A total color difference measure for segmentation in color images

A single-value total color difference (TCD) measurement for scene segmentation is proposed and evaluated experimentally. Both chrominance and luminance difference criteria are considered. The luminance component is defined by a unit in luminance change expressed in terms of MacAdam's Just Noticeable Difference, JND. The chromaticity component is derived directly from JND. Experiments using both pixel and region analysis show that the proposed TCD can effectively indicate object boundaries over a wide range of luminance changes. The results have been evaluated both subjectively and quantitatively. For comparison purposes, results have been obtained in several color spaces.