Image categorization using a semantic hierarchy model with sparse set of salient regions

Image categorization in massive image database is an important problem. This paper proposes an approach for image categorization, using sparse set of salient semantic information and hierarchy semantic label tree （HSLT） model. First, to provide more critical image semantics, the proposed sparse set of salient regions only at the focuses of visual attention instead of the entire scene was formed by our proposed saliency detection model with incorporating low and high level feature and Shotton＇s semantic texton forests （STFs） method. Second, we also propose a new HSLT model in terms of the sparse regional semantic information to automatically build a semantic image hierarchy, which explicitly encodes a general to specific image relationship. And last, we archived image dataset using image hierarchical semantic, which is help to improve the performance of image organizing and browsing. Extension experimefital results showed that the use of semantic hierarchies as a hierarchical organizing frame- work provides a better image annotation and organization, improves the accuracy and reduces human＇s effort.

A Visual Attention Model for Robot Object Tracking

Inspired by human behaviors, a robot object tracking model is proposed on the basis of visual attention mechanism, which is fit for the theory of topological perception. The model integrates the image-driven, bottom-up attention and the object-driven, top-down attention, whereas the previous attention model has mostly focused on either the bottom-up or top-down attention. By the bottom-up component, the whole scene is segmented into the ground region and the salient regions. Guided by top-down strategy which is achieved by a topological graph, the object regions are separated from the salient regions. The salient regions except the object regions are the barrier regions. In order to estimate the model, a mobile robot platform is developed, on which some experiments are implemented. The experimental results indicate that processing an image with a resolution of 752 × 480 pixels takes less than 200 ms and the object regions are unabridged. The analysis obtained by comparing the proposed model with the existing model demonstrates that the proposed model has some advantages in robot object tracking in terms of speed and efficiency.

Visual attention based model for target detection in large-field images

It is of great significance to rapidly detect targets in large-field remote sensing images,with limited computation resources.Employing relative achievements of visual attention in perception psychology,this paper proposes a hierarchical attention based model for target detection.Specifically,at the preattention stage,before getting salient regions,a fast computational approach is applied to build a saliency map.After that,the focus of attention（FOA） can be quickly obtained to indicate the salient objects.Then,at the attention stage,under the FOA guidance,the high-level visual features of the region of interest are extracted in parallel.Finally,at the post-attention stage,by integrating these parallel and independent visual attributes,a decision-template based classifier fusion strategy is proposed to discriminate the task-related targets from the other extracted salient objects.For comparison,experiments on ship detection are done for validating the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed model.

Precision Work-piece Detection and Measurement Combining Top-down and Bottom-up Saliency

In this paper, a fast and accurate work-piece detection and measurement algorithm is proposed based on top-down feature extraction and bottom-up saliency estimation. Firstly, a top-down feature extraction method based on the prior knowledge of work- pieces is presented, in which the contour of a work-piece is chosen as the major feature and the corresponding template of the edges is created. Secondly, a bottom-up salient region estimation algorithm is proposed, where the image boundaries are labelled as background queries, and the salient region can be detected by computing contrast against image boundary. Finally, the calibration method for vision system with telecentric lens is discussed, and the dimensions of the work-pieces are measured. In addition, strategies such as image pyramids and a stopping criterion are adopted to speed-up the algorithm. An automatic system embedded with the proposed detection and measurement algorithm combining top-down and bottom-up saliency （DM-TBS） is designed to pick out defective work-pieces without any manual auxiliary. Experiments and results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.