of extracting textural features for tasks such as image segmentation. We take into account nonstationarities occurring in the local mean. We focus on Gaussian Markov random fields for which two estimation methods are proposed, and applied in a nonstationary framework. The first one consists of extracting conditional probabilities and performing a least square approximation. This method is applied to a nonstationary framework, dealing with the piecewise constant local mean. This framework is adapted to practical tasks when discriminating several textures on a single image. The blurring effect affecting edges between two different textures is thus reduced. The second proposed method is based on renormalization theory. Statistics involved only concern variances of Gaussian laws, leading to Cramer-Rao estimators. This method is thus especially robust with respect to the size of sampling. Moreover, nonstationarities of the local mean do not affect results. We then demonstrate that the estimated parameters allow texture discrimination for remote sensing data. The first proposed estimation method is applied to extract urban areas from SPOT images. Since discontinuities of the local mean are taken into account, we obtain an accurate urban areas delineation. Finally, we apply the renormalization based on method to segment ice in polar regions from AVHRR data.     

Foveated visual search for corners.

We cast the problem of corner detection as a corner search process. We develop principles of foveated visual search and automated fixation selection to accomplish the corner search, supplying a case study of both foveated search and foveated feature detection. The result is a new algorithm for finding corners, which is also a corner-based algorithm for aiming computed foveated visual fixations. In the algorithm, long saccades move the fovea to previously unexplored areas of the image, while short saccades improve the accuracy of putative corner locations. The system is tested on two natural scenes. As an interesting comparison study, we compare fixations generated by the algorithm with those of subjects viewing the same images, whose eye movements are being recorded by an eye tracker. The comparison of fixation patterns is made using an information-theoretic measure. Results show that the algorithm is a good locater of corners, but does not correlate particularly well with human visual fixations.     

Analysis of superimposed oriented patterns.

Estimation of local orientation in images may be posed as the problem of finding the minimum gray-level variance axis in a local neighborhood. In bivariate images, the solution is given by the eigenvector corresponding to the smaller eigenvalue of a 2 x 2 tensor. For an ideal single orientation, the tensor is rank-deficient, i.e., the smaller eigenvalue vanishes. A large minimal eigenvalue signals the presence of more than one local orientation, what may be caused by non-opaque additive or opaque occluding objects, crossings, bifurcations, or corners. We describe a framework for estimating such superimposed orientations. Our analysis is based on the eigensystem analysis of suitably extended tensors for both additive and occluding superpositions. Unlike in the single-orientation case, the eigensystem analysis does not directly yield the orientations, rather, it provides so-called mixed-orientation parameters (MOPs). We, therefore, show how to decompose the MOPs into the individual orientations. We also show how to use tensor invariants to increase efficiency, and derive a new feature for describing local neighborhoods which is invariant to rigid transformations. Applications are, e.g., in texture analysis, directional filtering and interpolation, feature extraction for corners and crossings, tracking, and signal separation.     

Feature Detection and Simplification of 3D Face Data with Facial Expressions

We propose an efficient framework to realistically render 3D faces with a reduced set of points. First, a robust active appearance model is presented to detect facial features in the projected faces under different illumination conditions. Then, an adaptive simplification of 3D faces is proposed to reduce the number of points, yet preserve the detected facial features. Finally, the point model is rendered directly, without such additional processing as parameterization of skin texture. This fully automatic framework is very effective in rendering massive facial data on mobile devices.     

Facial model adaptation from a monocular image sequence using a textured polygonal model

Although several algorithms have been proposed for facial model adaptation from image sequences, the insufficient feature set to adapt a full facial model, imperfect matching of feature points, and imprecise head motion estimation may degrade the accuracy of model adaptation. In this paper, we propose to resolve these difficulties by integrating facial model adaptation, texture mapping, and head pose estimation as cooperative and complementary processes. By using an analysis-by-synthesis approach, salient facial feature points and head profiles are reliably tracked and extracted to form a growing and more complete feature set for model adaptation. A more robust head motion estimation is achieved with the assistance of the textured facial model. The proposed scheme is performed with image sequences acquired with single uncalibrated camera and requires only little manual adjustment in the initialization setup, which proves to be a feasible approach for facial model adaptation.     

Wavelet-based texture retrieval using generalized Gaussian densityand Kullback-Leibler distance

We present a statistical view of the texture retrieval problem by combining the two related tasks, namely feature extraction (FE) and similarity measurement (SM), into a joint modeling and classification scheme. We show that using a consistent estimator of texture model parameters for the FE step followed by computing the Kullback-Leibler distance (KLD) between estimated models for the SM step is asymptotically optimal in term of retrieval error probability. The statistical scheme leads to a new wavelet-based texture retrieval method that is based on the accurate modeling of the marginal distribution of wavelet coefficients using generalized Gaussian density (GGD) and on the existence a closed form for the KLD between GGDs. The proposed method provides greater accuracy and flexibility in capturing texture information, while its simplified form has a close resemblance with the existing methods which uses energy distribution in the frequency domain to identify textures. Experimental results on a database of 640 texture images indicate that the new method significantly improves retrieval rates, e.g., from 65% to 77%, compared with traditional approaches, while it retains comparable levels of computational complexity.     

一种基于局部信息的脸部特征定位方法

在深入研究主动形状模型(Active Shape Model,ASM)的基础上,提出了一种在ASM中结合特征点的邻域Gabor信息进行局部纹理建模的方法,并改进了搜索策略.实验结果表明,该方法与传统ASM定位方法相比提高了特征定位的精度.     

Wavelet-Based SAR Image Despeckling and Information Extraction, Using Particle Filter

This paper proposes a new-wavelet-based synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image despeckling algorithm using the sequential Monte Carlo method. A model-based Bayesian approach is proposed. This paper presents two methods for SAR image despeckling. The first method, called WGGPF, models a prior with Generalized Gaussian (GG) probability density function (pdf) and the second method, called WGMPF, models prior with a Generalized Gaussian Markov random field (GGMRF). The likelihood pdf is modeled using a Gaussian pdf. The GGMRF model is used because it enables texture parameter estimation. The prior is modeled using GG pdf, when texture parameters are not needed. A particle filter is used for drawing particles from the prior for different shape parameters of GG pdf. When the GGMRF prior is used, the particles are drawn from prior in order to estimate noise-free wavelet coefficients and for those coefficients the texture parameter is changed in order to obtain the best textural parameters. The texture parameters are changed for a predefined set of shape parameters of GGMRF. The particles with the highest weights represents the final noise-free estimate with corresponding textural parameters. The despeckling algorithms are compared with the state-of-the-art methods using synthetic and real SAR data. The experimental results show that the proposed despeckling algorithms efficiently remove noise and proposed methods are comparable with the state-of-the-art methods regarding objective measurements. The proposed WGMPF preserves textures of the real, high-resolution SAR images well.     

Multi-task feature learning-based improved supervised descent method for facial landmark detection

Facial landmark detection has played an important role in many face understanding tasks, such as face verification, facial expression recognition, age estimation et al. Model initialization and feature extraction are crucial in supervised landmark detection. Mismatching caused by detector error and discrepant initialization is very common in these existing methods. To solve this problem, we have proposed a new method called multi-task feature learning-based improved supervised descent method (MtFL-iSDM) for the robust facial landmark localization. In this new method, firstly, a fast detection will be processed to locate the eyes and mouth, and the initialization model will adapt to the real location according to fast facial points detection. Secondly, multi-task feature learning is adopted on our improved supervised descent method model to achieve a better performance. Experiments on four benchmark databases show that our method achieves state-of-the-art performance.     

Generalized Gaussian mixture models as a nonparametric Bayesian approach for clustering using class-specific visual features

Recently, there has been a growing interest in the problem of learning mixture models from data. The reasons and motivations behind this interest are clear, since finite mixture models offer a formal approach to the important problems of clustering and data modeling. In this paper, we address the problem of modeling non-Gaussian data which are largely present, and occur naturally, in several computer vision and image processing applications via the learning of a generative infinite generalized Gaussian mixture model. The proposed model, which can be viewed as a Dirichlet process mixture of generalized Gaussian distributions, takes into account the feature selection problem, also, by determining a set of relevant features for each data cluster which provides better interpretability and generalization capabilities. We propose then an efficient algorithm to learn this infinite model parameters by estimating its posterior distributions using Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulations. We show how the model can be used, while comparing it with other models popular in the literature, in several challenging applications involving photographic and painting images categorization, image and video segmentation, and infrared facial expression recognition.     

基于几何和纹理特征的表情层级分类方法

针对表情识别,为提取对个体差异鲁棒性更强的特征,并有效利用特征自身分布特性,本文提出基于几何和纹理特征的表情层级分类方法.首先,构建基于中性脸相似度的几何特征提取方法,自动匹配样本相似中性脸,提取特征点比例系数几何特征;然后,利用充分矢量三角形提取纹理特征;最后,给出表情层级分类框架,在三个层级下分别利用提取特征判定表情类别.所提方法在JAFFE库和CK库上的实验结果表明,本文方法取得了比基于一般几何和纹理特征的识别方法更好的效果,证明了本文方法的有效性.     

Regression on the basis of nonstationary Gaussian processes with Bayesian regularization

We consider the regression problem, i.e. prediction of a real valued function. A Gaussian process prior is imposed on the function, and is combined with the training data to obtain predictions for new points. We introduce a Bayesian regularization on parameters of a covariance function of the process, which increases quality of approximation and robustness of the estimation. Also an approach to modeling nonstationary covariance function of a Gaussian process on basis of linear expansion in parametric functional dictionary is proposed. Introducing such a covariance function allows to model functions, which have non-homogeneous behaviour. Combining above features with careful optimization of covariance function parameters results in unified approach, which can be easily implemented and applied. The resulting algorithm is an out of the box solution to regression problems, with no need to tune parameters manually. The effectiveness of the method is demonstrated on various datasets.     

Dual Ascent for Uncapacitated Telecommunications Network Design with Access,Backbone, and Switch Costs

We consider the telecommunications network design problem of simultaneously determining at which locations to place a switch, interconnecting all switches with backbone trunks, and connecting each location to some switch by an access circuit. We assume there are no capacity constraints, and minimize the sum of switch, backbone trunk, and access circuit costs using a dual ascent method that solves a sequence of dual uncapacitated facility location problems. A Steiner tree based heuristic provides a primal feasible design. On 15 random problems with 100 locations, the average duality gap is 2.0%.     

基于仿射迭代方法的大基线图像匹配技术研究

两幅图像中相应特征点邻域窗口之间的单应映射可以用仿射变换模型来近似。本文首先通过奇异值分解给出仿射变换矩阵4个自由度的几何含义,然后将其分解为一个相似变换矩阵和一个旋转的准单位矩阵(Rotated Quasi-Identity Matrix)的乘积,即在基于相似变换模型匹配的基础上再用基于仿射变换模型的迭代算法对相应特征点精确定位。针对相似变换中初始旋转角度的难确定性,在初始匹配中提出基于亮度最速下降方向的对齐方法,而在引导匹配阶段提出基于相应极线方向的对齐方法,这两个策略不仅提高了算法效率,还能为进一步的仿射迭代提供良好的初值。在得到最优仿射变换参数之后,实现了对相应特征点定位误差的精确补偿及其邻域窗口的透视矫正。最后通过真实图像的实验以及和现有算法的比较验证了本文算法的可行性和精确性,并给出了相应的实验数据和结果。     

Attributed scattering centers for SAR ATR

High-frequency radar measurements of man-made targets are dominated by returns from isolated scattering centers, such as corners and flat plates. Characterizing the features of these scattering centers provides a parsimonious, physically relevant signal representation for use in automatic target recognition (ATR). In this paper, we present a framework for feature extraction predicated on parametric models for the radar returns. The models are motivated by the scattering behaviour predicted by the geometrical theory of diffraction. For each scattering center, statistically robust estimation of model parameters provides high-resolution attributes including location, geometry, and polarization response. We present statistical analysis of the scattering model to describe feature uncertainty, and we provide a least-squares algorithm for feature estimation. We survey existing algorithms for simplified models, and derive bounds for the error incurred in adopting the simplified models. A model order selection algorithm is given, and an M-ary generalized likelihood ratio test is given for classifying polarimetric responses in spherically invariant random clutter.     

Facial feature extraction by a cascade of model-based algorithms

In this paper, we propose a cascaded facial feature-extraction framework employing a set of model-based algorithms. In this framework, the algorithms are arranged with increasing model flexibility and extraction accuracy, such that the cascaded algorithm can have an optimal performance in both robustness and extraction accuracy. Especially, we propose a set of guidelines to analyze and jointly optimize the performance relation between the constituting algorithms, such that the constructed cascade gives the best overall performance. Afterwards, we present an implementation of the cascaded framework employing three algorithms, namely, sparse-graph search, component-based texture fitting and component-based direct fitting. Special attention is paid on the search and optimization of the model parameters of each algorithm, such that the overall extraction performance is greatly improved with respect to both reliability and accuracy.     

Adaptive wavelet graph model for Bayesian tomographic reconstruction

We introduce an adaptive wavelet graph image model applicable to Bayesian tomographic reconstruction and other problems with nonlocal observations. The proposed model captures coarse-to-fine scale dependencies in the wavelet tree by modeling the conditional distribution of wavelet coefficients given overlapping windows of scaling coefficients containing coarse scale information. This results in a graph dependency structure which is more general than a quadtree, enabling the model to produce smooth estimates even for simple wavelet bases such as the Haar basis. The inter-scale dependencies of the wavelet graph model are specified using a spatially nonhomogeneous Gaussian distribution with parameters at each scale and location. The parameters of this distribution are selected adaptively using nonlinear classification of coarse scale data. The nonlinear adaptation mechanism is based on a set of training images. In conjunction with the wavelet graph model, we present a computationally efficient multiresolution image reconstruction algorithm. This algorithm is based on iterative Bayesian space domain optimization using scale recursive updates of the wavelet graph prior model. In contrast to performing the optimization over the wavelet coefficients, the space domain formulation facilitates enforcement of pixel positivity constraints. Results indicate that the proposed framework can improve reconstruction quality over fixed resolution Bayesian methods.     

视频检索中基于GMM聚类的无监督情感场景检测

为了高效地从视频中检索出激动人心的场面,提出了一种基于高斯混合模型的无监督情感场景检测方法.首先,从面部选取42个特征点,并定义10种面部特征;然后,利用高斯混合模型将视频的帧划分为多个聚类;最后,利用每一帧的面部表情分类结果将情感场景划分为单个聚类,并通过场景集成和删除完成检测.在生活记录视频和MMI人脸表情数据库上的实验结果表明,该方法的检测率、分类率分别高达98％,95％,检测5分钟左右的情感场景视频仅需0.138 s,性能优于几种较为先进的检测方法.     

基于LED与肌肉模型的特定人脸建模与动画

特定三维人脸的建模与动画是计算机图形学中一个非常令人感兴趣的领域.本文提出了一种新的从两幅正交照片建立特定人脸的模型以及动画方法,首先以主动轮廓跟踪技术snake自动获取人脸特征点的准确位置,然后以文中的局部弹性变形(local elastic deformation)方法进行通用人脸模型到特定人脸的定制,并辅以采用图像镶嵌技术生成的大分辨率纹理图像施行纹理绘制,该方法以特征点的位移和非特征点与特征点的相对位置为基础计算局部人脸面部的变形,同时还能够实现人脸剧烈的面部变化和动作,与肌肉模型相结合,可很好地实时完成人脸的动画,具有快速高效的特点.最后,给出了所得到的实验结果.     

基于色彩和纹理特征融合的模糊人脸识别方法

基于纹理特征的方法被广泛应用于人脸识别。然而纹理特征依赖于图像的高频细节信息,当图像出现模糊时,单纯利用纹理特征的识别方法的识别精度会急剧下降。为了克服纹理特征的在模糊人脸识别中的不足,提出了一种基于色彩特征和纹理特征融合的识别方法。首先参照人类的对立色感知机制提取人脸的色彩特征;然后,将该色彩特征和纹理特征分别用于识别分类;最后,将二者的识别相似度进行融合,得到最终的识别结果。该色彩特征描述了图像的低频信息,其对图像模糊不敏感,并且与描述图像高频信息的纹理特征具有良好的互补性。在FERET 和AR 人脸库上的实验表明,融合色彩特征和纹理特征有效地提高了模糊人脸的识别精度。