Coverage segmentation based on linear unmixing and minimization of perimeter and boundary thickness

• We present a method for coverage segmentation, where the, possibly partial, coverage of each image element by each of the image components is estimated. The method combines intensity information with spatial smoothness criteria. A model for linear unmixing of image intensities is enhanced by introducing two additional conditions: (i) minimization of object perimeter, leading to smooth object boundaries, and (ii) minimization of the thickness of the fuzzy object boundary, and to some extent overall image fuzziness, to respond to a natural assumption that imaged objects are crisp, and that fuzziness is mainly due to the imaging and digitization process. The segmentation is formulated as an optimization problem and solved by the Spectral Projected Gradient method. This fast, deterministic optimization method enables practical applicability of the proposed segmentation method. Evaluation on both synthetic and real images confirms very good performance of the algorithm.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Data- och informationsvetenskap -- Datavetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Computer and Information Sciences -- Computer Sciences (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Linear unmixing

Soft classification

Fuzzy segmentation

Pixel coverage model

Energy minimization

Spatial constraints

Computerized Image Analysis

Datoriserad bildanalys

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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