Activity driven nonlinear diffusion for color image watershed segmentation

Patrick De Smet; Rui Luis V. P. M. Pires; Danny De Vleeschauwer; Ignace Bruyland

doi:10.1117/1.482676

1 July 1999 Activity driven nonlinear diffusion for color image watershed segmentation

Patrick De Smet, Rui Luis V. P. M. Pires, Danny De Vleeschauwer, Ignace Bruyland

Journal of Electronic Imaging, Vol. 8, Issue 3, (July 1999). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.482676

Nonlinear diffusion processes and watershed algorithms have been well studied for gray-scale image segmentation. In this paper we extend the use of these techniques to color or multichannel images. First, we formulate a general definition for a nonlinear diffusion process using the concept of an activity image that can be calculated for several image components. Then, we explain how the final activity image, obtained as a result of the nonlinear diffusion process, is fed through a watershed algorithm, yielding the segmentation of the image. The qualitative performance of the algorithm is illustrated with results for both gray-scale and color photographic images. Finally, we discuss the segmentation results obtained using a few well-known color spaces and demonstrate that a color principal component analysis gives the best results.

Citation Download Citation

Patrick De Smet, Rui Luis V. P. M. Pires, Danny De Vleeschauwer, and Ignace Bruyland "Activity driven nonlinear diffusion for color image watershed segmentation," Journal of Electronic Imaging 8(3), (1 July 1999). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.482676

Published: 1 July 1999

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available