Image segmentation method, image segmentation apparatus, image processing method, and image processing apparatus
First Claim
1. An image segmentation method which pinpoints one of the regions from an input image belonging to the same category and identifies the one region as an image segmentation region, said method comprising:
- a preparation step of including, an initialization step of putting, into a non-excitation state, a cell which is an individual image segmentation unit corresponding to pixels of the input image, a taking step of pixel values of the pixels corresponding to the cell, and calculating each coupling weight between a plurality of adjacent cells, and a determination step of leader cells (self-excitable cells candidate) based on each calculation result;
a self-excitable cell detection step of selecting one of the leader cells determined by the determination step to detect the one cell as a self-excitable cell;
a self-excitation step of putting, into an excitation state, the self-excitable cell detected in the self-excitable cell detection step;
an excitable cell detection step of detecting an excitable cell from adjacent cells based on said coupling weights between the cells in the excitation state including the leader cell and the adjacent cells;
an excitation step of putting, into an excitation state, the cells detected in the excitable cell detection step; and
an inhibition step of putting, into an inhibition state, the cell in the excitation state if no cell is detected in the excitable cell detection step, wherein;
image segmentation of one region is completed by repeating the excitation step until no cell is detected any more in the excitable cell detection step; and
the image segmentation of all the regions is completed by repeating the respective steps until no leader cell in the non-excitation state is detected any more in the self-excitable cell detection step.
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Abstract
Cells i corresponding to pixels are initialized into a non-excitation state, to calculate coupling weights Wik between the eight cells k adjacent to the cells i, thereby determining leader cells pi=1 based on calculation results. Next, one leader cell yet to be excited is selected as a self-excitable cell. The selected cell is put into the excitation state, the excitable cells are selected based on the coupling weights between the adjacent cells, and the selected cells are put into the excitation state. These operations are repeated until no excitable cell is detected any more and, if there no excitable cell is detected any more, inhibition processing is performed, thereby completing image segmentation of one region. These operations are repeated until there is no non-excited and non-inhibited leader cell any more, thereby pinpointing regions belonging to the same category from an input image and identifying them as an image segmentation regions.
28 Citations
20 Claims
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1. An image segmentation method which pinpoints one of the regions from an input image belonging to the same category and identifies the one region as an image segmentation region, said method comprising:
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a preparation step of including, an initialization step of putting, into a non-excitation state, a cell which is an individual image segmentation unit corresponding to pixels of the input image, a taking step of pixel values of the pixels corresponding to the cell, and calculating each coupling weight between a plurality of adjacent cells, and a determination step of leader cells (self-excitable cells candidate) based on each calculation result;
a self-excitable cell detection step of selecting one of the leader cells determined by the determination step to detect the one cell as a self-excitable cell;
a self-excitation step of putting, into an excitation state, the self-excitable cell detected in the self-excitable cell detection step;
an excitable cell detection step of detecting an excitable cell from adjacent cells based on said coupling weights between the cells in the excitation state including the leader cell and the adjacent cells;
an excitation step of putting, into an excitation state, the cells detected in the excitable cell detection step; and
an inhibition step of putting, into an inhibition state, the cell in the excitation state if no cell is detected in the excitable cell detection step, wherein;
image segmentation of one region is completed by repeating the excitation step until no cell is detected any more in the excitable cell detection step; and
the image segmentation of all the regions is completed by repeating the respective steps until no leader cell in the non-excitation state is detected any more in the self-excitable cell detection step. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. An image segmentation apparatus which pinpoints one of the regions from an input image belonging to the same category and identifies the one region as an image segmentation region to selectively output an image of the arbitrary image segmentation region, said apparatus comprising:
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an input image memory which stores pixel values of the input image;
a coupling weight calculation circuit which reads out the pixel values from the input image memory to calculate a coupling weight between each image segmentation cell corresponding to each pixel and the adjacent cell by pipeline processing;
a leader cell determination circuit which determines, based on the coupling weights calculated by the coupling weight calculation circuit, as a leader cell, the cell in which a total sum of the coupling weights with the adjacent cells is in excess of a reference value;
an image segmentation cell network having decision means in which there are alternately arranged in an array state the image segmentation cells which transit over a non-excitation state, a self-excitable state and an excitation state in accordance with each pixel of the input image and coupling weight registers which hold the inter-cell coupling weights obtained by the coupling weight calculation circuit, the decision means deciding whether each cell is excitable or not based on values held in the coupling weight registers in which the cells are arranged adjacent to each other, the decision means putting, into the excitation state, the leader cell determined by the leader cell determination circuit and putting, into the excitation state, the excitable cell selected from the adjacent cells to expand an excitation region, thereby deciding the image segmentation region;
a segmentation region storage circuit which stores information of all the cells in the image segmentation region decided by the image segmentation cell network; and
an output image memory which stores the pixel value corresponding to each cell in an arbitrary image segmentation region based on contents stored in the segmentation region storage circuit. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. An image processing method including an image segmentation which pinpoints one of the regions from an input image belonging to the same category and identifies the one region as an image segmentation region, said method comprising:
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a preparation step of including, an initialization step of putting, into a non-excitation state, a cell which is an individual image segmentation unit corresponding to pixels of the input image, a taking step of pixel values of the pixels corresponding to the cell, and calculating each coupling weight between a plurality of adjacent cells, and a determination step of leader cells (self-excitable cells candidate) based on each calculation result;
a self-excitable cell detection step of selecting one of the leader cells determined by the determination step to detect the one cell as a self-excitable cell;
a self-excitation step of putting, into an excitation state, the self-excitable cell detected in the self-excitable cell detection step;
an excitable cell detection step of detecting an excitable cell from adjacent cells based on said coupling weight between the cells in the excitation state including the leader cell and the adjacent cells;
an excitation step of putting, into an excitation state, the cells detected in the excitable cell detection step; and
an inhibition step of putting, into an inhibition state, the cell in the excitation state if no cell is detected in the excitable cell detection step, wherein;
image segmentation of one region is completed by repeating the excitation step until no cell is detected any more in the excitable cell detection step; and
the image segmentation of all the regions is completed by repeating the respective steps until no leader cell in the non-excitation state is detected any more in the self-excitable cell detection step.
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19. An image processing apparatus including an image segmentation which pinpoints one of the regions from an input image belonging to the same category and identifies the one region as an image segmentation region to selectively output an image of the arbitrary image segmentation region, comprising:
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an input image memory which stores pixel values of the input image;
a coupling weight calculation circuit which reads out the pixel values from the input image memory to calculate a coupling weight between each image segmentation cell corresponding to each pixel and the adjacent cell by pipeline processing;
a leader cell determination circuit which determines, based on the coupling weights calculated by the coupling weight calculation circuit, as a leader cell, the cell in which a total sum of the coupling weights with the adjacent cells is in excess of a reference value;
an image segmentation cell network having decision means in which there are alternately arranged in an array state the image segmentation cells which transit over a non-excitation state, a self-excitable state and an excitation state in accordance with each pixel of the input image and coupling weight registers which hold the inter-cell coupling weights obtained by the coupling weight calculation circuit, the decision means deciding whether each cell is excitable or not based on values held in the coupling weight registers in which the cells are arranged adjacent to each other, the decision means putting, into the excitation state, the leader cell determined by the leader cell determination circuit and putting, into the excitation state, the excitable cell selected from the adjacent cells to expand an excitation region, thereby deciding the image segmentation region;
a segmentation region storage circuit which stores information of all the cells in the image segmentation region decided by the image segmentation cell network; and
an output image memory which stores the pixel value corresponding to each cell in an arbitrary image segmentation region based on contents stored in the segmentation region storage circuit. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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Specification