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.     

Multiple resolution segmentation of textured images

A multiple resolution algorithm is presented for segmenting images into regions with differing statistical behavior. In addition, an algorithm is developed for determining the number of statistically distinct regions in an image and estimating the parameters of those regions. Both algorithms use a causal Gaussian autoregressive model to describe the mean, variance, and spatial correlation of the image textures. Together, the algorithms can be used to perform unsupervised texture segmentation. The multiple resolution segmentation algorithm first segments images at coarse resolution and then progresses to finer resolutions until individual pixels are classified. This method results in accurate segmentations and requires significantly less computation than some previously known methods. The field containing the classification of each pixel in the image is modeled as a Markov random field. Segmentation at each resolution is then performed by maximizing the a posteriori probability of this field subject to the resolution constraint. At each resolution, the a posteriori probability is maximized by a deterministic greedy algorithm which iteratively chooses the classification of individual pixels or pixel blocks. The unsupervised parameter estimation algorithm determines both the number of textures and their parameters by minimizing a global criterion based on the AIC information criterion. Clusters corresponding to the individual textures are formed by alternately estimating the cluster parameters and repartitioning the data into those clusters. Concurrently, the number of distinct textures is estimated by combining clusters until a minimum of the criterion is reached     

Synthesis of Color Textures for Multimedia Applications

An algorithm for synthesizing color textures from a small set of parameters is presented in this paper. The synthesis algorithm is based on the 2-D moving average model, and realistic textures resembling many real textures can be synthesized using this algorithm. A maximum likelihood estimation algorithm to estimate parameters from a sample texture is also presented. By combining the estimation and synthesis algorithms, a color texture can be synthesized from a sample texture without human intervention. Using the estimated parameters, a texture larger than the original image can be synthesized from a small texture sample. The synthesis algorithm does not require an expensive iterative algorithm, and the quality of synthesized textures may be acceptable for many multimedia applications. In the experiment, various textures suitable for multimedia applications are synthesized from parameters estimated from real textures.     

Specific object retrieval based on salient regions

In this paper, we present an image retrieval technique for specific objects based on salient regions. The salient regions we select are invariant to geometric and photometric variations. Those salient regions are detected based on low level features, and need to be classified into different types before they can be applied on further vision tasks. We first classify the selected regions into four types including blobs, edges and lines, textures, and texture boundaries, by using the correlations with the neigbouring regions. Then, some specific region types are chosen for further object retrieval applications. We observe that regions selected from images of the same object are more similar to each other than regions selected from images of different objects. Correlation is used as the similarity measure between regions selected from different images. Two images are considered to contain the same object, if some regions selected from the first image are highly correlated to some regions selected from the second image. Two data sets are employed for experiment: the first data set contains human face images of a number of different people and is used for testing the retrieval algorithm on distinguishing specific objects of the same category; and the second data set contains images of different objects and is used for testing the retrieval algorithm on distinguishing objects of different categories. The results show that our method is very effective on specific object retrieval.     

Text segmentation using gabor filters for automatic document processing

There is a considerable interest in designing automatic systems that will scan a given paper document and store it on electronic media for easier storage, manipulation, and access. Most documents contain graphics and images in addition to text. Thus, the document image has to be segmented to identify the text regions, so that OCR techniques may be applied only to those regions. In this paper, we present a simple method for document image segmentation in which text regions in a given document image are automatically identified. The proposed segmentation method for document images is based on a multichannel filtering approach to texture segmentation. The text in the document is considered as a textured region. Nontext contents in the document, such as blank spaces, graphics, and pictures, are considered as regions with different textures. Thus, the problem of segmenting document images into text and nontext regions can be posed as a texture segmentation problem. Two-dimensional Gabor filters are used to extract texture features for each of these regions. These filters have been extensively used earlier for a variety of texture segmentation tasks. Here we apply the same filters to the document image segmentation problem. Our segmentation method does not assume any a priori knowledge about the content or font styles of the document, and is shown to work even for skewed images and handwritten text. Results of the proposed segmentation method are presented for several test images which demonstrate the robustness of this technique. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under NSF grant CDA-88-06599 and by a grant from E. 1. Du Pont De Nemours & Company.     

Multichannel texture analysis using localized spatial filters

A computational approach for analyzing visible textures is described. Textures are modeled as irradiance patterns containing a limited range of spatial frequencies, where mutually distinct textures differ significantly in their dominant characterizing frequencies. By encoding images into multiple narrow spatial frequency and orientation channels, the slowly varying channel envelopes (amplitude and phase) are used to segregate textural regions of different spatial frequency, orientation, or phase characteristics. Thus, an interpretation of image texture as a region code, or carrier of region information, is emphasized. The channel filters used, known as the two-dimensional Gabor functions, are useful for these purposes in several senses: they have tunable orientation and radial frequency bandwidths and tunable center frequencies, and they optimally achieve joint resolution in space and in spatial frequency. By comparing the channel amplitude responses, one can detect boundaries between textures. Locating large variations in the channel phase responses allows discontinuities in the texture phase to be detected. Examples are given of both types of texture processing using a variety of real and synthetic textures     

Unified approach for early-phase image understanding using ageneral decision criterion

Two types of approaches for computer vision are combined to model images or portions thereof, parametrically. These approaches, namely those based on polynomial models and those based on random-field models, are combined based on a general decision criterion for dealing with a variety of modeling strategies. Selection among alternative model structures is in accordance with the tradeoff between sample size and model complexity. Experiments with synthesized images and natural images such as Brodatz textures illustrate some identification and segmentation uses of this unified approach. The implemented segmentation algorithm achieves early-phase region extraction without relying on any contextual or high-level assumptions. A natural result of this is a list of regions, suitable as input for higher-level stages of image understanding in addition to a pixel-labeled image     

结合纹理去除的遥感图像分割

针对包含复杂纹理信息的遥感图像难以进行精准图像分割的问题,提出了一种结合纹理去除的遥感图像分割方法。首先,改进了相对全变差纹理去除方法,通过引入新的范数约束使相对全变差纹理去除方法可以在去除纹理信息的同时凸显图像中的主要结构,达到辅助分割的效果;然后,使用均值漂移算法对经过纹理去除的遥感图像进行无监督聚类,达到分割的目的;最后,提出的遥感图像分割算法在不同遥感图像上进行了测试。实验结果表明,在高分辨遥感图像的分割上,所提算法可以分割出遥感图像中的主要目标,和直接分割或者结合其他纹理去除方法相比取得了更好的分割结果。所提出的分割算法可以降低纹理信息对图像分割的影响,提高遥感图像分割的精度。     

Markov random field texture models

We consider a texture to be a stochastic, possibly periodic, two-dimensional image field. A texture model is a mathematical procedure capable of producing and describing a textured image. We explore the use of Markov random fields as texture models. The binomial model, where each point in the texture has a binomial distribution with parameter controlled by its neighbors and ``number of tries' equal to the number of gray levels, was taken to be the basic model for the analysis. A method of generating samples from the binomial model is given, followed by a theoretical and practical analysis of the method's convergence. Examples show how the parameters of the Markov random field control the strength and direction of the clustering in the image. The power of the binomial model to produce blurry, sharp, line-like, and blob-like textures is demonstrated. Natural texture samples were digitized and their parameters were estimated under the Markov random field model. A hypothesis test was used for an objective assessment of goodness-of-fit under the Markov random field model. Overall, microtextures fit the model well. The estimated parameters of the natural textures were used as input to the generation procedure. The synthetic microtextures closely resembled their real counterparts, while the regular and inhomogeneous textures did not.     

Texture models and image measures for texture discrimination

The task of texture segmentation is to identify image curves that separate different textures. To segment textured images, one must first be able to discriminate textures. A segmentation algorithm performs texture-discrimination tests at densely spaced image positions, then interprets the results to localize edges. This article focuses on the first stage, texture discrimination.We distinguish between perceptual and physical texture differences: the former differences are those perceived by humans, while the latter, on which we concentrate, are those defined by differences in the processes that create the texture in the scene. Physical texture discrimination requires computing image texture measures that allow the inference of physical differences in texture processes, which in turn requires modeling texture in the scene. We use a simple texture model that describes textures by distributions of shape, position, and color of substructures. From this model, a set of image texture measures is derived that allows reliable texture discrimination. These measures are distributions of overall substructure length, width, and orientation; edge length and orientation; and differences in averaged color. Distributions are estimated without explicitly isolating image substructures. Tests of statistical significance are used to compare texture measures.A forced-choice method for evaluating texture measures is described. The proposed measures provide empirical discrimination accuracy of 84 to 100% on a large set of natural textures. By comparison, Laws' texture measures provide less than 50% accuracy when used with the same texture-edge detector. Finally, the measures can distinguish textures differing in second-order statistics, although those statistics are not explicitly measured.The author was with the Robotics Laboratory, Computer Science Department, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305. He is now with the Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (INRIA), Sophia-Antipolis, 2004 Route des Lucioles, 06565 Valbonne Cedex, France.     

图像的纹理标准性度量及其应用

通过分析纹理合成中子块参数对合成速度及质量的影响,发现对于一类纹理图像,不依赖于参数的选择即可快速高效地进行纹理合成。选择子块灰度平均值作为度量指标,根据纹理标准性强的图像应具有的特征,提出了一种新的计算图像纹理标准性系数的算法。结合大量计算结果,界定了一般图像、强标准性纹理以及弱标准性纹理的分类标准。并将其应用到纹理合成当中,对强标准性纹理图像的合成采用大尺度子块及零搜索的合成方法,提高了合成速度的同时保持合成质量不变。     

融合颜色与纹理的复杂场景下的服装图像分割算法

针对复杂场景下拍摄到的服装图像的分割问题,提出一种基于先验知识的融合颜色和纹理特征的无监督分割算法。首先利用块截断编码思想将传统的三维颜色空间截断成为六维空间,得到更为精细的颜色特征,并结合改进的局部二值模式纹理特征实现对图像的特征描述;然后根据目标区域和背景区域在图像中出现的统计规律,提出了一种基于先验知识的两分法来对图像进行分割。由于对图像做了分块处理,因此在子图像块的基础上进行的图像分割将更加高效。实验表明,设计的算法能快速有效地将目标区域从各类不同的复杂场景中分割出来,且整个过程无须人工设定任何参数,对后续的图像理解和图像检索具有重要意义。     

划痕图像的连分式插值修补算法

目的 图像修复在图像处理中起着举足轻重的地位,针对目前大部分图像修补算法在修复划痕时存在纹理修复不够突出的缺陷,提出了两种基于连分式插值的修补算法,可以较好保持图像纹理的特性。方法 该算法基于连分式插值理论,采用图像破损点周围像素信息来插值出破损点的像素值。根据插值函数和插值窗口的不同,提出了两种插值方法,即Thiele型修补算法与Newton-Thiele型修补算法,解决不同纹理类型图像的划痕修补问题,并对插值过程中出现的奇异点问题和平移问题提出了行之有效的解决办法。结果 对大量的划痕图像进行实验测试,并通过主观评价和客观评价进行评估。客观评价包括峰值信噪比（PSNR）和运行时间的比较。相对于目前流行的一些修补方法来说,本文算法有更好的视觉效果,更高的峰值信噪比和更短的运行时间,峰值信噪比为44.79 dB,运行时间为0.53 s。结论 Thiele型修补算法更加擅长处理纹理垂直于划痕的图像,而Newton-Thiele型修补算法适用于复杂纹理的图像。     

基于基元分布的误差可调纹理分类算法

提出一种基于纹理基元分布统计的纹理分类算法，选定一组代表像素变化的基元序列，计算每一个基元在纹理图像中的覆盖比例，用得到的纹理基元属性分布作为描述参数；由于相似纹理其属性也是相似的，同类纹理必然有接近的基元分布参数，计算参与实验的纹理样本的基元分布的互方差及互相关，与代表相似程度的阈值比较判断，由获得的共性来锁定同类纹理；为使同类纹理具有可参照的标准，产生针对每一类纹理的标准类分布。对Brodatz的111纹理不同相似程度的分类结果表明，该方法保证了统计结果与视觉判断的一致性，可用于纹理的分类及识别。     

Texture analysis of aerial photographs

Different image textures manifest themselves by dissimilarity in both the property values and the spatial interrelationships of their component texture primitives. We use this fact in a texture discrimination system.An image is first segmented into closed regions called units. Then, a set of properties is calculated for each of the units. The units along with their respective properties constitute the primitives.The discrimination between texture categories has two parts: the training phase and the classification phase. The primitives and the relationships which are obtained from representative training images are used to develop criteria for the classification phase. During classification, the primitives of the image under test are first used to assign a unit to one of several cluster types. Then, each primitive is assigned to the most likely texture class given its cluster type and the cluster types of its spatially adjacent neighbors.The method is used on three images: a noisy checkerboard, a simulated texture and an aerial photograph.     

Satellite image segmentation with Shadowed C-Means

Satellite images often require segmentation in the presence of uncertainty, caused due to factors like environmental conditions, poor resolution and poor illumination. Since any subsequent image analysis depends on the quality of such segmentation, one has to obtain an efficient algorithm for the purpose. Pixel clustering is a popular way of determining the homogeneous image regions, corresponding to the different land cover types, based on their spectral properties. In this paper we map the newly developed shadowed clustering algorithm to the problem of segmenting remotely sensed images.It is observed that shadowed clustering can efficiently handle overlapping among segments while modeling uncertainty among the boundaries. Unlike rough clustering, here the choice of user-defined parameters is fully eliminated. The number of segments is automatically optimized in terms of validity indices. The algorithm is robust in the presence of outliers. The superiority of the system is demonstrated in segmenting a synthetic image, along with land cover types from the Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) images of the cities of Mumbai and Kolkata and the SPOT image around Kolkata. The algorithm is found to efficiently and accurately extract the different homogeneous regions in the presence of uncertainty. The results are analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively.     

Generating High-quality Superpixels in Textured Images

Superpixel segmentation is important for promoting various image processing tasks. However, existing methods still have difficulties in generating high-quality superpixels in textured images, because they cannot separate textures from structures well. Though texture filtering can be adopted for smoothing textures before superpixel segmentation, the filtering would also smooth the object boundaries, and thus weaken the quality of generated superpixels. In this paper, we propose to use the adaptive scale box smoothing instead of the texture filtering to obtain more high-quality texture and boundary information. Based on this, we design a novel distance metric to measure the distance between different pixels, which considers boundary, color and Euclidean distance simultaneously. As a result, our method can achieve high-quality superpixel segmentation in textured images without texture filtering. The experimental results demonstrate the superiority of our method over existing methods, even the learning-based methods. Benefited from using boundaries to guide superpixel segmentation, our method can also suppress noise to generate high-quality superpixels in non-textured images.     

基于PSO的Wang Tiles纹理合成

如何在纹理样图中选择组成Wang Tiles的图像块决定着纹理的合成质量。基于PSO的Wang Tiles纹理合成通过粒子群优化算法在纹理样图中快速搜索边界差异最小的图像块,并用选取的图像块构建Wang Tiles,最后用Wang Tiles纹理合成算法合成纹理。实验表明,该算法合成的纹理具有较少的接缝,比随机选择图像块具有更好的合成效果。