Dynamic contour: A texture approach and contour operations

The large morphometric variability in biomedical organs requires an accurate fitting method for a pregenerated contour model. We propose a physically based approach to fitting 2D shapes using texture feature vectors and contour operations that allow even automatic contour splitting. To support shrinkage of the contour and obtain a better fit for the concave parts an area force is introduced. When two parts of the active contour approach each other, it divides. The contour undergoing elastic deformation is considered as a set of masses linked by springs with their natural lengths set to zero. We also propose a method for automatic estimation of some model parameters based on a histogram of image forces along a contour.