Unsupervised Detection and Semi-Automatic Extraction of Contours Using a Statistical Model and Dynamic Programming

In this paper, we describe a statistical model for the gradient vector field of the gray level in images based on empirical results. Moreover, we present a global Markov model for contours in images that uses this statistical model for the likelihood. Our model is suitable for an ICE procedure for the estimation of the parameters and dynamic programming (or a simulated annealing) for the segmentation. This yields an unsupervised method for detection of contours. Also, we present a Markov model for paths in images based on the statistical distribution of the gradient. Our model can be used to define cost functions suitable for dynamic programming as in the intelligent scissors algorithm for semi-automatic extraction of contours.

[1]  Vincent Hodgson.  Probability Modeling and Computer Simulation , 1989 .

[2]  G. Celeux,et al.  L'algorithme SEM: un algorithme d'apprentissage probabiliste: pour la reconnaissance de mélange de densités , 1986 .

[3]  Donald Geman,et al.  Stochastic Relaxation, Gibbs Distributions, and the Bayesian Restoration of Images , 1984, IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence.

[4]  Jr. G. Forney,et al.  The viterbi algorithm , 1973 .

[5]  Edsger W. Dijkstra,et al.  A note on two problems in connexion with graphs , 1959, Numerische Mathematik.

[6]  J. Besag.  On the Statistical Analysis of Dirty Pictures , 1986 .

[7]  D. Rubin,et al.  Maximum likelihood from incomplete data via the EM - algorithm plus discussions on the paper , 1977 .

[8]  Patrick Pérez,et al.  Three-Class Markovian Segmentation of High-Resolution Sonar Images , 1999, Comput. Vis. Image Underst..

[9]  Wojciech Pieczynski,et al.  Parameter Estimation in Hidden Fuzzy Markov Random Fields and Image Segmentation , 1997, CVGIP Graph. Model. Image Process..

[10]  Stephen P. Banks,et al.  Signal Processing, Image Processing and Pattern Recognition , 1991 .

[11]  Donald Geman,et al.  Boundary Detection by Constrained Optimization , 1990, IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell..

[12]  Jayaram K. Udupa,et al.  Adaptive boundary detection using 'live-wire' two-dimensional dynamic programming , 1992, Proceedings Computers in Cardiology.

[13]  William A. Barrett,et al.  Interactive Segmentation with Intelligent Scissors , 1998, Graph. Model. Image Process..

[14]  Max Mignotte,et al.  Unsupervised detection of contours using a statistical model , 2002, Proceedings. International Conference on Image Processing.

[15]  Donald Geman,et al.  An Active Testing Model for Tracking Roads in Satellite Images , 1996, IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell..

[16]  Patrick Pérez,et al.  JetStream: probabilistic contour extraction with particles , 2001, Proceedings Eighth IEEE International Conference on Computer Vision. ICCV 2001.