Multiphase Soft Segmentation with Total Variation and <Emphasis Type="Italic">H</Emphasis><Superscript>1</Superscript> Regularization

In this paper, we propose a variational soft segmentation framework inspired by the level set formulation of multiphase Chan-Vese model. We use soft membership functions valued in [0,1] to replace the Heaviside functions of level sets (or characteristic functions) such that we get a representation of regions by soft membership functions which automatically satisfies the sum to one constraint. We give general formulas for arbitrary N-phase segmentation, in contrast to Chan-Vese’s level set method only 2 ^m -phase are studied. To ensure smoothness on membership functions, both total variation (TV) regularization and H ¹ regularization used as two choices for the definition of regularization term. TV regularization has geometric meaning which requires that the segmentation curve length as short as possible, while H ¹ regularization has no explicit geometric meaning but is easier to implement with less parameters and has higher tolerance to noise. Fast numerical schemes are designed for both of the regularization methods. By changing the distance function, the proposed segmentation framework can be easily extended to the segmentation of other types of images. Numerical results on cartoon images, piecewise smooth images and texture images demonstrate that our methods are effective in multiphase image segmentation.     

模糊C 均值聚类与多相水平集图割优化相结合的图像分割

针对在分割多个目标时多相水平集模型对初始轮廓曲线敏感且计算量大的问题, 提出采用模糊C 均值聚类算法将图像进行粗分割,初始化多相水平集函数,使用图割算法分割 出多相结果的方法。该方法能有效减小多相水平集算法对初始轮廓曲线的敏感性,使图割算法 在分割图像时更容易分割出理想的目标轮廓;同时,采用图割算法可使水平集函数很快收敛到 能量最小值,有效减少计算量,提高计算效率。实验表明该方法具有较好地分割效果和较高地 分割效率。     

基于多层水平集函数的三维多相图像分割

多相图像分割通常利用多个水平集函数分别定义不同区域的特征函数,其极值求解问题需要对多个函数分别求极值,计算效率较低。针对三维多相图像,提出一种改进的变分水平集模型,采用一个多层水平集函数的n层水平集隐式曲面,将图像划分为n个区域,通过对一个水平集函数求极值,实现三维多相分段常值图像的快速分割与重建。将能量泛函表达为数据项和规则项,借助规则化Heaviside函数设计区域划分的通用特征函数,采用Split-Bregman投影方法进行能量最小化求解。实验结果表明,该模型可以有效地实现三维多相图像分割,与Chan-Vese模型相比,其迭代步数较少,分割速度较快。     

改进的双水平集医学图像分割方法

由于基于简化M_S模型的多相水平集图像分割模型仅仅利用了图像的区域信息,对图像的另一个重要信息(边缘信息)没有有效的利用,同时在分割的过程中需要对水平集函数不断进行重新初始化.为了解决上述模型的不足,本文提出改进的双水平集医学图像分割方法.该方法主要是在基于简化M_S模型的多相水平集图像分割模型的基础上将图像的边界信息项和为避免重新初始化水平集函数的惩罚项加入模型中.实验结果表明,添加了边界信息后的模型能够在边界位置定位更容易,同时改进后的双水平集模型在实现多目标分割时,无需重新初始化水平集函数,减少了计算量,简化了算法实现的复杂度.     

三维图像多相分割的变分水平集方法

变分水平集方法是图像分割等领域出现的新的建模方法,借助多个水平集函数可有效地实现图像多相分割.但在区域/相的通用表达、不同区域内图像模型的表达、通用的能量函的设计、高维图像分割中的拓展研究等方面仍是图像处理的变分方法、水平集方法、偏微分方程方法等研究的热点问题.文中以三维图像为研究对象,系统地建立了一种新的三维图像多相分割的变分水平集方法.该方法用n-1个水平集函数划分n个区域,并基于Heaviside函数设汁出区域划分的通用的特征函数;其能量泛函包括通用的区域模型、边缘检测模型和水平集函数为符号距离函数的约束项3部分;最后,针对所得到的曲面演化方程,采用半隐式差分格式进行离散,并对多种类型三维图像进行分割验证了所提出模型的通用性和有效性.     

结合局部熵能量泛函与非凸正则项的图像分割

为了克服灰度不均匀对图像分割的影响，结合CV模型的全局能量项和LBF模型的局部能量项，引入图像局部熵信息和非凸正则项，构造新的能量泛函，提出了结合局部熵的局部能量泛函与非凸正则项的图像分割算法。该算法首先采用CV模型中的全局能量泛函得到图像的大致演化轮廓；通过构建具有局部熵信息的局部能量泛函，实现对图像的精确分割。然后，利用非凸正则项作为图像演化过程中零水平集逼近目标的又一驱动力驱动曲线演化和边缘保护。该算法利用变分水平集方法将这一新构建的能量泛函进行最小化，通过迭代更新水平集函数，完成曲线演化。最后，对比实验表明，所提出的算法可以高效、准确地分割灰度不均匀图像。     

An enhanced multiphase Chan–Vese model for the remote sensing image segmentation

The level set method has been widely used in image segmentation; however, the complexity of the computation has restricted its application field. Also, it is a big challenge to segment remote sensing image mainly because of the complex terrain. In this paper, an enhanced multiphase phase level set method based on the Chan–Vese (C‐V) model is proposed for segmenting remote sensing images. Compared with the C‐V model, two main contributions of the proposed model mainly include the following: First, we introduce a new strategy of initialization in which the contours of the first k biggest connected regions are extracted as the initial curves (k is the number of level set functions); Second, to increase the accuracy, a morphological gradient component is added to the original intensity image. To investigate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed model, we have applied it to analyze different kinds of images, including synthetic, real, and remote sensing images. The experimental results have shown that our method is able to achieve better segmentation with less computational consumption compared with the traditional multiphase C‐V model and local and global intensity fitting model. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于贝塞尔滤波的水平集正则化图像分割方法

针对水平集函数在演化过程中的初始化敏感和数值稳定性问题,提出了一种新的基于贝塞尔滤波的正则化方法,并将其嵌入到经典的可变区域拟合(Region-Scalable Fitting,RSF)模型中,从而构成新的能量模型。首先,利用K均值算法进行自动初始化,再加以修正生成标准的初始水平集函数,以解决RSF模型对初始化敏感的问题;其次,利用RSF模型自身优点对图像进行迭代分割,同时在迭代过程中利用提出的方法对水平集函数进行正则化处理,保持迭代过程中的稳定性;最后,实现精确的分割效果。实验结果表明,提出的正则化方法有效地保持了水平集函数的稳定性。将新的模型与多种基于区域的模型进行对比,仿真实验表明,提出的方法具有较高的算法效率与分割精度。     

Unsupervised segmentation of noisy and inhomogeneous images using global region statistics with non-convex regularization

Improving the segmentation of magnetic resonance (MR) images remains challenging because of the presence of noise and inhomogeneous intensity. In this paper, we present an unsupervised, multiphase segmentation model based on a Bayesian framework for both MR image segmentation and bias field correction in the presence of noise. In our model, global region statistics are utilized as segmentation criteria in order to classify regions with similar mean intensities but different variances. Additionally, we propose an edge indicator function based on a guided filter (instead of a Gaussian filter) that can preserve the underlying edges of the image obscured by noise. The proposed edge indicator function is integrated with non-convex regularization to overcome the influence of noise, resulting in more accurate segmentation. Furthermore, the proposed model utilizes a Markov random field to model the spatial correlation between neighboring pixels, which increases the robustness of the model under high-noise conditions. Experimental results demonstrate significant advantages in terms of both segmentation accuracy and bias field correction for inhomogeneous images in the presence of noise.     

A novel multiphase active contour model for inhomogeneous image segmentation

The problem of image segmentation has been investigated with a focus on inhomogeneous multiphase image segmentation. Intensity inhomogeneity is an undesired phenomenon that represents the main obstacle for magnetic resonance (MR) and natural images segmentation. The complex images usually contain an arbitrary number of objects. This paper presents a new multiphase active contour model method for simultaneous regions classification of MR images and natural images without bias field correction. In this model, a simple and effective initialization method is taken to speed up the curve evolution toward final results; a new multiphase level set method is proposed to segment the multiple regions. This model not only extracts multiple objects simultaneously, but also provides smooth and accurate boundaries of the objects. The results for experiments on several synthetic and real images demonstrate the effectiveness and accuracy of our model.     

A Multiphase Level Set Framework for Image Segmentation Using the Mumford and Shah Model

We propose a new multiphase level set framework for image segmentation using the Mumford and Shah model, for piecewise constant and piecewise smooth optimal approximations. The proposed method is also a generalization of an active contour model without edges based 2-phase segmentation, developed by the authors earlier in T. Chan and L. Vese (1999. In Scale-Space'99, M. Nilsen et al. (Eds.), LNCS, vol. 1682, pp. 141–151) and T. Chan and L. Vese (2001. IEEE-IP, 10(2):266–277). The multiphase level set formulation is new and of interest on its own: by construction, it automatically avoids the problems of vacuum and overlap; it needs only log n level set functions for n phases in the piecewise constant case; it can represent boundaries with complex topologies, including triple junctions; in the piecewise smooth case, only two level set functions formally suffice to represent any partition, based on The Four-Color Theorem. Finally, we validate the proposed models by numerical results for signal and image denoising and segmentation, implemented using the Osher and Sethian level set method.     

Image segmentation by iterative optimization of multiphase multiple piecewise constant model and Four-Color relabeling

In the paper an iteratively unsupervised image segmentation algorithm is developed, which is based on our proposed multiphase multiple piecewise constant (MMPC) model and its graph cuts optimization. The MMPC model use multiple constants to model each phase instead of one single constant used in Chan and Vese (CV) model and cartoon limit so that heterogeneous image object segmentation can be effectively dealt with. We show that the multiphase optimization problem based on our proposed model can be approximately solved by graph cuts methods. Four-Color theorem is used to relabel the regions of image after every iteration, which makes it possible to represent and segment an arbitrary number of regions in image with only four phases. Therefore, the computational cost and memory usage are greatly reduced. The comparison with some typical unsupervised image segmentation methods using a large number of images from the Berkeley Segmentation Dataset demonstrates the proposed algorithm can effectively segment natural images with a good performance and acceptable computational time.     

一个新的基于分段常数水平集方法的多相位图像分割模型

在Mum ford-Shah模型和Yoon Mo Jung等提出的分割模型的基础上,利用分段常数水平集方法,提出了一个新的多相位分割模型。新模型输出一个多相位的分布图象,并可以容易地提取每个单独的相位,有一定的抗噪音能力。利用最速下降算法求解总变差最小化问题。引进了一个函数确定模型中的参数值,加速了算法的收敛速度。数值试验表明新模型有很好的分割效果且能准确地处理含T-交汇的图象。     

一种基于局部信息的多相脑图分割模型

针对脑核磁共振成像中灰度不均匀的现象,提出一种基于局部信息的多相脑图分割模型。采用阈值法进行轮廓初始化,利用多相水平集拟合图像的局部信息,从而得到脑灰质、脑白质和脑脊液图像。实验结果表明,该模型能有效地对多相脑图进行分割,给出准确光滑的目标边界,并且不需要重新初始化。     

Interactively multiphase image segmentation based on variational formulation and graph cuts

In this paper the multiple piecewise constant (MPC) active contour model is extended to deal with multiphase case. This proposed multiphase model can be effectively optimized by solving the minimum cuts problem of a specially devised multilayer graph. Based on the proposed energy functional and its graph cuts optimization, an interactively multiphase partition method for image segmentation is presented. The user places some scribbles with different colors on the image according to the practical application demand and each group of scribbles with the same color corresponds to a potential image region. The distribution of each region can be learned from the input scribbles with some particular color. Then the corresponding multilayer graph can be constructed and its minimum cuts can be computed to determine the segmentation result of the image. Numerical experiments show that the proposed interactively multiphase segmentation method can accurately segment the image into different regions according to the input scribbles with different color.     

变分水平集分割方法

针对三维图像多相分割问题,提出一种变分水平集分割方法。由变分方法和梯度坡降方法得到能量泛函取极小值的水平集函数演化方程,与基于区域模型的参数估计构成一个交替迭代过程。仿真结果表明,该方法简单高效,能快速实现三维图像的轮廓分割与重建,真实反映采集序列断层图像的信息,具有较好的应用价值。     

基于变分水平集的图像模糊聚类分割

结合变分水平集方法和模糊聚类,提出了一个基于变分水平集的图像聚类分割模型.该模型引入了一个基于图像局部信息的外部模糊聚类能量和一个新的关于零水平集的正则化能量,使得该模型对噪声图像的聚类分割更具鲁棒性.通过在能量泛函中加入一个内部约束能量约束水平集函数为符号距离函数,可以使水平集演化过程无需重新初始化.进一步提出了一种变分形式的聚类中心更新方法,实现了半监督的图像聚类分割.实验中采用不同类型的图像与FCM聚类模型、CV模型、Samson模型进行了对比实验,实验结果显示,该模型能够克服图像中噪声的影响,取得较满意的聚类分割效果.     

变分水平集分割方法

针对三维图像多相分割问题,提出一种变分水平集分割方法。由变分方法和梯度坡降方法得到能量泛函取极小值的水平集函数演化方程,与基于区域模型的参数估计构成一个交替迭代过程。仿真结果表明,该方法简单高效,能快速实现三维图像的轮廓分割与重建,真实反映采集序列断层图像的信息,具有较好的应用价值。     

Multiphase image segmentation using a phase-field model

In this paper, we propose a new, fast, and stable hybrid numerical method for multiphase image segmentation using a phase-field model. The proposed model is based on the Allen-Cahn equation with a multiple well potential and a data-fitting term. The model is computationally superior to the previous multiphase image segmentation via Modica-Mortola phase transition and a fitting term. We split its numerical solution algorithm into linear and a nonlinear equations. The linear equation is discretized using an implicit scheme and the resulting discrete system of equations is solved by a fast numerical method such as a multigrid method. The nonlinear equation is solved analytically due to the availability of a closed-form solution. We also propose an initialization algorithm based on the target objects for the fast image segmentation. Finally, various numerical experiments on real and synthetic images with noises are presented to demonstrate the efficiency and robustness of the proposed model and the numerical method.