Fast interactive segmentation algorithm of image sequences based on relative fuzzy connectedness

A fast interactive segmentation algorithm of image-sequences based on relative fuzzy connectedness is presented. In comparison with the original algorithm, the proposed one, with the same accuracy, accelerates the segmentation speed by three times for single image. Meanwhile, this fast segmentation algorithm is extended from single object to multiple objects and from single-image to image-sequences. Thus the segmentation of multiple objects from complex hackground and batch segmentation of image-sequences can be achieved. In addition, a post-processing scheme is incorporated in this algorithm, which extracts smooth edge with one-pixel-width for each segmented object. The experimental results illustrate that the proposed algorithm can obtain the object regions of interest from medical image or image-sequences as well as man-made images quickly and reliably with only a little interaction.

View suggestion for interactive segmentation of indoor scenes

Point cloud segmentation is a fundamental problem. Due to the complexity of real-world scenes and the limitations of 3D scanners, interactive segmentation is currently the only way to cope with all kinds of point clouds. However, interactively segmenting complex and large-scale scenes is very time-consuming.In this paper, we present a novel interactive system for segmenting point cloud scenes. Our system automatically suggests a series of camera views, in which users can conveniently specify segmentation guidance. In this way, users may focus on specifying segmentation hints instead of manually searching for desirable views of unsegmented objects, thus significantly reducing user effort. To achieve this, we introduce a novel view preference model, which is based on a set of dedicated view attributes, with weights learned from a user study. We also introduce support relations for both graph-cut-based segmentation and finding similar objects. Our experiments show that our segmentation technique helps users quickly segment various types of scenes, outperforming alternative methods.

Sequential interactive image segmentation

Interactive image segmentation(IIS)is an important technique for obtaining pixel-level annotations.In many cases,target objects share similar semantics.However,IIS methods neglect this connection and in particular the cues provided by representations of previously segmented objects,previous user interaction,and previous prediction masks,which can all provide suitable priors for the current annotation.In this paper,we formulate a sequential interactive image segmentation(SIIS)task for minimizing user interaction when segmenting sequences of related images,and we provide a practical approach to this task using two pertinent designs.The first is a novel interaction mode.When annotating a new sample,our method can automatically propose an initial click proposal based on previous annotation.This dramatically helps to reduce the interaction burden on the user.The second is an online optimization strategy,with the goal of providing semantic information when annotating specific targets,optimizing the model with dense supervision from previously labeled samples.Experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of regarding SIIS as a particular task,and our methods for addressing it.

Interactivemedical image segmentation with self-adaptive confidence calibration

Interactive medical image segmentation based on human-in-the-loop machine learning is a novel paradigm that draws on human expert knowledge to assist medical image segmentation.However,existing methods often fall into what we call interactive misunderstanding,the essence of which is the dilemma in trading off short-and long-term interaction information.To better use the interaction information at various timescales,we propose an interactive segmentation framework,called interactive MEdical image segmentation with self-adaptive Confidence CAlibration(MECCA),which combines action-based confidence learning and multi-agent reinforcement learning.A novel confidence network is learned by predicting the alignment level of the action with short-term interaction information.A confidence-based reward-shaping mechanism is then proposed to explicitly incorporate confidence in the policy gradient calculation,thus directly correcting the model’s interactive misunderstanding.MECCA also enables user-friendly interactions by reducing the interaction intensity and difficulty via label generation and interaction guidance,respectively.Numerical experiments on different segmentation tasks show that MECCA can significantly improve short-and long-term interaction information utilization efficiency with remarkably fewer labeled samples.The demo video is available at https://bit.ly/mecca-demo-video.

Interactive Liver Segmentation Algorithm Based on Geodesic Distance and V-Net

Convolutional neural networks(CNNs)are prone to mis-segmenting image data of the liver when the background is complicated,which results in low segmentation accuracy and unsuitable results for clinical use.To address this shortcoming,an interactive liver segmentation algorithm based on geodesic distance and V-net is proposed.The three-dimensional segmentation network V-net adequately considers the characteristics of the spatial context information to segment liver medical images and obtain preliminary segmentation results.An artificial algorithm based on geodesic distance is used to form artificial hard constraints to modify the image,and the superpixel piece created by the watershed algorithm is introduced as a sample point for operation,which significantly improves the efficiency of segmentation.Results from simulation of the liver tumor segmentation challenge(LiTS)dataset show that this algorithm can effectively refine the results of automatic liver segmentation,reduce user intervention,and enable a fast,interactive liver image segmentation that is convenient for doctors.

A survey of recent interactive image segmentation methods

Image segmentation is one of the most basic tasks in computer vision and remains an initial step of many applications. In this paper, we focus on interactive image segmentation(IIS), often referred to as foreground–background separation or object extraction, guided by user interaction. We provide an overview of the IIS literature by covering more than 150 publications, especially recent works that have not been surveyed before. Moreover, we try to give a comprehensive classification of them according to different viewpoints and present a general and concise comparison of the most recent published works. Furthermore, we survey widely used datasets,evaluation metrics, and available resources in the field of IIS.

Interactive image segmentation with a regression based ensemble learning paradigm

To achieve fine segmentation of complex natural images, people often resort to an interactive segmentation paradigm, since fully automatic methods often fail to obtain a result consistent with the ground truth. However, when the foreground and background share some similar areas in color, the fine segmentation result of conventional interactive methods usually relies on the increase o f manual labels. This paper presents a novel interactive image segmentation method via a regression-based ensemble model with semi-supervised learning. The task is formulated as a non-linear problem integrating two complementary spline regressors and strengthening the robustness of each regressor via semi-supervised learning. First, two spline regressors with a complementary nature are constructed based on multivariate adaptive regression splines （MARS） and smooth thin plate spline regression （TPSR）. Then, a regressor boosting method based on a clustering hypothesis and semi-supervised learning is proposed to assist the training of MARS and TPSR by using the region segmentation information contained in unlabeled pixels. Next, a support vector regression （SVR） based decision fusion model is adopted to integrate the results of MARS and TPSR. Finally, the GraphCut is introduced and combined with the SVR ensemble results to achieve image segmentation. Extensive experimental results on benchmark datasets of BSDS500 and Pascal VOC have demonstrated the effectiveness of our method, and the com- parison with experiment results has validated that the proposed method is comparable with the state-of-the-art methods for in- teractive natural image segmentation.

Robust interactive image segmentation via graph-based manifold ranking

Interactive image segmentation aims at classifying the image pixels into foreground and background classes given some foreground and background markers. In this paper, we propose a novel framework for interactive image segmentation that builds upon graph-based manifold ranking model, a graph-based semi-supervised learning technique which can learn very smooth functions with respect to the intrinsic structure revealed by the input data. The final segmentation results are improved by overcoming two core problems of graph construction in traditional models: graph structure and graph edge weights. The user provided scribbles are treated as the must-link and must-not-link constraints. Then we model the graph as an approximatively k-regular sparse graph by integrating these constraints and our extended neighboring spatial relationships into graph structure modeling. The content and labels driven locally adaptive kernel parameter is proposed to tackle the insufficiency of previous models which usually employ a unified kernel parameter. After the graph construction,a novel three-stage strategy is proposed to get the final segmentation results. Due to the sparsity and extended neighboring relationships of our constructed graph and usage of superpixels, our model can provide nearly real-time, user scribble insensitive segmentations which are two core demands in interactive image segmentation. Last but not least, our framework is very easy to be extended to multi-label segmentation,and for some less complicated scenarios, it can even get the segmented object through single line interaction. Experimental results and comparisons with other state-of-the-art methods demonstrate that our framework can efficiently and accurately extract foreground objects from background.