Several geometric active contour models have been proposed for segmentation in computer vision and image analysis. The essential idea is to evolve a curve (in 2D) or a surface (in 3D) under constraints from image forces so that it clings to features of interest in an intensity image. Recent variations on this theme take into account properties of enclosed regions and allow for multiple curves or surfaces to be simultaneously represented. However, it is still unclear how to apply these techniques to images of narrow elongated structures, such as blood vessels, where intensity contrast may be low and reliable region statistics cannot be computed. To address this problem we derive the gradient flows which maximize the rate of increase of flux of an appropriate vector field through a curve (in 2D) or a surface (in 3D). The key idea is to exploit the direction of the vector field along with its magnitude. The calculations lead to a simple and elegant interpretation which is essentially parameter free and has the same form in both dimensions. We illustrate its advantages with several level-set based segmentations of 2D and 3D angiography images of blood vessels.

Abstract. Since their introduction as a means of front propagation and their first application to edge-based segmentation in the early 90’s, level set methods have become increasingly popular as a general framework for image segmentation. In this paper, we present a survey of a specific class of region-based level set segmentation methods and clarify how they can all be derived from a common statistical framework. Region-based segmentation schemes aim at partitioning the image domain by progressively fitting statistical models to the intensity, color, texture or motion in each of a set of regions. In contrast to edge-based schemes such as the classical Snakes, region-based methods tend to be less sensitive to noise. For typical images, the respective cost functionals tend to have less local minima which makes them particularly well-suited for local optimization methods such as the level set method. We detail a general statistical formulation for level set segmentation. Subsequently, we clarify how the integration of various low level criteria leads to a set of cost functionals and point out relations between the different segmentation schemes. In experimental results, we demonstrate how the level set function is driven to partition the image plane into domains of coherent color, texture, dynamic texture or motion. Moreover, the Bayesian formulation allows to introduce prior shape knowledge into the level set method. We briefly review a number of advances in this domain.

We are interested in regularizing fields of orthonormal vector sets, using constraint-preserving anisotropic diffusion PDE's. Each point of such a field is defined by multiple orthogonal and unitary vectors and can indeed represent a lot of interesting orientation features such as direction vectors or orthogonal matrices (among other examples). We first develop a general variational framework that solves this regularization problem, thanks to a constrained minimization of -functionals. This leads to a set of coupled vector-valued PDE's preserving the orthonormal constraints. Then, we focus on particular applications of this general framework, including the restoration of noisy direction fields, noisy chromaticity color images, estimated camera motions and DT-MRI (Di usion Tensor MRI) datasets.

We propose in this paper an alternative approach for computing p-harmonic maps and flows: instead of solving a constrained minimization problem on S N- i, we solve an unconstrained minimization problem on the entire space of functions. This is possible, using the projection on the sphere of any arbitrary function. Then we show how this formulation can be used in practice, for problems with both isotropic and anisotropic diffusion, with applications to image processing, using a new finite difference scheme.

This paper deals with the problem of regularizing noisy fields of diffusion tensors, considered as symmetric and semi-positive definite n n matrices (as for instance 2D structure tensors or DT-MRI medical images). We first propose a simple anisotropic PDE-based scheme that acts directly on the matrix coefficients and preserve the semipositive constraint thanks to a specific reprojection step. The limitations of this algorithm lead us to introduce a more effective approach based on constrained spectral regularizations acting on the tensor orientations (eigenvectors) and diffusivities (eigenvalues), while explicitely taking the tensor constraints into account. The regularization of the orientation part uses orthogonal matrices diffusion PDE's and local vector alignment procedures and will be particularly developed. For the interesting 3D case, a special implementation scheme designed to numerically fit the tensor constraints is also proposed. Experimental results on synthetic and real DT-MRI data sets finally illustrates the proposed tensor regularization framework.

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Abstract. Nonlinear partial differential equations (PDE) are now widely used to regularize images. They allow to eliminate noise and artifacts while preserving large global features, such as object contours. In this context, we propose a geometric framework to design PDE flows actingon constrained datasets. We focus our interest on flows of matrixvalued functions undergoing orthogonal and spectral constraints. The correspondingevolution PDE’s are found by minimization of cost functionals, and depend on the natural metrics of the underlyingconstrained manifolds (viewed as Lie groups or homogeneous spaces). Suitable numerical schemes that fit the constraints are also presented. We illustrate this theoretical framework through a recent and challenging problem in medical imaging: the regularization of diffusion tensor volumes (DT-MRI).

We study multivalued diffusion PDE's (Partial Differential Equations) and their application to color image processing. The analysis of classic scalar diffusion PDE's leads to a new multivalued regularization equation which is coherent with a local vector image geometry. Then, we are interested in constrained regularization problems, where vector norm constraints have to be considered. A general extension for unit vector regularization is then proposed. Finally, experimental results of color image restoration are presented.

In this paper we propose numerical methods for minimization problems constrained to S . By our technique based on the angle formulation, standard numerical di#culties are easily overcome. Applications to computations of harmonic maps, denoising of directional data and of color images are presented, in two and three dimensions.

Image smoothing using adaptive windows whose shapes, sizes, and orientations vary with image structure is described. Window size is increased with decreasing gradient magnitude, and window shape and orientation are adjusted in such a way as to smooth most in the direction of least gradient. Rather than performing smoothing isotropically, smoothing is performed in preferred orientations to preserve region boundaries while reducing random noise within regions. Also, instead of performing smoothing uniformly, smoothing is performed more in homogeneous areas than in detailed areas. The proposed adaptive window mechanism is tested in the context of median, mean, and Gaussian filtering, and experimental results are presented using synthetic and real images and compared with a state-of-the-art method.