Segmentation by Level Sets and Symmetry

Shape symmetry is an important cue for image understanding. In the absence of more detailed prior shape information, segmentation can be significantly facilitated by symmetry. However, when symmetry is distorted by perspectivity, the detection of symmetry becomes non-trivial, thus complicating symmetry-aided segmentation. We present an original approach for segmentation of symmetrical objects accommodating perspective distortion. The key idea is the use of the replicative form induced by the symmetry for challenging segmentation tasks. This is accomplished by dynamic extraction of the object boundaries, based on the image gradients, gray levels or colors, concurrently with registration of the image symmetrical counterpart (e.g. reflection) to itself. The symmetrical counterpart of the evolving object contour supports the segmentation by resolving possible ambiguities due to noise, clutter, distortion, shadows, occlusions and assimilation with the background. The symmetry constraint is...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2006
• Where: CVPR
• Authors: Tammy Riklin-Raviv, Nahum Kiryati, Nir A. Sochen
• Keywords: Computer Vision, CVPR 2006, Image Symmetrical Counterpart, Segmentation Tasks, Shape Symmetry, Symmetry-aided Segmentation, Variational Segmentation Techniques