Image segmentation is an important tool in image processing and can serve as an efficient front end to sophisticated algorithms and thereby simplify subsequent processing. We develop a multiclass image segmentation method using hidden Markov Gauss mixture models (HMGMMs) and provide examples of segmentation of aerial images and textures. HMGMMs incorporate supervised learning, fitting the observation probability distribution given each class by a Gauss mixture estimated using vector quantization with a minimum discrimination information (MDI) distortion. We formulate the image segmentation problem using a maximum a posteriori criteria and find the hidden states that maximize the posterior density given the observation. We estimate both the hidden Markov parameter and hidden states using a stochastic expectation-maximization algorithm. Our results demonstrate that HMGMM provides better classification in terms of Bayes risk and spatial homogeneity of the classified objects than do several popular methods, including classification and regression trees, learning vector quantization, causal hidden Markov models (HMMs), and multiresolution HMMs. The computational load of HMGMM is similar to that of the causal HMM.
Image segmentation is an important preprocessing step in a sophisticated and complex image processing algorithm. In segmenting real-world images, the cost of misclassification could depend on the true class. For example, in a two-class (negative or positive class) problem, the cost of misclassifying positive to negative class could not be equal to that of misclassifying negative to positive class. However, existing algorithms do not take into account the unequal misclassification cost. In this letter, motivated by recent advances in machine learning theory, we introduce a procedure to minimize the misclassification cost with class-dependent cost. The procedure assumes the hidden Markov model (HMM) which has been popularly used for image segmentation in recent years. We represent all feasible HMM-based segmenters (or classifiers) as a set of points in the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) space. Then, the optimal segmenter (or classifier) is found by computing the tangential point between the iso-cost line with given slope and the convex hull of the feasible set in the ROC space. We illustrate the procedure by segmenting aerial images with different selection of misclassification costs.Index Terms-Convex hull, hidden Markov models, image segmentation, iso-cost line, ROC convex analysis, ROC curve.
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