Geometric separation of touching objects applied to automatic chromosome classification

A common task in cytogenetic tests is the classification of human chromosomes. Successful separation of touching chromosomes is vital for correct classification. Current systems for automatic chromosome classification are mostly interactive and require human intervention for correct separation of touching chromosomes. Common methods for separation of touching chromosomes tend to fail where ambiguity or incomplete information are involved. We developed a method for the separation of touching objects which encompasses a low-level knowledge about the objects and uses only extracted information. This method is fast and does not depend on the existence of a separating path. Finally the complete process of separation is demonstrated, including cases which are not separable by other methods.