Robust parallel clustering algorithm for image segmentation
José G. Tamez‐Peña, Arnulfo Perez · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · 1996
This paper describes a hierarchical parallel implementation of two clustering algorithms applied to the segmentation of multidimensional images and range images. The proposed hierarchical parallel implementation results in a fast robust segmentation algorithm that can be applied in a number of practical computer vision problems. The clustering process is divided in two basic steps. First, a fast sequential clustering algorithm performs a simple analysis of the image data, which results in a sub optimal classification of the image features. Second, the resulting clusters are analyzed using the minimum volume ellipsoid estimator. The second step is to merge the similar clusters using the number and shape of the ellipsoidal clusters that best represents the data. Both algorithms are implemented in a parallel computer architecture that speeds up the classification task. The hierarchical clustering algorithm is compared against the fuzzy k-means clustering algorithm showing that both approaches gave comparable segmentation results. The hierarchical parallel implementation is tested in synthetic multidimensional images and real range images.