A New Active Contour Model Based on Distance-Weighted Potential Field

Snakes, or active contours, have been widely used in various image processing applications. Typical problems of snakes, including limited capture range, poor convergence to concavities, noise sensitivity, and initialization sensitivity, have limited their applications. For solving these problems, we propose a new potential for the active contour model. In this proposed potential field, each location’s potential is computed by integrating the feature information from all the pixels in the image with the distances as the weights. The external forces are computed as the gradients of this proposed potential field, and the computed external forces are static and have global capture range. Experiments and also the comparisons with the snake using gradient vector flow (GVF) as external forces are conducted to examine the performances of this proposed snake. The results show that the proposed snake has a large capture range and an excellent convergence to boundary concavities, and also the proposed snake is more robust to noise, more time efficient, and less sensitive to the initialization, compared with the GVF snake.     

Active contour external force using vector field convolution for image segmentation.

Snakes, or active contours, have been widely used in image processing applications. Typical roadblocks to consistent performance include limited capture range, noise sensitivity, and poor convergence to concavities. This paper proposes a new external force for active contours, called vector field convolution (VFC), to address these problems. VFC is calculated by convolving the edge map generated from the image with the user-defined vector field kernel. We propose two structures for the magnitude function of the vector field kernel, and we provide an analytical method to estimate the parameter of the magnitude function. Mixed VFC is introduced to alleviate the possible leakage problem caused by choosing inappropriate parameters. We also demonstrate that the standard external force and the gradient vector flow (GVF) external force are special cases of VFC in certain scenarios. Examples and comparisons with GVF are presented in this paper to show the advantages of this innovation, including superior noise robustness, reduced computational cost, and the flexibility of tailoring the force field.     

Dynamic directional gradient vector flow for snakes.

Snakes, or active contour models, have been widely used in image segmentation. However, most present snake models do not discern between positive and negative step edges. In this paper, a new type of dynamic external force for snakes named dynamic directional gradient vector flow (DDGVF) is proposed that uses this information for better performance. It makes use of the gradients in both x and y directions and deals with the external force field for the two directions separately. In snake deformation, the DDGVF field is utilized dynamically according to the orientation of snake in each iteration. Experimental results demonstrate that the DDGVF snake provides a much better segmentation than GVF snake in situations when edges of different directions are present which pose confusion for segmentation.     

Detection of the carpal bone contours from 3-D MR images of the wrist using a planar radial scale-space snake

In this paper we consider the problems encountered when applying snake models to detect the contours of the carpal bones in 3-D MR images of the wrist. In order to improve the performance of the original snake model introduced by Kass [1], we propose a new image force based on one-dimensional (1-D) second-order Gaussian filtering and contrast equalization. The improved snake is less sensitive to model initialization and has no tendency to cut off contour sections of high curvature, because 1-D radial scale-space relaxation is used. Contour orientation is used to minimize the influence of neighboring image structures. Due to 1-D contrast equalization an intensity insensitive measure of external energy is obtained. As a consequence a good balance between internal and external energetic contributions of the snake is established, which also improves convergence. By incorporating this new image force into the snake model, we succeed in accurate contour detection, even when relatively high noise levels are present and when the contrast varies along the contours of the bones.     

Surface extraction and thickness measurement of the articular cartilage from MR images using directional gradient vector flow snakes

The accuracy of the surface extraction of magnetic resonance images of highly congruent joints with thin articular cartilage layers has a significant effect on the percentage errors and reproducibility of quantitative measurements (e.g., thickness and volume) of the articular cartilage. Traditional techniques such as gradient-based edge detection are not suitable for the extraction of these surfaces. This paper studies the extraction of articular cartilage surfaces using snakes, and a gradient vector flow (GVF)-based external force is proposed for this application. In order to make the GVF snake more stable and converge to the correct surfaces, directional gradient is used to produce the gradient vector flow. Experimental results show that the directional GVF snake is more robust than the traditional GVF snake for this application. Based on the newly developed snake model, an articular cartilage surface extraction algorithm is developed. Thickness is computed based on the surfaces extracted using the proposed algorithm. In order to make the thickness measurement more reproducible, a new thickness computation approach, which is called T-norm, is introduced. Experimental results show that the thickness measurement obtained by the new thickness computation approach has better reproducibility than that obtained by the existing thickness computation approaches.     

External force of snake: virtual electric field

Gradient vector flow (GVF) is an external force of snake that overcomes traditional snake's problems: limited capture range and poor convergence to concave boundaries. A new external force with the same properties as the GVF is proposed. The proposed method has much shorter computational time than the GVF.     

Vessel boundary tracking for intravital microscopy via multiscale gradient vector flow snakes

Due to movement of the specimen, vasodilation, and intense clutter, the intravital location of a vessel boundary from video microscopy is a difficult but necessary task in analyzing the mechanics of inflammation and the structure of the microvasculature. This paper details an active contour model for vessel boundary detection and tracking. In developing the method, two innovations are introduced. First, the B-spline model is combined with the gradient vector flow (GVF) external force. Second, a multiscale gradient vector flow (MSGVF) is employed to elude clutter and to reliably localize the vessel boundaries. Using synthetic experiments and video microscopy obtained via transillumination of the mouse cremaster muscle, we demonstrate that the MSGVF approach is superior to the fixed-scale GVF approach in terms of boundary localization. In each experiment, the fixed scale approach yielded at least a 50% increase in root mean squared error over the multiscale approach. In addition to delineating the vessel boundary so that cells can be detected and tracked, we demonstrate the boundary location technique enables automatic blood flow velocity computation in vivo.     

Ridge Extraction From the Time–frequency Representation (TFR) of Signals Based on an Image Processing Approach: Application to the Analysis of Uterine Electromyogram AR TFR

Time-frequency representations (TFRs) of signals are increasingly being used in biomedical research. Analysis of such representations is sometimes difficult, however, and is often reduced to the extraction of ridges, or local energy maxima. In this paper, we describe a new ridge extraction method based on the image processing technique of active contours or snakes. We have tested our method on several synthetic signals and for the analysis of uterine electromyogram or electrohysterogram (EHG) recorded during gestation in monkeys. We have also evaluated a postprocessing algorithm that is especially suited for EHG analysis. Parameters are evaluated on real EHG signals in different gestational periods. The presented method gives good results when applied to synthetic as well as EHG signals. We have been able to obtain smaller ridge extraction errors when compared to two other methods specially developed for EHG. The gradient vector flow (GVF) snake method, or GVF-snake method, appears to be a good ridge extraction tool, which could be used on TFR of mono or multicomponent signals with good results.     

基于变化检测和改进的GVF snake模型的运动目标轮廓提取

为了解决当前目标跟踪中目标轮廓提取不精确的问 题,在对传统GVF (gradient vector flow)snake活动轮廓模型改进的基础上,提 出一种基于变化检测和改进的GVF snake活动轮廓模型的视频目标轮廓提取算法。首先,通 过 基于t显著性检验的变化检测方 法消除背景边界的影响,并获取初始运动变化区域的临界四边形作为GVF snake的初始轮廓 。然后,对初始轮廓应用改进 的GVF snake模型以获得精确的轮廓边界。改进模型采用4方向各项异性扩散,并采用下降速 度较快的保真项系数以增强 GVF snake进入凹陷的能力,且保持对弱边界的收敛。本文方法克服了手动绘制初始轮廓的 缺点,对传统GVF snake方法进 行了改进,且空间准确度(SA)有很大提高。实验表明 ,本文方法成功分割出目标凹陷部分并对弱边界有较好的收敛效果,提高了轮廓提取的精确 度。     

Ridge extraction from the time-frequency representation (TFR) of signals based on an image processing approach: application to the analysis of uterine electromyogram AR TFR.

Time-frequency representations (TFRs) of signals are increasingly being used in biomedical research. Analysis of such representations is sometimes difficult, however, and is often reduced to the extraction of ridges, or local energy maxima. In this paper, we describe a new ridge extraction method based on the image processing technique of active contours or snakes. We have tested our method on several synthetic signals and for the analysis of uterine electromyogram or electrohysterogram (EHG) recorded during gestation in monkeys. We have also evaluated a postprocessing algorithm that is especially suited for EHG analysis. Parameters are evaluated on real EHG signals in different gestational periods. The presented method gives good results when applied to synthetic as well as EHG signals. We have been able to obtain smaller ridge extraction errors when compared to two other methods specially developed for EHG. The gradient vector flow (GVF) snake method, or GVF-snake method, appears to be a good ridge extraction tool, which could be used on TFR of mono or multicomponent signals with good results.     

Unsupervised segmentation based on robust estimation and color active contour models.

One of the most commonly used clinical tests performed today is the routine evaluation of peripheral blood smears. In this paper, we investigate the design, development, and implementation of a robust color gradient vector flow (GVF) active contour model for performing segmentation, using a database of 1791 imaged cells. The algorithms developed for this research operate in Luv color space, and introduce a color gradient and L2E robust estimation into the traditional GVF snake. The accuracy of the new model was compared with the segmentation results using a mean-shift approach, the traditional color GVF snake, and several other commonly used segmentation strategies. The unsupervised robust color snake with L2E robust estimation was shown to provide results which were superior to the other unsupervised approaches, and was comparable with supervised segmentation, as judged by a panel of human experts.     

A hand tracking algorithm with particle filter and improved GVF snake model

To solve the problem that the accurate information of hand cannot be obtained by particle filter, a hand tracking algorithm based on particle filter combined with skin-color adaptive gradient vector flow (GVF) snake model is proposed. Adaptive GVF and skin color adaptive external guidance force are introduced to the traditional GVF snake model, guiding the curve to quickly converge to the deep concave region of hand contour and obtaining the complex hand contour accurately. This algorithm realizes a real-time correction of the particle filter parameters, avoiding the particle drift phenomenon. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can reduce the root mean square error of the hand tracking by 53%, and improve the accuracy of hand tracking in the case of complex and moving background, even with a large range of occlusion. This work has been supported by the National Natural Sciencal Foundation of China (No.61403274), and the Tianjin Technology Project of Intelligent Manufacturing (No.15ZXZNGX00160). E-mail:agwu@tju.edu.cn      

Data acceptance for automated leukocyte tracking through segmentation of spatiotemporal images

A crucial task in inflammation research and inflammatory drug validation is leukocyte velocity data collection from microscopic video imagery. Since manual methods are bias-prone and extremely time consuming, automated tracking methods are required to compute cell velocities. However, an automated tracking method is of little practical use unless it is accompanied by a mechanism to validate the tracker output. In this paper, we propose a validation technique that accepts or rejects the output of automated tracking methods. The proposed method first generates a spatiotemporal image from the cell locations given by a tracking method; then, it segments the spatiotemporal image to detect the presence or absence of a leukocyte. For segmenting the spatiotemporal images, we employ an edge-direction sensitive nonlinear filter followed by an active contour based technique. The proposed nonlinear filter, the maximum absolute average directional derivative (MAADD), first computes the magnitude of the mean directional derivative over an oriented line segment and then chooses the maximum of all such values within a range of orientations of the line segment. The proposed active contour segmentation is obtained via growing contours controlled by a two-dimensional force field, which is constructed by imposing a Dirichlet boundary condition on the gradient vector flow (GVF) field equations. The performance of the proposed validation method is reported here for the outputs of three different tracking techniques: the method was successful in 97% of the trials using manual tracking, in 94% using correlation tracking and in 93% using active contour tracking.     

RAGS: region-aided geometric snake

An enhanced, region-aided, geometric active contour that is more tolerant toward weak edges and noise in images is introduced. The proposed method integrates gradient flow forces with region constraints, composed of image region vector flow forces obtained through the diffusion of the region segmentation map. We refer to this as the Region-aided Geometric Snake or RAGS. The diffused region forces can be generated from any reliable region segmentation technique, greylevel or color. This extra region force gives the snake a global complementary view of the boundary information within the image which, along with the local gradient flow, helps detect fuzzy boundaries and overcome noisy regions. The partial differential equation (PDE) resulting from this integration of image gradient flow and diffused region flow is implemented using a level set approach. We present various examples and also evaluate and compare the performance of RAGS on weak boundaries and noisy images.     

Harmonic gradient vector flow external force for snake model

Gradient vector flow (GVF), an external force for the snake model, is reformulated by replacing the smoothness constraint with a harmonic one, which is related to the divergence and the curl of the vector field. The proposed formulation provides some new insights into the nature of the GVF.     

一种基于参数活动轮廓模型的高能闪光照相图像分割算法

针对高能闪光照相系统成像质量较差的特点,提出了一种基于参数活动轮廓模型(Snake模型)的闪光照相图像分割算法.该算法在传统高斯力Snake模型中引入包含图像区域信息的变力,以目标和背景两区域具有最小方差为准则,构建兼顾边缘和区域信息的外部能量函数.数值实验结果表明,该算法对初始轮廓位置不敏感,较好地解决了客体凹陷区域分割问题,能够实现对含噪声的弱边界闪光图像的自动分割.     

Inertial snake for contour detection in ultrasonography images

Snakes, or active contour models are used extensively for image segmentation in varied fields. However, some major challenges restrict their use in many fields. The authors propose a new inertial snake model, that introduces an inertial effect of the control points into the snake framework. The proposed inertial force along with the first- and second-order continuity forces controls the spline motion through the concavities and also against weak edge forces. This smart force field, added to the inertial energy framework, posses the ability to adaptively reduce its effect near the true edges, so that the energy minimising spline converges into the edges. A greedy snake has been used for computation of the energy minimising spline. The algorithm has been tested on phantoms and ultrasound images as well. It is shown in the results that the proposed algorithm classifies the object from the background class in most of the images perfectly. Ultrasound images of a lower limb artery of an adult woman have been tested with this algorithm, and also extended for motion tracking.     

A neural network-based stochastic active contour model (NNS-SNAKE)for contour finding of distinct features

Contour finding of distinct features in 2-D/3-D images is essential for image analysis and computer vision. To overcome the potential problems associated with existing contour finding algorithms, we propose a framework, called the neural network-based stochastic active contour model (NNS-SNAKE), which integrates a neural network classifier for systematic knowledge building, an active contour model (also known as the "Snake") for automated contour finding using energy functions, and the Gibbs sampler to help the snake to find the most probable contour using a stochastic decision mechanism. Successful application of the NNS-SNAKE to extraction of several types of contours on magnetic resonance (MR) images is presented.     

3-D snake for US in margin evaluation for malignant breast tumor excision using mammotome

The goal of this paper is to use the three-dimensional (3-D) snake technique in 3-D ultrasound to obtain the tumor contour for the pre- and the post-operative malignant breast excision by the vacuum assisted biopsy instrument Mammotome. This technique of assessing the margin of two can help the physician to evaluate the effect of the surgery. By using the anisotropic diffusion filter, the noise and speckles can be reduced. Then the stick detection is adopted for enhancing the edge. Finally, the gradient vector flow (GVF) snake is used to obtain the tumor contour. These techniques are extended to the 3-D techniques to increase the accuracy and robust of segmentation results. We hope that this study can help physicians to improve the minimal invasive operation for a breast tumor.     

Boundary detection in medical images using edge following algorithm based on intensity gradient and texture gradient features

Finding the correct boundary in noisy images is still a difficult task. This paper introduces a new edge following technique for boundary detection in noisy images. Utilization of the proposed technique is exhibited via its application to various types of medical images. Our proposed technique can detect the boundaries of objects in noisy images using the information from the intensity gradient via the vector image model and the texture gradient via the edge map. The performance and robustness of the technique have been tested to segment objects in synthetic noisy images and medical images including prostates in ultrasound images, left ventricles in cardiac magnetic resonance (MR) images, aortas in cardiovascular MR images, and knee joints in computerized tomography images. We compare the proposed segmentation technique with the active contour models (ACM), geodesic active contour models, active contours without edges, gradient vector flow snake models, and ACMs based on vector field convolution, by using the skilled doctors' opinions as the ground truths. The results show that our technique performs very well and yields better performance than the classical contour models. The proposed method is robust and applicable on various kinds of noisy images without prior knowledge of noise properties.