We present a novel statistical and variational approach to image segmentation based on a new algorithm named region competition. This algorithm is derived by minimizing a generalized Bayes/MDL criterion using the variational principle. The algorithm is guaranteed to converge to a local minimum and combines aspects of snakes/balloons and region growing. Indeed the classic snakes/balloons and region growing algorithms can be directly derived from our approach. We provide theoretical analysis of region competition including accuracy of boundary location, criteria for initial conditions, and the relationship to edge detection using filters. It is straightforward to generalize the algorithm to multiband segmentation and we demonstrate it on grey level images, color images and texture images. The novel color model allows us to eliminate intensity gradients and shadows, thereby obtaining segmentation based on the albedos of objects. It also helps detect highlight regions. 1 Division of Appli...

In this paper, we describe a new region-based approach to active contours for segmenting images composed of two or three types of regions characterizable by a given statistic. The essential idea is to derive curve evolutions which separate two or more values of a predetermined set of statistics computed over geometrically determined subsets of the image. Both global and local image information is used to evolve the active contour. Image derivatives, however, are avoided, thereby giving rise to a further degree of noise robustness compared to most edge-based snake algorithms. 1

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Abstract-A conventional active contour formulation suffers difficulty in appropriate choice of an initial contour and values of parameters. Recent approaches have aimed to resolve these problems but can compromise other performance aspects. To relieve the problem in initialization, we use a dual active contour, which is combined with a local shape model to improve the parameterization. One contour expands from inside the target feature, the other contracts from the outside. The two contours are interlinked to provide a balanced technique with an ability to reject “weak ” local energy minima. Index Terms-Snakes, active contours, regularization, feature extraction, local shape.

In this paper, we develop a novel region-based approach to snakes designed to optimally separate the values of certain image statistics over a known number of region types. Multiple sets of contours deform according to a coupled set of curve evolution equations derived from a single global cost functional. The resulting active contour model, in contrast to many other edge and region based models, is fully global in that the evolution of each curve depends at all times upon every pixel in the image and is directly coupled to the evolution of every other curve regardless of their mutual proximity. As such evolving contours enjoy a very wide “field of view, ” endowing the algorithm with a robustness to initial contour placement above and beyond the significant improvement exhibited by other region based snakes over earlier edge based snakes. C ○ 2002 Elsevier Science (USA) Key Words: active contours; curve evolution; snakes; segmentation; gradient flows.

Traditionally, segmentation and registration have been solved as two independent problems, even though it is often the case that the solution to one impacts the solution to the other. In this paper, we introduce a geometric, variational framework that uses active contours to simultaneously segment and register features from multiple images. The key observation is that multiple images may be segmented by evolving a single contour as well as the mappings of that contour into each image. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt at interleaving segmentation and registration in such a framework.

An active shape model segmentation scheme is presented that is steered by optimal local features, contrary to normalized first order derivative profiles, as in the original formulation [Cootes and Taylor, 1995, 1999, and 2001]. A nonlinear kNN-classifier is used, instead of the linear Mahalanobis distance, to find optimal displacements for landmarks. For each of the landmarks that describe the shape, at each resolution level taken into account during the segmentation optimization procedure, a distinct set of optimal features is determined. The selection of features is automatic, using the training images and sequential feature forward and backward selection. The new approach is tested on synthetic data and in four medical segmentation tasks: segmenting the right and left lung fields in a database of 230 chest radiographs, and segmenting the cerebellum and corpus callosum in a database of 90 slices from MRI brain images. In all cases, the new method produces significantly better results in terms of an overlap error measure ( p < 0.001 using a paired T-test) than the original active shape model scheme.

Abstract—In this paper, we present a new information-theoretic approach to image segmentation. We cast the segmentation problem as the maximization of the mutual information between the region labels and the image pixel intensities, subject to a constraint on the total length of the region boundaries. We assume that the probability densities associated with the image pixel intensities within each region are completely unknown a priori, and we formulate the problem based on nonparametric density estimates. Due to the nonparametric structure, our method does not require the image regions to have a particular type of probability distribution and does not require the extraction and use of a particular statistic. We solve the information-theoretic optimization problem by deriving the associated gradient flows and applying curve evolution techniques. We use level-set methods to implement the resulting evolution. The experimental results based on both synthetic and real images demonstrate that the proposed technique can solve a variety of challenging image segmentation problems. Futhermore, our method, which does not require any training, performs as good as methods based on training. Index Terms—Curve evolution, image segmentation, information theory, level-set methods, nonparametric density estimation.

AbstractÐA method for deformable shape detection and recognition is described. Deformable shape templates are used to partition the image into a globally consistent interpretation, determined in part by the minimum description length principle. Statistical shape models enforce the prior probabilities on global, parametric deformations for each object class. Once trained, the system autonomously segments deformed shapes from the background, while not merging them with adjacent objects or shadows. The formulation can be used to group image regions obtained via any region segmentation algorithm, e.g., texture, color, or motion. The recovered shape models can be used directly in object recognition. Experiments with color imagery are reported. Index TermsÐImage segmentation, region merging, object detection and recognition, deformable templates, nonrigid shape models, statistical shape models. 1

We address the problem of moving object segmentation using active contours. As far as segmentation of moving objects is concerned, region-based terms must be incorporated in the evolution equation of the active contour, in addition to classical boundary-based terms. In this paper, we propose a general framework for region-based active contours. Novel aspects of the segmentation method include a new Eulerian proof to compute the evolution equation of the active contour from the minimization of a criterion, and the introduction of functions named "descriptors" of the regions. In this proof, the dynamical scheme is directly introduced in the criterion before differentiation. With such a method, the case of descriptors depending on the evolution of the curve, i.e. depending upon features globally attached to the region, can readily be taken into account. The variation of these descriptors upon the evolution of the curve induces additional terms in the evolution equation of the active contour. The proof ensures the fastest decrease of the active contour towards a minimum of the criterion. Inside this theoretical framework, a set of descriptors is evaluated on real sequences for the detection of moving objects. 1.