Segmentation of color still images using Voronoi diagrams

This paper proposes a new segmentation method based on Voronoi diagrams in order to develop efficient region-oriented coding for color still images. The method disposes generators according to local activity of a color image, and modifies their positions so that boundaries between Voronoi regions can run parallel to the principal contours in the image. Since a Voronoi diagram is uniquely determined by only positions of generators, the method can efficiently represent region-shapes. Moreover it can segment images quite freely, because there is in general no limitation about disposition of generators. Simulation results indicate that the method realizes better segmentation even at a low coding rate than a conventional method.