Image segmentation by level set evolution with region consistency constraint

Image segmentation is a key and fundamental problem in image processing,computer graphics,and computer vision.Level set based method for image segmentation is used widely for its topology flexibility and proper mathematical formulation.However,poor performance of existing level set models on noisy images and weak boundary limit its application in image segmentation.In this paper,we present a region consistency constraint term to measure the regional consistency on both sides of the boundary,this term defines the boundary of the image within a range,and hence increases the stability of the level set model.The term can make existing level set models significantly improve the efficiency of the algorithms on segmenting images with noise and weak boundary.Furthermore,this constraint term can make edge-based level set model overcome the defect of sensitivity to the initial contour.The experimental results show that our algorithm is efficient for image segmentation and outperform the existing state-of-art methods regarding images with noise and weak boundary.

A fast and efficient mesh segmentation method based on improved region growing

Mesh segmentation is one of the important issues in digital geometry processing. Region growing method has been proven to be a efficient method for 3D mesh segmentation. However, in mesh segmentation, feature line extraction algorithm is computationally costly, and the over-segmentation problem still exists during region merging processing. In order to tackle these problems, a fast and efficient mesh segmentation method based on improved region growing is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the dihedral angle of each non-boundary edge is defined and computed simply, then the sharp edges are detected and feature lines are extracted. After region growing process is finished, an improved region merging method will be performed in two steps by considering some geometric criteria. The experiment results show the feature line extraction algorithm can obtain the same geometric information fast with less computational costs and the improved region merging method can solve over-segmentation well.

Artificial Intelligence-Based Semantic Segmentation of Ocular Regions for Biometrics and Healthcare Applications

Multiple ocular region segmentation plays an important role in different applications such as biometrics,liveness detection,healthcare,and gaze estimation.Typically,segmentation techniques focus on a single region of the eye at a time.Despite the number of obvious advantages,very limited research has focused on multiple regions of the eye.Similarly,accurate segmentation of multiple eye regions is necessary in challenging scenarios involving blur,ghost effects low resolution,off-angles,and unusual glints.Currently,the available segmentation methods cannot address these constraints.In this paper,to address the accurate segmentation of multiple eye regions in unconstrainted scenarios,a lightweight outer residual encoder-decoder network suitable for various sensor images is proposed.The proposed method can determine the true boundaries of the eye regions from inferior-quality images using the high-frequency information flow from the outer residual encoder-decoder deep convolutional neural network(called ORED-Net).Moreover,the proposed ORED-Net model does not improve the performance based on the complexity,number of parameters or network depth.The proposed network is considerably lighter than previous state-of-theart models.Comprehensive experiments were performed,and optimal performance was achieved using SBVPI and UBIRIS.v2 datasets containing images of the eye region.The simulation results obtained using the proposed OREDNet,with the mean intersection over union score(mIoU)of 89.25 and 85.12 on the challenging SBVPI and UBIRIS.v2 datasets,respectively.

Texture feature based automated seeded region growing in abdominal MRI segmentation

A new texture feature-based seeded region growing algorithm is proposed for automated segmentation of organs in abdominal MR images. 2D Co-occurrence texture feature, Gabor texture feature, and both 2D and 3D Semi- variogram texture features are extracted from the image and a seeded region growing algorithm is run on these feature spaces. With a given Region of Interest (ROI), a seed point is automatically se-lected based on three homogeneity criteria. A threshold is then obtained by taking a lower value just before the one causing ‘explosion’. This algorithm is tested on 12 series of 3D ab-dominal MR images.

Observation Mode and Region Segmentation of New Generation Geostationary Meteorological Satellite of China

Three-axis stabilized Fengyun-4 （FY-4） satellite scries is the new generation of geostationary meteorological satellite in China. The ob-servation flexibility brought by three-axis stabilization makes it possible to design different observation modes for different targets. Important observation modes of the Advanced Geosynchronous Radiation Imager （AGRI）, the core instrument onboard FY-4A, are presented, from the earth obser- vation, navigation and calibration perspective. As the time consumed in full disk and hemisphere observations exceed the time limitation, different region segmentation methods are proposed. Results show the methods are effective, and the full disk as well as hemisphere observations can both be accomplished in the given time. Finally the three-region segmentation method and two-region segmentation method are chosen for full disk and hemisphere observations, respectively, in view of the observation instructions＇ complexity as well as the time consuming. The research results paved the way for the core instrument＇s daily operation, and have been used in FY-4A in-orbit test.

Flotation bubble image segmentation based on seed region boundary growing

在一幅筹款图象分割模糊并且粘附的水泡基于种子区域并且边界成长(SRBG ) 用一个新分割方法被做。位于水泡顶的明亮的象素作为种子区域被提取。种子边界被划分成四条曲线：左顶、正确顶、正确底部、左底部。水泡被沿着相应方向移动这些曲线到水泡边界从种子边界分割。SRBG 方法能移开吵闹的区域，它避免在分割上和在分割下面问题。每个水泡独立被分割而非分割全部筹款图象。从 SRBG 方法的分割结果是比从分水岭算法的那些更精确的。

MULTI-REGION SEGMENTATION OF SAR IMAGE BY A MULTIPHASE LEVEL SET APPROACH

In this letter,a multiphase level set approach unifying region and boundary-based infor-mation for multi-region segmentation of Synthetic Aperture Radar(SAR)image is presented.Anenergy functional that is applicable for SAR image segmentation is defined.It consists of two termsdescribing the local statistic characteristics and the gradient characteristics of SAR image respectively.A multiphase level set model that explicitly describes the different regions in one image is proposed.The purpose of such a multiphase model is not only to simplify the way of denoting multi-region by levelset but also to guarantee the accuracy of segmentation.According to the presented multiphase model,the curve evolution equations with respect to edge curves are deduced.The multi-region segmentationis implemented by the numeric solution of the partial differential equations.The performance of theapproach is verified by both simulation and real SAR images.The experiments show that the proposedalgorithm reduces the speckle effect on segmentation and increases the boundary alignment accuracy,thus correctly divides the multi-region SAR image into different homogenous regions.

An Automatic Segmentation of Kidney in Serial Abdominal CT Scans Using Region Growing Approach

Automatic kidney segmentation from abdominal CT images is a key step in computer-aided diagnosis for kidney CT as well as computer-aided surgery. However,kidney segmentation from CT images is generally performed manually or semi-automatically because of gray levels similarities of adjacent organs/tissues in abdominal CT images. This paper presents an efficient algorithm for segmenting kidney from serials of abdominal CT images. First,we extracted estimated kidney position(EKP) according to the statistical geometric location of kidney within the abdomen. Second,we analyzed the intensity distribution of EKP for several abdominal CT images and exploit an adaptive threshold searching algorithm to eliminate many other organs/tissues in the EKP. Finally,a novel region growing approach based on labeling is used to obtain the fine kidney regions. Experimental results are comparable to those of manual tracing radiologist and shown to be efficient.

Census and Segmentation-Based Disparity Estimation Algorithm Using Region Merging

Disparity estimation is an ill-posed problem in computer vision. It is explored comprehensively due to its usefulness in many areas like 3D scene reconstruction, robot navigation, parts inspection, virtual reality and image-based rendering. In this paper, we propose a hybrid disparity generation algorithm which uses census based and segmentation based approaches. Census transform does not give good results in textureless areas, but is suitable for highly textured regions. While segment based stereo matching techniques gives good result in textureless regions. Coarse disparities obtained from census transform are combined with the region information extracted by mean shift segmentation method, so that a region matching can be applied by using affine transformation. Affine transformation is used to remove noise from each segment. Mean shift segmentation technique creates more than one segment of same object resulting into non-smoothness disparity. Region merging is applied to obtain refined smooth disparity map. Finally, multilateral filtering is applied on the disparity map estimated to preserve the information and to smooth the disparity map. The proposed algorithm generates good results compared to the classic census transform. Our proposed algorithm solves standard problems like occlusions, repetitive patterns, textureless regions, perspective distortion, specular reflection and noise. Experiments are performed on middlebury stereo test bed and the results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm achieves high accuracy, efficiency and robustness.

An Image Segmentation Algorithm Based on a Local Region Conditional Random Field Model

To reduce the computation cost of a combined probabilistic graphical model and a deep neural network in semantic segmentation, the local region condition random field (LRCRF) model is investigated which selectively applies the condition random field (CRF) to the most active region in the image. The full convolutional network structure is optimized with the ResNet-18 structure and dilated convolution to expand the receptive field. The tracking networks are also improved based on SiameseFC by considering the frame relations in consecutive-frame traffic scene maps. Moreover, the segmentation results of the greyscale input data sets are more stable and effective than using the RGB images for deep neural network feature extraction. The experimental results show that the proposed method takes advantage of the image features directly and achieves good real-time performance and high segmentation accuracy.

Watershed-based Image Segmentation with Region Merging and Edge Detection

The clustering technique is used to examine each pixel in the image which assigned to one of the clusters depending on the minimum distance to obtain primary classified image into different intensity regions. A watershed transformation technique is then employes. This includes: gradient of the classified image, dividing the image into markers, checking the Marker Image to see if it has zero points (watershed lines). The watershed lines are then deleted in the Marker Image created by watershed algorithm. A Region Adjacency Graph (RAG) and Region Adjacency Boundary (RAB) are created between two regions from Marker Image. Finally region merging is done according to region average intensity and two edge strengths (T1, T2). The approach of the authors is tested on remote sensing and brain MR medical images. The final segmentation result is one closed boundary per actual region in the image.

Two-stage image segmentation based on edge and region information

A two-stage method for image segmentation based on edge and region information is proposed. Different deformation schemes are used at two stages for segmenting the object correctly in image plane. At the first stage, the contour of the model is divided into several segments hierarchically that deform respectively using affine transformation. After the contour is deformed to the approximate boundary of object, a fine match mechanism using statistical information of local region to redefine the external energy of the model is used to make the contour fit the object's boundary exactly. The algorithm is effective, as the hierarchical segmental deformation makes use of the globe and local information of the image, the affine transformation keeps the consistency of the model, and the reformative approaches of computing the internal energy and external energy are proposed to reduce the algorithm complexity. The adaptive method of defining the search area at the second stage makes the model converge quickly. The experimental results indicate that the proposed model is effective and robust to local minima and able to search for concave objects.

SEED REGION SELECTION AND HOMOGENEITY CRITERION FOR DOORPLATE IMAGE SEGMENTATION IN MOBILE ROBOT NAVIGATION

Focused on the seed region selection and homogeneity criterion in Seeded Region Growing (SRG), an unsupervised seed region selection and a polynomial fitting homogeneity criterion for SRG are proposed in this paper. First of all, making use of Peer Group Filtering (PGF) techniques, an unsupervised seed region selection algorithm is presented to construct a seed region. Then based on the constructed seed region a polynomial fitting homogeneity criterion is applied to solve the concrete problem of doorplate segmentation appearing in the robot navigation along a corridor. At last, experiments are performed and the results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

Research on the Marketing of Rural Tourism on the Basis of Market Segmentation

With the development of modern agriculture and the further improvement in balancing urban and rural development, rural tourism ushered in a new opportunity for development. However, due to lack of market segmentation,rural tourism in China is facing many problems.The rural tourists will be classified based on the market segmentation in this article,and then put forward four aspects from the use of different target market strategy, develop network marketing, Implements the region brand strategy and international marketing strategy.The aim is to offer advices and suggestions to the sustainable development of the rural tourism.

Review of Theory and Methods of Image Segmentation

Image segmentation refers to the technique and process of partitioning a digital image into multiple segments based on image characteristics so as to extract the object of interest from it. It is a key step from image processing to image analysis. In the mid-1950s, people began to study image segmentation. For decades, various methods for image segmentation have been proposed. In this paper, traditional image segmentation methods and some new methods appearing in recent years were reviewed. Thresholding segmentation methods, region-based, edge detection-based and segmentation methods based on specific theoretical tools were introduced in detail.

Interpretation of the west segment of the coastal fault zone in the coastal region of South China based on the gravity data

By systemic processing, comprehensive analysis, and interpretation of gravity data, we confirmed the existence of the west segment of the coastal fault zone(west of Yangjiang to Beibu Bay) in the coastal region of South China. This showed an apparent high gravity gradient in the NEE direction, and worse linearity and less compactness than that in the Pearl River month. This also revealed a relatively large curvature and a complicated gravity structure. In the finding images processed by the gravity data system, each fault was well reflected and primarily characterized by isolines or thick black stripes with a cutting depth greater than 30 km. Though mutually cut by NW-trending and NE-trending faults, the apparent NEE stripe-shaped structure of the west segment of the coastal fault zone remained unchanged,with good continuity and an activity strength higher than that of NW and NE-trending faults. Moreover,we determined that the west segment of the coastal fault zone is the major seismogenic structure responsible for strong earthquakes in the coastal region in the border area of Guangdong, Guangxi, and Hainan.

SOFT IMAGE SEGMENTATION BASED ON CENTER-FREE FUZZY CLUSTERING

Image segmentation remains one of the major challenges in image analysis.And soft image segmentation has been widely used due to its good effect.Fuzzy clustering algorithms are very popular in soft segmentation.A new soft image segmentation method based on center-free fuzzy clustering is proposed.The center-free fuzzy clustering is the modified version of the classical fuzzy C-means ( FCM ) clustering.Different from traditional fuzzy clustering , the center-free fuzzy clustering does not need to calculate the cluster center , so it can be applied to pairwise relational data.In the proposed method , the mean-shift method is chosen for initial segmentation firstly , then the center-free clustering is used to merge regions and the final segmented images are obtained at last.Experimental results show that the proposed method is better than other image segmentation methods based on traditional clustering.

Image Segmentation Using an Improved Watershed Algorithm

As watershed algorithm suffers from over-segmentation problem, this paper presented an efficient method to resolve this problem. First, pre-process of the image using median filter is made to reduce the effect of noise. Second, watershed algorithm is employed to provide initial regions. Third, regions are merged according to the information between the region and boundary. In the merger processing based on the region information, an adaptive threshold of the difference between the neighboring regions is used as the region merge criteria, which is based on the human visual character. In the merger processing on the boundary information, the gradient is used to judge the true boundary of the image to avoid merging the foreground with the background regions. Finally, post-process to the regions using mathematical morphology open and close filter is done to smooth object boundaries. The experimental results show that this method is very efficient.

A rapid, automated flaw segmentation method using morphological reconstruction to grade wood flooring

Region-Growing Algorithms （RGAs） are used to grade the quality of manufactured wood flooring. Traditional RGAs are hampered by prob- lems of long segmentation time and low inspection accuracy caused by neighborhood search. We used morphological reconstruction with the R com- ponent to construct a novel flaw segmentation method. We initially designed two template images for low and high thresholds, and these were used for seed optimization and inflation growth, respectively. Then the extraction of the flaw skeleton from the low threshold image was realized by applying the erosion termination rules. The seeds in the flaw skeleton were optimized by the pruning method. The geodesic inflection was applied by the high threshold template to realize rapid growth of the flaw area in the floor plate, and region filling and pruning operations were applied for margin optimization. Experi- ments were conducted on 512×512, 256×256 and 128×128 pixel sizes, re- spectively. The 256×256 pixel size proved superior in time-consumption at 0.06 s with accuracy of 100%. But with the region-growing method the same process took 0.22 s with accuracy of 70%. Compared with RGA, our pro- posed method can realize more accurate segmentation, and the speed and accuracy of segmentation can satisfy the requirements for on-line grading of wood flooring.

Discharge area segmentation of power equipment in UV image based on GVF snake model

The dynamic transmission characteristics and the sensitivities of the three stage idler gear system of the new NC power turret are studied in the paper. Considering the strongly nonlinear factors such as the periodically time-varying mesh stiffness, the nonlinear tooth backlash, the lump-parameter model of the gear system is developed with one rotational and two translational freedoms of each gear. The eigen-values and eigenvectors are derived and analyzed on the basis of the real modal theory. The sensitivities of natural frequencies to design parameters including supporting and meshing stiffnesses, gear masses, and moments of inertia by the direct differential method are also calculated. The results show the quantitative and qualitative impact of the parameters to the natural characteristics of the gear system. Furthermore, the periodic steady state solutions are obtained by the numerical approach based on the nonlinear model. These results are employed to gain insights into the primary controlling parameters, to forecast the severity of the dynamic response, and to assess the acceptability of the gear design.