一种新的水平集图像分割方法

对Chan-Vese提出的基于简化Mumford-Shah区域最优划分模型和测地线主动轮廓模型在水平集框架下的物理机理进行了分析,在充分考虑其模型优点的基础上,通过构造新的能够整合局部边缘信息和全局区域信息的演化函数对上述模型所存在问题进行了针对性处理,得到了一种新的水平集图像分割模型。人工合成图像和红外光学图像的仿真结果表明,在同样的模型参数条件下,该文模型具有比传统CV模型和GAC模型更高的演化效率和分割质量。     

结合全局与局部信息活动轮廓的非同质图像分割

目的 通过对现有基于区域的活动轮廓模型能量泛函的Euler-Lagrange方程进行变形,建立其与K-means方法的等价关系,提出一种新的基于K-means活动轮廓模型,该模型能有效分割灰度非同质图像。方法 结合图像全局和局部信息,根据交互熵的特性,提出新的局部自适应权重,它根据像素点所在邻域的局部统计信息自适应地确定各个像素点的分割阈值,排除灰度非同质分割目标的影响。结果 采用Jaccard相似系数-JS(Jaccard similarity)和Dice相似系数-DSC(Dice similarity coefficient)两个指标对自然以及合成图像的分割结果进行定量分析,与传统及最新经典的活动轮廓模型相比,新模型JS和DSC的值最接近1,且迭代次数不多于50次。提出的模型具有较高的计算效率和准确率。结论 通过大量实验发现,新模型结合图像全局和局部信息,利用交互熵特性得到自适应权重,对初始曲线位置具有稳定性,且对灰度非同质图像具有较好地分割效果。本文算法主要适用于分割含有噪声及灰度非同质的医学图像,而且分割结果对初始轮廓具有鲁棒性。     

A novel level set method for image segmentation by incorporating local statistical analysis and global similarity measurement

This paper presents a novel level set method for complex image segmentation, where the local statistical analysis and global similarity measurement are both incorporated into the construction of energy functional. The intensity statistical analysis is performed on local circular regions centered in each pixel so that the local energy term is constructed in a piecewise constant way. Meanwhile, the Bhattacharyya coefficient is utilized to measure the similarity between probability distribution functions for intensities inside and outside the evolving contour. The global energy term can be formulated by minimizing the Bhattacharyya coefficient. To avoid the time-consuming re-initialization step, the penalty energy term associated with a new double-well potential is constructed to maintain the signed distance property of level set function. The experiments and comparisons with four popular models on synthetic and real images have demonstrated that our method is efficient and robust for segmenting noisy images, images with intensity inhomogeneity, texture images and multiphase images.     

Robust level set image segmentation via a local correntropy-based K-means clustering

It is still a challenging task to segment real-world images, since they are often distorted by unknown noise and intensity inhomogeneity. To address these problems, we propose a novel segmentation algorithm via a local correntropy-based K-means (LCK) clustering. Due to the correntropy criterion, the clustering algorithm can decrease the weights of the samples that are away from their clusters. As a result, LCK based clustering algorithm can be robust to the outliers. The proposed LCK clustering algorithm is incorporated into the region-based level set segmentation framework. The iteratively re-weighted algorithm is used to solve the LCK based level set segmentation method. Extensive experiments on synthetic and real images are provided to evaluate our method, showing significant improvements on both noise sensitivity and segmentation accuracy, as compared with the state-of-the-art approaches.     

A new level set method for inhomogeneous image segmentation

Intensity inhomogeneity often appears in medical images, such as X-ray tomography and magnetic resonance (MR) images, due to technical limitations or artifacts introduced by the object being imaged. It is difficult to segment such images by traditional level set based segmentation models. In this paper, we propose a new level set method integrating local and global intensity information adaptively to segment inhomogeneous images. The local image information is associated with the intensity difference between the average of local intensity distribution and the original image, which can significantly increase the contrast between foreground and background. Thus, the images with intensity inhomogeneity can be efficiently segmented. What is more, to avoid the re-initialization of the level set function and shorten the computational time, a simple and fast level set evolution formulation is used in the numerical implementation. Experimental results on synthetic images as well as real medical images are shown in the paper to demonstrate the efficiency and robustness of the proposed method.     

A level set method for oil slick segmentation in SAR images

Despite much effort and significant progress in recent years, image segmentation remains a challenging problem in image processing, especially for the low contrast, noisy synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images. This paper explores the segmentation of oil slicks using a partial differential equation (PDE)‐based level set method, which represents the slick surface as an implicit propagation interface. Starting from an initial estimation with priori information, the level set method creates a set of speed functions to detect the position of the propagation interface. Specifically, the image intensity gradient and the curvature flow are utilized together to determine the speed and direction of the propagation. This allows the front interface to propagate naturally with topological changes, significant protrusions and narrow regions, giving rise to stable and smooth boundaries that discriminate oil slicks from the surrounding water. As the speckles are removed concurrently while the front interface propagates, the pre‐filtering of noise is saved. The proposed method has been illustrated by experiments on oil slick segmentation using the ERS‐2 SAR images. Its advantages over the traditional image segmentation approaches have also been demonstrated.     

GACV: Geodesic-Aided C-V method

A novel algorithm for image segmentation is proposed. The proposed method incorporates geodesic curves and C-V method to raise active contours’ performance on image segmentation. Moreover, we extend our method to color images. By practical experiments, it is verified that our model obtains better results than original methods, especially with respect to images within holes, complex background, weak edges, and noise.     

Multiple piecewise constant with geodesic active contours (MPC-GAC) framework for interactive image segmentation using graph cut optimization

This paper proposes an improved variational model, multiple piecewise constant with geodesic active contour (MPC-GAC) model, which generalizes the region-based active contour model by Chan and Vese, 2001 [11] and merges the edge-based active contour by Caselles et al., 1997 [7] to inherit the advantages of region-based and edge-based image segmentation models. We show that the new MPC-GAC energy functional can be iteratively minimized by graph cut algorithms with high computational efficiency compared with the level set framework. This iterative algorithm alternates between the piecewise constant functional learning and the foreground and background updating so that the energy value gradually decreases to the minimum of the energy functional. The k-means method is used to compute the piecewise constant values of the foreground and background of image. We use a graph cut method to detect and update the foreground and background. Numerical experiments show that the proposed interactive segmentation method based on the MPC-GAC model by graph cut optimization can effectively segment images with inhomogeneous objects and background.     

A novel active contour model for image segmentation using distance regularization term

In this paper, a novel active contour model (R-DRLSE model) based on level set method is proposed for image segmentation. The R-DRLSE model is a variational level set approach that utilizes the region information to find image contours by minimizing the presented energy functional. To avoid the time-consuming re-initialization step, the distance regularization term is used to penalize the deviation of the level set function from a signed distance function. The numerical implementation scheme of the model can significantly reduce the iteration number and computation time. The results of experiments performed on some synthetic and real images show that the R-DRLSE model is effective and efficient. In particular, our method has been applied to MR kidney image segmentation with desirable results.     

区域信息和水平集方法的图像分割

随着图像处理技术不断发展,图像分割技术也在不断的走向成熟,但是目前比较成熟的分割方法都存在一定的局限性,传统的分割方法一般都难以实现全局分割,而且对目标边缘比较模糊的物体难以实现有效的精确的分割;基于区域信息和水平集方法的图像分割算法弥补了这些缺陷,该算法是在传统的动态轮廓GAC模型和C_V模型的基础上进行改善;通过实验分析,首先,该算法极大提高了图像分割的精确性,使得轮廓线能够在要分割目标的边缘附近停止演化,即使目标的边缘是模糊不清的图像,该算法也能实现精确地分割;其次,该算法还克服了传统动态轮廓分割算     

A moving object segmentation algorithm for static camera via active contours and GMM

Moving object segmentation is one of the most challenging issues in computer vision. In this paper, we propose a new algorithm for static camera foreground segmentation. It combines Gaussian mixture model (GMM) and active contours method, and produces much better results than conventional background subtraction methods. It formulates foreground segmentation as an energy minimization problem and minimizes the energy function using curve evolution method. Our algorithm integrates the GMM background model, shadow elimination term and curve evolution edge stopping term into energy function. It achieves more accurate segmentation than existing methods of the same type. Promising results on real images demonstrate the potential of the presented method. Supported by National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2006CB303105), the Chinese Ministry of Education Innovation Team Fund Project (Grant No. IRT0707), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 60673109 and 60801053), Beijing Excellent Doctoral Thesis Program (Grant No. YB20081000401), Beijing Municipal Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. 4082025), and Doctoral Foundation of China (Grant No. 20070004037)     

Active contours driven by median global image fitting energy for SAR river image segmentation

The existing active contour models can not achieve accurate segmentation of SAR river images. To solve this difficulty, a novel active contour model driven by median global image fitting energy is proposed. First, the median global fitted image is defined. Then by minimizing the difference between the median global fitted image and the original image, the energy functional of the proposed model is obtained. Moreover, the within-cluster absolute differences of the pixel grayscale values inside and outside the curve are introduced to adaptively adjust the proportions of the region energies inside and outside the curve. Compared with the popular active contour models, extensive experimental results demonstrate the proposed model has clear advantages in terms of both segmentation performance and segmentation efficiency.     

图像分割的结构张量几何活动轮廓模型

基于水平集方法和结构张量,提出几何活动轮廓模型应用于图像分割,解决水平集方法轮廓初始化和弱边缘处易于边缘泄露问题.该方法利用张量图像的散度算子构造新的外力,引导水平集函数的自适应运动,使得其可以初始为常值函数,消失其演化对初始轮廓的需要;在偏微分方程中引入张量迹信息,减少噪声对其演化的影响,避免轮廓在弱边缘处泄露.实验结果表明,该方法对噪声图像鲁棒,能提取深度凹陷目标轮廓和红外图像中的弱目标.     

结合全局和双核局部拟合的活动轮廓分割模型

针对可缩放区域拟合（RSF）模型对初始轮廓敏感的缺点,提出了一种结合全局和局部图像信息的变分水平集活动轮廓模型。该模型设计了一个灰度域上的核函数,将其与RSF模型空域核的线性组合作为局部能量项,弥补了采样权值仅与空间距离有关的缺陷,提高了分割精度;构造了带有自适应全局指示函数的面积项,作为全局拟合力,提高了模型的收敛速度且避免陷入局部极小值;使用了高斯滤波方法,规则水平集函数,使其保持光滑,并避免了复杂的重新初始化过程。实验结果表明,该模型初始化灵活,对灰度不均匀图像有很好的分割效果     

Individual tooth segmentation from CT images using level set method with shape and intensity prior

3D visualization of teeth from CT images provides important assistance for dentists performing orthodontic surgery and treatment. However, dental CT images present several major challenges for the segmentation of tooth, which touches with adjacent teeth as well as surrounding periodontium and jaw bones. Moreover, tooth contour suffers from topological changes and splits into several branches. In this work, we focus on the segmentation of individual teeth with complete crown and root parts. To this end, we propose adaptive active contour tracking algorithms: single level set method tracking for root segmentation to handle the complex image conditions as well as the root branching problem, and coupled level set method tracking for crown segmentation in order to separate the touching teeth and create the virtual common boundaries between them. Furthermore, we improve the variational level set method in several aspects: gradient direction is introduced into the level set framework to prevent catching the surrounding object boundaries; in addition to the shape prior, intensity prior is introduced to provide adaptive shrinking or expanding forces in order to deal with the topological changes. The test results for both tooth segmentation and 3D reconstruction show that the proposed method can visualize individual teeth with high accuracy and efficiency.     

变分水平集方法在灰度不均图像分割中的应用

灰度不均严重影响图像分割的准确性,主动轮廓模型广泛应用于图像分割中。为了克服灰度不均对图像分割的影响,提出了一种基于变分水平集的主动轮廓模型。该模型利用了图像局部统计信息的均值和方差,适合对灰度不均图像分割。为了检验算法的性能,利用该算法和经典算法作对比实验,结果表明,不管是对合成图像还是真实图像的分割,都验证了该方法的有效性,而且该方法在曲线演化过程中无需重新初始化水平集函数,在一定程度上减少了计算量。     

A robust active contour model driven by fuzzy c-means energy for fast image segmentation

In this paper, we propose a robust region-based active contour model driven by fuzzy c-means energy that draws upon the clustering intensity information for fast image segmentation. The main idea of fuzzy c-means energy is to quickly compute the two types of cluster center functions for all points in image domain by fuzzy c-means algorithm locally with a proper preprocessing procedure before the curve starts to evolve. The time-consuming local fitting functions in traditional models are substituted with these two functions. Furthermore, a sign function and a Gaussian filtering function are utilized to replace the penalty term and the length term in most models, respectively. Experiments on several synthetic and real images have proved that the proposed model can segment images with intensity inhomogeneity efficiently and precisely. Moreover, the proposed model has a good robustness on initial contour, parameters and different kinds of noise.     

A new graph cut-based multiple active contour algorithm without initial contours and seed points

This paper presents a new graph cut-based multiple active contour algorithm to detect optimal boundaries and regions in images without initial contours and seed points. The task of multiple active contours is framed as a partitioning problem by assuming that image data are generated from a finite mixture model with unknown number of components. Then, the partitioning problem is solved within a divisive graph cut framework where multi-way minimum cuts for multiple contours are efficiently computed in a top-down way through a swap move of binary labels. A split move is integrated into the swap move within that framework to estimate the model parameters associated with regions without the use of initial contours and seed points. The number of regions is also estimated as a part of the algorithm. Experimental results of boundary and region detection of natural images are presented and analyzed with precision and recall measures to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.     

Colour,texture, and motion in level set based segmentation and tracking

This paper introduces an approach for the extraction and combination of different cues in a level set based image segmentation framework. Apart from the image grey value or colour, we suggest to add its spatial and temporal variations, which may provide important further characteristics. It often turns out that the combination of colour, texture, and motion permits to distinguish object regions that cannot be separated by one cue alone. We propose a two-step approach. In the first stage, the input features are extracted and enhanced by applying coupled nonlinear diffusion. This ensures coherence between the channels and deals with outliers. We use a nonlinear diffusion technique, closely related to total variation flow, but being strictly edge enhancing. The resulting features are then employed for a vector-valued front propagation based on level sets and statistical region models that approximate the distributions of each feature. The application of this approach to two-phase segmentation is followed by an extension to the tracking of multiple objects in image sequences.     

An efficient local Chan-Vese model for image segmentation

In this paper, a new local Chan-Vese (LCV) model is proposed for image segmentation, which is built based on the techniques of curve evolution, local statistical function and level set method. The energy functional for the proposed model consists of three terms, i.e., global term, local term and regularization term. By incorporating the local image information into the proposed model, the images with intensity inhomogeneity can be efficiently segmented. In addition, the time-consuming re-initialization step widely adopted in traditional level set methods can be avoided by introducing a new penalizing energy. To avoid the long iteration process for level set evolution, an efficient termination criterion is presented which is based on the length change of evolving curve. Particularly, we proposed constructing an extended structure tensor (EST) by adding the intensity information into the classical structure tensor for texture image segmentation. It can be found that by combining the EST with our LCV model, the texture image can be efficiently segmented no matter whether it presents intensity inhomogeneity or not. Finally, experiments on some synthetic and real images have demonstrated the efficiency and robustness of our model. Moreover, comparisons with the well-known Chan-Vese (CV) model and recent popular local binary fitting (LBF) model also show that our LCV model can segment images with few iteration times and be less sensitive to the location of initial contour and the selection of governing parameters.