A new online learning algorithm with application to image segmentation

In this paper we present a new online learning and classification algorithm and suggest its use for image segmentation. Our online learning algorithm follows a variation of Bayesian estimation procedure, which combines prior knowledge with knowledge learned from data. Our classification algorithm strictly follows a statistical classification procedure. The new online learning algorithm is simple to implement, robust to initial parameters and has a linear complexity. The experimental results using computer-generated data show that the proposed online learning algorithm can quickly learn the underlying structure from data. The proposed online learning algorithm is used to develop a novel image segmentation procedure. This image segmentation procedure is based on the region growing and merging approach. First, region growing is carried out using the online learning algorithm. Then, a merging operation is performed to merge the small regions. Two merging methods are proposed. The first method is based on statistical similarity and merges the statistically similar and spatially adjacent regions. The second method uses an information-based approach merging small regions into their neighbouring larger regions. Experiments with several images clearly show the efficacy of the proposed image segmentation method.