Active contour external force using vector field convolution for image segmentation.

Snakes, or active contours, have been widely used in image processing applications. Typical roadblocks to consistent performance include limited capture range, noise sensitivity, and poor convergence to concavities. This paper proposes a new external force for active contours, called vector field convolution (VFC), to address these problems. VFC is calculated by convolving the edge map generated from the image with the user-defined vector field kernel. We propose two structures for the magnitude function of the vector field kernel, and we provide an analytical method to estimate the parameter of the magnitude function. Mixed VFC is introduced to alleviate the possible leakage problem caused by choosing inappropriate parameters. We also demonstrate that the standard external force and the gradient vector flow (GVF) external force are special cases of VFC in certain scenarios. Examples and comparisons with GVF are presented in this paper to show the advantages of this innovation, including superior noise robustness, reduced computational cost, and the flexibility of tailoring the force field.     

Towards multi-stage texture-based active contour image segmentation

In this paper, we present a three-stage approach to incorporation of texture analysis into a two-dimensional active contour segmentation framework. This approach allows to utilise texture information alongside other image features. The proposed method starts with an initial unsupervised feature computation and selection, then moves to a fast contour evolution process and ends with a final refinement stage. The algorithm is designed to be general in its nature and not restricted to any particular texture feature extraction method. In this paper, the initial stage generates a set of feature maps consisting of grey-level co-occurrence matrix and Gabor features. The implementation makes an extensive use of hardware acceleration for efficient calculation of a relatively large number of features. The performance of the method was tested on various synthetic and natural images and compared with results of other algorithms.     

Vascular active contour for vessel tree segmentation

In this paper, a novel active contour model is proposed for vessel tree segmentation. First, we introduce a region competition-based active contour model exploiting the gaussian mixture model, which mainly segments thick vessels. Second, we define a vascular vector field to evolve the active contour along its center line into the thin and weak vessels. The vector field is derived from the eigenanalysis of the Hessian matrix of the image intensity in a multiscale framework. Finally, a dual curvature strategy, which uses a vesselness measure-dependent function selecting between a minimal principal curvature and a mean curvature criterion, is added to smoothen the surface of the vessel without changing its shape. The developed model is used to extract the liver and lung vessel tree as well as the coronary artery from high-resolution volumetric computed tomography images. Comparisons are made with several classical active contour models and manual extraction. The experiments show that our model is more accurate and robust than these classical models and is, therefore, more suited for automatic vessel tree extraction.     

基于矢量场卷积的虹膜定位

为了提高虹膜定位的精度和准确性,从而进一步提高虹膜识别系统的识别率,提出了一种基于矢量场卷积(Vector Field Convolution,VFC)的虹膜定位算法,用于精确定位虹膜内边界。首先利用最小灰度平均值法自动确定VFC模型的初始化轮廓,在活动轮廓内外力作用下实现虹膜内边界定位;然后对于虹膜外边界,采用改进的Daugman算法进行定位。利用多个虹膜图库进行了大量实验,并与几种常见的虹膜定位算法进行了比较,实验结果表明:该方法定位准确度更高,虹膜内边界定位更接近真实边界,定位结果有明显改善。     

Local morphology fitting active contour for automatic vascular segmentation

In this paper, we propose an active contour model using local morphology fitting for automatic vascular segmentation on 2-D angiogram. The vessel and background are fitted to fuzzy morphology maximum and minimum opening, separately, using linear structuring element with adaptive scale and orientation. The minimization of the energy associated with the active contour model is implemented within a level set framework. As in the current local model, fitting the image to local region information makes the model robust against the inhomogeneous background. Moreover, selective local estimations for fitting that are precomputed instead of updated in each contour evolution makes the evolution of level set robust again initial location compared to the current local model. The results on synthetic image and real angiogram compared with other methods are presented. It is shown that the proposed method can achieve automatic and accurate segmentation of vascular angiogram.     

基于相位一致性改进的活动轮廓分割模型

为了实现甲状腺超声图像中结节组织的快速准确分割,克服图像灰度分布不均匀和边缘模糊对分割结果造成的影响,采用了基于相位一致性改进的活动轮廓分割模型。首先,利用相位一致性边缘检测原理构造一种新的速度函数,不仅弥补了梯度算子边缘检测中由于滤波处理造成边缘损坏的缺陷,而且可以灵活地控制曲线演化速率;然后,将该速度函数乘入到无边缘主动轮廓模型的能量项中,避免了线性组合中的权重分配问题,同时具有全局分割能力。通过理论分析和实验验证,改进模型的相对差异度均小于1%,运行时间均低于对比模型。结果表明,新模型实现了灰度分布不均匀图像的精确分割,同时分割效率也有所提高。     

A robust hybrid active contour model based on pre-fitting bias field correction for fast image segmentation

An array of existing active contour models is prone to suffering from the deficiencies of poor anti-noise ability, initialization sensitivity, and slow convergence. In order to handle these problems, a robust hybrid active contour method based on bias correction is proposed in this research paper The energy functional is formulated through incorporating the adaptive edge indicator function and level set formulation driven by bias field correction. The adaptive edge indicator function, which is formulated based on image gradient information, is utilized to detect object boundaries and accelerate the segmentation in the homogeneous region. The level set formulation is constructed based on an improved criterion function, in which bias field information is considered. Specifically, the bias field distribution is approximated through the local mean gray value algorithm as a prior. Moreover, a new regularized function is proposed so as to maintain the stability of curve evolution. The segmentation process is implemented by the optimized energy function and the novel regularized term. Compared to previous active contour models, the modified active contour method can yield more precise, stable, and efficient segmentation results on some challenging images.     

一种血管约束的局部活动轮廓模型

活动轮廓作为一种重要的图像分割工具,近几年来在理论和应用方面都有很大的发展。然而,现有轮廓模型在处理灰度均匀性较差的图像时,通常存在较高的分割误差,并且对初始轮廓曲线位置敏感。为此,本文提出一种基于血管特征约束的活动轮廓模型,该模型首先使用局部相位（Local Phase）的血管增强算法对图像进行增强处理以生成一种不同于图像灰度的血管特征信息,然后将血管信息和图像灰度以线性加权的形式引入到局部二值拟合（Local Binary Fitting,LBF）能量泛函中,指导图像血管分割。基于视网膜血管图像数据（Digital Retinal Images for Vessel Extraction,DRIV）的实验显示：该模型能成功地从灰度分布不均匀和弱边界轮廓的视网膜图像中提取血管,分割灵敏度和准确性分别达到74.43%和93.67%,同时对初始轮廓曲线位置的敏感性大为降低。由上述可知,该模型具有高分割准确性和低初始位置敏感性。     

基于改进主动轮廓模型的图像分割算法

针对C-V模型对灰度不均匀的图像分割效果不理想的情况,提出一种改进的C-V模型.该模型在C-V模型的基础上,引入非加权的邻域平均和局部窗口方差概念,加快并精确了C-V模型的演化效果,同时在C-V模型的能量函数中加入惩罚项,使得C-V模型在演化过程中无须重新初始化,进一步提高了分割速度.仿真实验结果表明改进的C-V模型较原模型对灰度不均匀图像分割具有较好的分割效果.     

Image segmentation using fuzzy energy-based active contour with shape prior

This paper presents a fuzzy energy-based active contour model with shape prior for image segmentation. The paper proposes a fuzzy energy functional including a data term and a shape prior term. The data term, inspired from the region-based active contour approach proposed by Chan and Vese, evolves the contour relied on image information. The shape term inspired from Chan and Zhu’s work, defined as the distance between the evolving shape and a reference one, constrains the evolving contour with respect to the reference shape. To align the shapes, we exploit the shape normalization procedure which takes into account the affine transformation. In addition, to minimize the energy functional, we utilize a direct method to calculate the energy alterations. The proposed model therefore can deal with images with background clutter and object occlusion, improves the computational speed, and avoids difficulties associated with time step selection issue in gradient descent-based approaches.     

Remote sensing image registration via active contour model

Image registration is the process by which we determine a transformation that provides the most accurate match between two images. The search for the matching transformation can be automated with the use of a suitable metric, but it can be very time-consuming and tedious. In this paper, we introduce a registration algorithm that combines active contour segmentation together with mutual information. Our approach starts with a segmentation procedure. It is formed by a novel geometric active contour, which incorporates edge knowledge, namely Edgeflow, into active contour model. Two edgemap images filled with closed contours are obtained. After ruling out mismatched curves, we use mutual information (MI) as a similarity measure to register two edgemap images. Experimental results are provided to illustrate the performance of the proposed registration algorithm using both synthetic and multisensor images. Quantitative error analysis is also provided and several images are shown for subjective evaluation.     

STACS: new active contour scheme for cardiac MR image segmentation

The paper presents a novel stochastic active contour scheme (STACS) for automatic image segmentation designed to overcome some of the unique challenges in cardiac MR images such as problems with low contrast, papillary muscles, and turbulent blood flow. STACS minimizes an energy functional that combines stochastic region-based and edge-based information with shape priors of the heart and local properties of the contour. The minimization algorithm solves, by the level set method, the Euler-Lagrange equation that describes the contour evolution. STACS includes an annealing schedule that balances dynamically the weight of the different terms in the energy functional. Three particularly attractive features of STACS are: 1) ability to segment images with low texture contrast by modeling stochastically the image textures; 2) robustness to initial contour and noise because of the utilization of both edge and region-based information; 3) ability to segment the heart from the chest wall and the undesired papillary muscles due to inclusion of heart shape priors. Application of STACS to a set of 48 real cardiac MR images shows that it can successfully segment the heart from its surroundings such as the chest wall and the heart structures (the left and right ventricles and the epicardium.) We compare STACS' automatically generated contours with manually-traced contours, or the "gold standard," using both area and edge similarity measures. This assessment demonstrates very good and consistent segmentation performance of STACS.     

Constraining active contour evolution via Lie Groups of transformation

We present a novel approach to constraining the evolution of active contours used in image analysis. The proposed approach constrains the final curve obtained at convergence of curve evolution to be related to the initial curve from which evolution begins through an element of a desired Lie group of plane transformations. Constraining curve evolution in such a way is important in numerous tracking applications where the contour being tracked in a certain frame is known to be related to the contour in the previous frame through a geometric transformation such as translation, rotation, or affine transformation, for example. It is also of importance in segmentation applications where the region to be segmented is known up to a geometric transformation. Our approach is based on suitably modifying the Euler-Lagrange descent equations by using the correspondence between Lie groups of plane actions and their Lie algebras of infinitesimal generators, and thereby ensures that curve evolution takes place on an orbit of the chosen transformation group while remaining a descent equation of the original functional. The main advantage of our approach is that it does not necessitate any knowledge of nor any modification to the original curve functional and is extremely straightforward to implement. Our approach therefore stands in sharp contrast to other approaches where the curve functional is modified by the addition of geometric penalty terms. We illustrate our algorithm on numerous real and synthetic examples.     

图像边缘提取的区域联合分割与主动轮廓模型

在目标的识别与跟踪处理中,目标图像的边缘提取是一项关键技术。采用边缘区域分割和主动轮廓C-V模型算法,而C-V模型更适用于水下的球体、椭球体边缘检测,具有提取的边缘连续的优点。当然,在处理不同的实际问题时,针对环境条件和要求的不同,可以选择适合的算子进行图像边缘提取。     

High speed VLSI architecture for improved region based active contour segmentation technique

Active contour segmentation is an important stage in image analysis applications. In this article, an improved region based active contour segmentation is proposed. The proposed active contour model speeds up the contour convergence by up to 40% while maintaining the advantages of a local region based active contour model by reducing the number of iterations. Moreover, we propose a low-complexity pipelined VLSI architecture for improved region based active contour model targeting FPGA and 90 nm ASIC platforms. The proposed pipelined design offers an increased speed of operation. Its complexity is independent of the size of image.     

Integrating machine learning with region-based active contour models in medical image segmentation

Region-based active contour models are effective in segmenting images with poorly defined boundaries but often fail when applied to images containing intensity inhomogeneity. The traditional models utilize pixel intensity and are very sensitive to parameter tuning. On the other hand, machine learning algorithms are highly effective in handling inhomogeneities but often result in noise from misclassified pixels. In addition, there is no objective function. We propose a framework which integrates machine learning with a region-based active contour model. Classification probability scores from machine learning algorithm, which are regularized using a non-linear function, are used to replace the pixel intensity values during energy minimization. In our experiments, we integrate the k-nearest neighbours and the support vector machine with the Chan-Vese method and compare the results obtained with the traditional methods of Chan-Vese and Li et al. The proposed framework gives better accuracy and less sensitive to parameter tuning.     

Unsupervised segmentation based on robust estimation and color active contour models.

One of the most commonly used clinical tests performed today is the routine evaluation of peripheral blood smears. In this paper, we investigate the design, development, and implementation of a robust color gradient vector flow (GVF) active contour model for performing segmentation, using a database of 1791 imaged cells. The algorithms developed for this research operate in Luv color space, and introduce a color gradient and L2E robust estimation into the traditional GVF snake. The accuracy of the new model was compared with the segmentation results using a mean-shift approach, the traditional color GVF snake, and several other commonly used segmentation strategies. The unsupervised robust color snake with L2E robust estimation was shown to provide results which were superior to the other unsupervised approaches, and was comparable with supervised segmentation, as judged by a panel of human experts.     

Fully automatic luminal contour segmentation in intracoronary ultrasound imaging--a statistical approach

In this paper, a fully automatic method for luminal contour segmentation in intracoronary ultrasound imaging is introduced. Its principle is based on a contour with a priori properties that evolves according to the statistics of the ultrasound texture brightness, which is generally Rayleigh distributed. The main interest of the technique is its fully automatic character. This is insured by an initial contour that is not set by the user, like in classical snake-based algorithms, but estimated and, thus, adapted to each image. Its estimation combines two pieces of information extracted from the a posteriori probability function of the contour position: the function maximum location (or maximum a posteriori estimator) and the first zero-crossing of its derivative. Then, starting from the initial contour, a region of interest is automatically selected and the process iterated until the contour evolution can be ignored. In vivo coronary images from 15 patients, acquired with the 20-MHz central frequency Jomed Invision ultrasound scanner, were segmented with the developed method. Automatic contours were compared to those manually drawn by two physicians in terms of mean absolute difference. The results demonstrate that the error between automatic contours and the average of manual ones is of small amplitude, and only very slightly higher (0.099 +/- 0.032 mm) than the interexpert error (0.097 +/- 0.027 mm).     

Automatic blur region segmentation approach using image matting

For images with partial blur such as local defocus or local motion, deconvolution with just a single point spread function surely could not restore the images correctly. Thus, restoration relying on blur region segmentation is developed widely. In this paper, we propose an automatic approach for blur region extraction. Firstly, the image is divided into patches. Then, the patches are marked by three blur features: gradient histogram span, local mean square error map, and maximum saturation. The combination of three measures is employed as the initialization of iterative image matting algorithm. At last, we separate the blurred and non-blurred region through the binarization of alpha matting map. Experiments with a set of natural images prove the advantage of our algorithm.