Image segmentation based on shape space modeling

In this paper, we propose a new image segmentation method based on the active contour. If we define a shape space as a set of all possible variations from the initial curve and we assume that the shape space is linear, it can be decomposed into the column space and the left null space of the shape matrix. In the proposed method, the shape space vector in the column space describes changes from the initial curve to the imaginary feature curve, and a dynamic graph search algorithm describes the detailed shape of the object in the left null space. Since we employ the shape matrix and the SUSAN operator to outline object boundaries, the proposed algorithm can ignore unwanted feature points generated by low-level image processing operations and is therefore applicable to images of the complex background. We can also compensate for limitations of the shape matrix with the dynamic graph search algorithm.