title: Piecewise Linear Slope Estimation.
abstract: This paper presents a method for directly estimating slope values in a noisy piecewise linear function. By imposing a Markov structure on the sequence of slopes, piecewise linear fitting is posed as a maximuma posterioriestimation problem. A dynamic program efficiently solves this by traversing a linearly growing trellis. The alternating maximization algorithm (a kind of pseudo-EM method) is used to estimate the model parameters from data and its convergence behavior is analyzed. Ultrasound shear wave imaging is presented as a primary application. The algorithm is general enough for applicability in other fields, as suggested by an application to the estimation of shifts in financial interest rate data.
authors.affiliation: Depts. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA ; Depts. of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
authors.forename: A N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Ingle
authors.affiliation: Depts. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
authors.forename: W A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Sethares
authors.affiliation: Depts. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA ; Depts. of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Varghese
authors.affiliation: Depts. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Bucklew