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Level-set-based image segmentation has been widely used in unsupervised segmentation tasks. Researchers have recently alleviated the influence of image noise on segmentation results by introducing global or local statistics into existing models. Most existing methods are based on the assumption that the distribution of image noise is known or observable. However, real-time images do not meet this assumption. To bridge this gap, we propose a novel level-set-based segmentation method with an unsupervised denoising mechanism. First, a denoising filter is acquired under the unsupervised learning paradigm. Second, the denoising filter is integrated into the level-set framework to separate noise from the noisy image input. Finally, the level-set energy function is minimized to acquire segmentation contours. Extensive experiments demonstrate the robustness and effectiveness of the proposed method when applied to noisy images.


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Robust Segmentation Method for Noisy Images Based on an Unsupervised Denosing Filter

Show Author's information Ling ZhangJianchao LiuFangxing ShangGang Li( )Juming ZhaoYueqin Zhang
College of Software, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China
College of Information and Computer, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China
Information Technology Department, Shanxi Tizones Technology Co., Ltd, Taiyuan 030024, China

Abstract

Level-set-based image segmentation has been widely used in unsupervised segmentation tasks. Researchers have recently alleviated the influence of image noise on segmentation results by introducing global or local statistics into existing models. Most existing methods are based on the assumption that the distribution of image noise is known or observable. However, real-time images do not meet this assumption. To bridge this gap, we propose a novel level-set-based segmentation method with an unsupervised denoising mechanism. First, a denoising filter is acquired under the unsupervised learning paradigm. Second, the denoising filter is integrated into the level-set framework to separate noise from the noisy image input. Finally, the level-set energy function is minimized to acquire segmentation contours. Extensive experiments demonstrate the robustness and effectiveness of the proposed method when applied to noisy images.

Keywords: image segmentation, autoencoder, noisy image, level set

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Publication history

Received: 27 February 2021
Accepted: 12 March 2021
Published: 20 April 2021
Issue date: October 2021

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© The author(s) 2021

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 61976150) and the Natural Science Foundation of Shanxi Province (Nos. 201901D111091 and 201801D21135)

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© The author(s) 2021. The articles published in this open access journal are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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