title: Discrete region competition for unknown numbers of connected regions.
abstract: We present a discrete, unsupervised multi-region competition algorithm for image segmentation over different energy functionals. The number of regions present in an image does not need to be known a priori, nor their photometric properties. The algorithm jointly estimates the number of regions, their photometries, and their contours. The required regularization is provided by defining a region as a connected set of pixels. The evolving contours in the image are represented by computational particles that move as driven by an energy-minimization algorithm. We present an efficient discrete algorithm that allows minimizing a range of well-known energy functionals under the topological constraint of regions being connected components. The presented framework and algorithms are implemented in the open-source Insight Toolkit (ITK) image-processing library.
authors.forename: Janick
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cardinale
authors.forename: Grégory
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Paul
authors.forename: Ivo F
authors.initials: IF
authors.lastname: Sbalzarini
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated / Q000379:methods*; D011381:Programming Languages; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012984:Software