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Morphological tools for segmentation : connected filters and watersheds

Outils morphologiques pour la segmentation : filtres connexes et ligne de partage des eaux

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Abstract

The paper makes a survey of the morphological tools which are useful for image simplification and segmentation. It starts presenting the connected filters, which have the unique feature to simplify the images without blurring the contours of the remaining objects. Such filters may be constructed on several criteria : size, contrast, complexity or type of motion. In the case where geometric criteria are used, it is possible to base a scale-space description of the images on a series of increasing filters. This is most useful when applied to a gradient image : successive filters will progressively fill the valleys of the gradient image and a watershed transform applied on these images will produce segmentations which are coarser and coarser. These segmentations have a tree structure : from a finer level to a coarser level, only fusions take place.

Résumé

Le présent article présente les principaux outils morphologiques qui permettent de simplifier et de segmenter les images. Tout d’abord sont présentés les filtres connexes, dont la propriété la plus remarquable est de simplifier les images sans rendre flous les contours des structures préservées. Divers critères peuvent être uti-lisés pour la construction de tels filtres : taille, contraste, complexité ou type de mouvement. Dans le cas où des critères géométriques sont utilisés, il est possible de baser une description de type espace-échelle sur une suite de filtres de plus en plus actifs. Cette description est particulièrement utile lorsqu’elle est appliquée à une image gradient : les filtres successifs progressivement comblent les vallées de sorte que les bassins versants de l’image sont de moins en moins nombreux. Ainsi la ligne de partage des eaux appliquée à l’image gradient simplifiée va produire une segmentation plus grossière. Les segmentations associées à des filtres de plus en plus actifs ont une structure d’arbre : d’un niveau fin à un niveau plus grossier, seuls des fusions entre régions ont eu lieu.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre de Morphologie mathématique, Ecole des Mines de Paris, 35, rue Saint-Honoré, F-77305, Fontainebleau Cedex, France

    Fernand Meyer & Corinne Vachier

  2. UPC Campus Nord, Modulo D5, c. Gran Capita, s/n, 08034, Barcelona, Espagne

    Albert Oliveras & Philippe Salembier

Authors
  1. Fernand Meyer
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  2. Corinne Vachier
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  3. Albert Oliveras
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  4. Philippe Salembier
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Correspondence to Fernand Meyer, Corinne Vachier, Albert Oliveras or Philippe Salembier.

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Meyer, F., Vachier, C., Oliveras, A. et al. Morphological tools for segmentation : connected filters and watersheds. Ann. Télécommun. 52, 367–379 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02998456

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