Corner detection in color images through a multiscale combination of end-stopped cortical cells

We assess the corner-detection capabilities of a model for end-stopped cells in the visual cortex (F. Heitger, L. Rosenthaler, R. von der Heydt, E. Peterhans, O. Kubler, Simulation of neural contour mechanisms: from simple to end-stopped cells, Vision Research 32(5) (1992) 963-981). The responses of one of these cells alone cannot account for the percept of a corner. This shortcoming can be greatly alleviated by a combination over several scales. The resulting corner detection method can deal with high frequency texture, low contrast, and rounded corners and is competitive in comparison with other corner detectors. Starting from known cortical cell types we hypothesize a color-sensitive equivalent of simple cells. This allows to extend corner detection to color-sensitive channels. The combination of grey-scale and color corner-detection yields a biologically plausible model of corner perception and may also be of interest for computer vision applications. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.