Hierarchical Image Segmentation Using a Combined Geometrical and Feature Based Approach

Abstract

This paper presents a fully automatic segmentation algorithm based on geometrical and local attributes of color images. This method incorporates a hierarchical assessment scheme into any general segmentation algorithm for which the segmentation sensitivity can be changed through parameters. The parameters are varied to create different segmentation levels in the hierarchy. The algorithm examines the consistency of segments based on local features and their relationships with each other, and selects segments at different levels to generate a final segmentation. This adaptive parameter variation scheme provides an automatic way to set segmentation sensitivity parameters locally according to each region's characteristics instead of the entire image.