Boundary-based image segmentation using binary level set method

A novel binary level set method for boundary-based image segmentation is proposed, which is extended from region-based binary level set methods. The proposed binary level set method is based on the geometric active contour framework, which is a traditional level set method applied in boundary-based image segmentation. However, being different from the geometric active contour, the proposed binary level set method replaces the traditional level set function with a binary level set function to reduce the expensive computational cost of redistancing the traditional level set function. The experiments and complexity analysis show that the proposed binary level set method is more efficient than the geometric active contour for image segmentation while giving similar results to the geometric active contour. (C) 2007 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.