Color–texture image segmentation by integrating directional operators into JSEG method

We presented a new color–texture image segmentation method that combined directional operators and the JSEG (J measure based SEGmentation) algorithm. In particular, two major contributions were set forth in this paper. (1) The two measures defined in JSEG and HSEG (H measure based SEGmentation) were discussed respectively and then we found the over-segmentation problem of JSEG could be attributed partly to the absence of color discontinuity in the J measure. Moreover, we have also proven in essence the H measure is isotropic operators for edge detection in images. (2) A new measure was proposed by integrating directional operators into the J measure, on which our segmentation method was based. The new segmentation method took account of both textural homogeneity and color discontinuity in local regions. Performance improvement due to the proposed modification was demonstrated on a variety of real color images.