On Topology Preservation in 3D Thinning

Topology preservation is a major concern of parallel thinning algorithms for 2D and 3D binary images. To prove that a parallel thinning algorithm preserves topology, one must show that it preserves topology for all possible images. But it would be difficult to check all images, since there are too many possible images. Efficient sufficient conditions which can simplify such proofs for the 2D case were proposed by Ronse [Discrete Appl. Math. 21, 1988, 69-79]. By Ronse′s results, a 2D parallel thinning algorithm can be proved to be topology preserving by checking a rather small number of configurations. This paper establishes sufficient conditions for 3D parallel thinning algorithms to preserve topology.