VIPromCom-2002,4th EURASIP - IEEE Region 8 International Symposium on

Video I lmaae Processinn and Multimedia Communications, 16-19 J une 2002, Zadar, Croatia
MODIFICATION ON DISTANCE TRANSFORM TO AVOID
OVER-SEGMENTATION AND UNDER-SEGMENTATION
K.N.R.Mohana Rao and A. G. Dempster
Dept. of Electronic Systems, University of Westminster, London, W 1 W 6UW
(knrmrao, dempsta} @cmsa.wmin.ac.uk
Abstract: Many techniques have been proposed in literature, both conventional and
morphological, for the segmentation of images. Image segmentation using morphological
methods, particularly using watershed algorithm has found wide applications. The popular
Beucher & Meyer's method based on marker constrained watershed algorithm for image
segmentation, which uses only the binary image and its distance transform, can lead to over-
segmentation or under-segmentation if the image objects are of irregular shape and the
objects are overlapping or touching. Another problem with the Beucher & Meyer's method is
that the watersheds constructed may not agreekoincide with the actual image object
junctions as only the binary image is used and information contained in the gray scale image
is not utilised. In this paper we are presenting an approach addressing both these problems,
using morphological area-opening on the distance transform for choosing markers to avoid
over-segmentation as well as under-segmentation and the second problem is addressed by
using gray scale image instead of distance transform to force the watersheds coincide with
the actual junctions of the image objects. The proposed procedure has been applied on the
images with almost similar objects and the results of our procedure of segmentation are found
to be very efficient and encouraging.
Key words: Image segmentation, watershed transform and area granulometry
1. INTRODUCTION
Image segmentation is an important stage in image recognition and identification problems.
The word segmentation addresses the extraction of different objects present in the image, and
this includes separation of partially overlapping objects also. Though many techniques have
been proposed in the literature both in conventional as well as morphological methods for the
segmentation of images, recently the image segmentation using morphological methods [1,2],
particularly using the watershed algorithm [3,4] have found wide applications.
One popular method is the segmentation procedure proposed by Beucher & Meyer [5] for
image segmentation using a marker constrained watershed algorithm utilising the distance
transform for obtaining markers and its negative as the constraint for watershed constructions.
The performance of the watershed algorithm depends on choosing the right markers,
otherwise over or under-segmentation ca result. This is particularly a problem if the image
objects are of irregular shape and the objects are overlapping or touching. Since only the
binary image is utilised in the Beucher & Meyer's method, the watersheds may not l l l y
coincide with the object junctions of the image objects. In ths paper we are presenting a
method to avoid both under-segmentation and over-segmentation by first estimating the size
of the objects using area granulometry [6] and then modifjmg the distance transformby area
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VIPromCom-2002,4th EURASIP - IEEE Region 8 International Symposium on
Video I lmaae Processina and Multimedia Communications, 16-19 J une 2002, Zadar, Croatia
opening which will reduce multiple markers w i h the same object and thus over-
segmentation is avoided. Also to force the watersheds to coincide better with the borders of
the image objects we propose that the negative of the gray scale image (after the background
is made flat) is used for the constraint input to the watershed transform.
The motivation, for the procedure presented in this paper, is the problems faced in
segmentation of malaria infected blood slide images for classifymg the parasites. In previous
work [7-91 the segmentation was done with the assumption that the red-blood-cells WCs)
are circular. This is a reasonable assumption for fresh blood samples, as we used in those n
those studies, but when we came to study blood cultures, the cell shapes are far more irregular
(see Fig. 1).
This paper is organised as follows: A brief introduction to Image segmentation, area-
granulometry for estimating the object size and the waterskd algorithm are discussed in
Section 2, the problems faced with the Beucher & Meyer's method and the proposed
procedure for solving them are presented in section 3, results are presented in section 4 and
the conclusion in section 5.
2. IMAGE SEGMENTATION, AREA-GRANULOMETRY AND WATERSHED
ALGORITHM
Image segmentation: Automated segmentation is possibly the most difficult problem in
image processing. The Human visual system (HVS) uses many complex segmentation
techniques extensively in our perceptual processes, which are very difficult to explain as
mathematical operations. We easily recognize that certain parts belong or don't belong
together not because of similar properties of the regions, because it is easy to recognise that
they form parts of the same known and recognizable object. Endowing this into an image
processing tooValgorithmwith such cognitive ability is a somewhat difficult problem and is a
challenging task.
There are a variety of techniques that are used to do this, ranging fiom the simple (such as
thresholding and masking) to the complex (such as edgehomdary detection, region growing
and clustering algorithms). Segmentation can be aided through manual intervention or
handled automatically through different techmques developed in Image processing. The most
important thing is that apriori knowledge of image components/objects is essential.
The watershed transform (algorithm) is the most important morphological tool for image
segmentation. The watershed itself is not a segmentation tool by itself but it is a buildmg
block used to design very successfhl image segmentation procedures.
Area-grantclometry : The area-granulometry computed with morphological area-open filter
applied on the image with increasing amount of area specified in some regular manner wdl
produce the plot of size distribution of image objects. The main advantages of the area-
granulometry tool is that it does not require any apriori information about the shape of the
image objects and works well for any shaped objects even for the case of image objects with
holes such as fresh blood [7-91.
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VIPromCom-2002,4th EURASIP - IEEE Region 8 International Symposium on
Video I Image Processing and Multimedia Communications, 16-19 J une 2002, Zadar, Croatia
Fig.1 The image being used for segmentation Fig.2 The area-Granulometry computed on the image in Fig.1
The plot of this area-grandometry function against the area specified each time for the
morphological area opening [10,11] will indicate the size of the image objects. The area-
granulometry hction is defined as follows:
where x,,yy;2(f) indicates the total volume of the image (0 after area-opening (qa) on the
image with an area the same as that of a circle with radius Y.
a(k)=xx,yY&2 (f) - xJ&y ( f )
The area-granulometry computed on the image in Fig.1 ( h s is the image used for
demonstrating the segmentation procedure presented in this paper wherein the area
granulometry results are utilised), which is shown in Fig.2, shows that the image objects are
predominantly of the size index of k13 to 18 pixels (let us define the lowest size index of the
image objects as 'ass' and the largest size index as '%L' for use in the step by step procedure for
image segmentation presented in next section).
Watershed Algorithm: The watershed algorithm [l-41 treats the gray level image like a
surface with light image objects as the peaks and dark objects correspond to valleys. Just like
actual watersheds, if a drop of water is to fall on any point of the contour it would find its way
to lower ground until it reached mini". These local minima are referred to as catchment
basins and all points that drarn into the same catchment basin are referred as members of the
same watershed.
An efficient and accurate watershed algorithm was developed by Vincent and Soille [3] who
proposed an immersion based approach to calculate the watersheds. The operation of their
technique can simply be described by figuring that holes (or markers in marker controlled
watershed algorithm) are pierced in each local mini" of the topographic relief (construint
image for watersheds). Subsequently, the surface is slowly immersed into a 'lake', by filling
all the catchment basins, starting from the basin that is associated to the global minimum.
Where two catchment basins merge, a watershed is recorded. The procedure results in
partitioning of the image in many catchment basins, of which the borders define the
watersheds.
3. PROCEDURE FOR MODIFYING DISTANCE TRANSFORM TO AVOID OVER-
SEGMENTATION AND UNDER-SEGMENTATION
Performance of the Beucher & Meyer's method depends on the choice of the markers and the
topographic surface (constraint for water shedding) which is the negative of the distance
transform[12] of the binary image obtained fiom the image. The markers are normally chosen
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VIPromCom-2002, 4th EURASIP - IEEE Region 8 International Symposium on
Video / Image Processing and Multimedia Communications, 16-19 J une 2002, Zadar, Croatia
fiomthe 8-connected regional maxima [2] points of this distance transform. If image objects
are regular convex shapes (like circular, rectangular, elliptical etc.), the markers selected from
the distance transformwill normally be the corresponding centres and thus the segmentation
process will be simple and accurate. But, for images with irregular shaped objects with some
concavity in their outlines (and also if the objects are overlappinghouching) these markers are
away fiom the centre of the objects and sometimes multiple markers are obtained for a single
object leading to over-segmentation. The results of the standard Beucher & Meyer's method
applied to the image in Fig.1, are shown in Fig.3 (a-c). It is very clear that the over-
segmentation results when the shape of the image objects is irregular and multiple markers
occur within objects.
Proposed solution: Results of the watershed algorithmbased Beucher & Meyer's method of
image segmentation superimposed on the gray level image is shown in Fig.3(d). The
problems of over-segmentation and the watersheds not coinciding with the actual junction
between the image objects is very clear from this image. It is to be noted that the over-
segmentation (due to irregular shaped objects) occurs due to the multiple markers surfacing
fiom the maxima points fiom the distance transformwithin the same object. The solution for
this problem is to connect all these maxima (causing multiple markers), so that only one
marker surfaces froman object. This is possible by area opening on the distance transform
with the area limited to area of the image objects, which can be derived fiom the area
granulometry as explained in section 2.
a)The binary Image of the image in
Fig. I after thresholding
d)watersheds fromthemarkers in Fig.c shown
on the binary image along with markers
image on left transformin shown on binary image
scale image(see also the zoomed part for the errors w.r.t watersheds on the right)
Fig.3 Results ofthe watershed algorithm based Beucher & Meyer's method of image segmentation
But this area opening on the distance transformcan sometimes lead to under-segmentation if
the objects are overlapping. Those under-segmented cells can by found by looking for the
objects with a larger size than the size distribution obtained fromthe area granulometry. The
solution to avoid under-segmentation is to gradually reduce (say 10% each time ti l l under-
segmentation is totally removed) area specified for area opening on distance transformand
constructing the watersheds again for those under-segmented cells. The problem of the
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VIPromCom-2002,4th EURASIP - IEEE Region 8 International Symposium on
Video I Image Processing and Multimedia Communications, 16-19 J une 2002, Zadar, Croatia
watersheds not coinciding with the actual image object junctions can be solved by using the
negative of the gray scale image i nstead of negative of the distance transform as in Beucher &
Meyer's method.
After Obtaining the binary image (say 'B') of the gray-scale image to be segmented, the
detailed procedure for segmentation is explained in the following steps:
Step 1 :
Step 2 :
Step 3 :
Step 4 :
Step 5 :
Step 6 :
Step 7 :
Step 8 :
Step 9
Step 10 :
Step 11 :
Step 12 :
4. RESULTS
Compute the di stance transform of the bi nary Image
Set the area size ' as' f or area open equi val ent t o the smal l est size of
the image obj ects obtained from the area granulometry pl ot, i . e. as=as~
(as defi ned i n previous secti on)
Do area opening on di stance transform computed above wi th the area
si ze ' as'
D(X) =~ ~ ~ ( B ( X ) I B ( X ) =o}
D"(x)= {XE Dbrea(Cx(D)2a,}
Obtain the markers ' M , usi ng morphological regional maxima on D"
Compute watersheds ' S' with markers and negati ve of di stance transform
as const rai nt
Segment the bi nary image usi ng the watersheds computed i n previous
step
Check for under segmentation by area openin5 on segmented bi nary image
with the l argest size of the image obj ects as^' obtained from the area
grand ometry pl ot
Bs(x)=B(x)- S(X)
B,U(XI ={x E B, IArea(C, ( 8 12k}
I f no under segmentation i . e. CCb:(x)=O go to step 11. Otherwise
reduce area size ' as' f or area opening on di stance transform by 10%
and compute the di stance transform f or under- segmented obj ects i . e. Bj:
as =o. 9 as
D,(x) =min{B:(x)lB:(x) =0}
Do area opening on di stance transform computed above with the area
size a,
D: (x) ={x E D, IArea(C, ( D,) 2 a,}
Obtain the markers ' M I ' , using morphological regional maxi ma on D:
and add these markers to ' M after removing the markers corresponding
to the under segmented obj ect s
M( x) =[ M( x) - { B~( x) UM( x) } ] +M, ( x) . and go to step 5.
Compute fi nal watersheds ' Sf ' wi th markers and negati ve of gray scal e
ima e as constrai nt for improving the watersheds such that watersheds
wi 1 k coi nci de with the actual i maFe obj ect j unction.
Segment the bi nary image Bs usi ng the watersheds computed i n
previ ous step.
Bs(x)=B(x)-Sftx)
As an example, the proposed method is applied to the malaria infected blood slide image in
Fig.1. The purpose of image segmentation is to compute the parasitaemia of the blood and
identify the parasites of the infected RBCs. Part of this process is to count RBCs so ideally we
want to uniquely identi@ each one. The results of the proposed method (Modification on
distance transform to avoid over and under-segmentation and also using the negative of the
gray scale image for the constraint image of topographic swface on watershed algorithm for
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VIPromCom-2002,4th EURASIP - IEEE Region 8 International Symposium on
Video I Image Processing and Multimedia Communications, 16-19 J une 2002, Zadar, Croatia
forcing the watersheds to better agree with the junctions between the image objects) are
presented in this section.
a)watersheds after first area opening on
distance transform 'opening on distance transform (but no
over-segmentation seen)
'(also shown in the fi&e is how they will
lead to reduction in under segmentation)
dkombined watcrsheds modified with neaative of the mav scalc imagc as constraint for watcrshcd algorithminioosed on
'gray scale image and a part of the image zoomed ib kghlight th;: coincidence of watersheds
Fig.4 The watersheds after modifying the distance transform
Fig.4(a) shows the watersheds akr modifying the distance transformby area opening with an
area of lowest size of the size distribution obtained from area grandometry (step:5). Fig 4(b)
shows the resulting under-segmentation (step:7), Fig.4(c) shows the watersheds on the part of
the image in Fig.4(b) after reducing the area size by 10% for area opening on distance
transform(step:lO). Finally the watersheds are computed again with the union of all the
previous markers with the negative of the gray scale image as constraint. The resulting
watershed shown in Fig.4(d) after superimposing on the greyscale image to highlight the
efficacy of this step, as the watersheds can be seen to better coincide with the actual junctions
between the image objects (step.12).
This procedure presented in this paper, has been applied on many test images and this
procedure gave good results in all the cases.
5. CONCLUSION
A new approach for segmenting images with similar objects has been proposed and shown to
be superior to existing watershed techniques. This method is certainly useful for segmentation
as most of the image segmentation methods available result in either over-segmentation or
under- segmentation.
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Video I Image Processing and Multimedia Communications, 16-19 J une 2002, Zadar, Croatia
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