Method and apparatus for segmenting images using stochastically deformable contours
US5768413A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 4, 1995 |
| Grant date | Jun 16, 1998 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 4, 2015 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06T2207/30048
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A method for segmenting an image in which an arbitrarily shaped contour is deformed stochastically until it approximates the contour of a target object. The evolution of the contour is controlled by a simulated annealing process which causes the contour to settle into a global minimum of an image-derived "energy" function. The non-parametric energy function is derived from the statistical properties of previously-segmented training images. High computational complexity is avoided by using an efficient method of introducing a random local perturbation, and assuring the resulting shape changes are unbiased. This method for perturbing the contour allows for execution times several orders of magnitude shorter than in simple implementations.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.