In this paper, a new method is proposed for unsupervised speckle level estimation in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images. It is assumed that fully developed speckle intensity has a Gamma distribution. Based on this assumption, estimation of the equivalent number of looks (ENL) is transformed into noise variance estimation in the logarithmic SAR image domain. In order to improve estimation accuracy, texture analysis is also applied to exclude areas where speckle is not fully developed (e.g., urban areas). Finally, the noise variance is estimated by a 2-dimensional autoregressive (AR) model. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified with several SAR images from different SAR systems and simulated images.

In this paper, we propose a novel texture analysis method capable of estimating multiple primitives, which are elements repetitively arranged to compose a texture, in multi-structured textures. The approach is based on a texture description model that uses mathematical morphology, called the “Primitive, Grain, and Point Configuration (PGPC)” texture model. The estimation of primitives based on the PGPC texture model involves searching the optimal structuring element for primitives according to a size distribution function and a magnification. The proposed method achieves the following two improvements: (1) the simultaneous estimation of a multiple number of primitives in multi-structured textures with a ranking of primitives on the basis of their significance. and (2) the introduction of flexibility in the process of magnification to obtain a higher degree of fitness of large grains. With a computational combination of different primitives, the method provides an ordered priority to denote the significance of elements. The promising performance of the proposed method is experimentally shown by a comparison with conventional methods.

This paper presents a Microscopic Local Binary Pattern (MLBP) for texture classification. The conventional LBP methods which rely on the uniform patterns discard some texture information by merging the nonuniform patterns. MLBP preserves the information by classifying the nonuniform patterns using the structure similarity at microscopic level. First, the nonuniform patterns are classified into three groups using the macroscopic information. Second, the three groups are individually divided into several subgroups based on the microscopic structure information. The experiments show that MLBP achieves a better result compared with the other LBP related methods.

A method of estimating dual primitives in a textural image is proposed. This method is based on the Primitive, Grain, and Point Configuration (PGPC) texture model, which regards a texture as an arrangement of grains derived from one or a few primitives. Appropriate primitives can be represented by morphological structuring elements estimated from a texture. Conventional primitive estimation methods estimate only one primitive from each textural image. However, they do not work well on textural images that contain more than one basic structure, since two or more types of grain cannot be generated from only one primitive. The proposed method simultaneously estimates two optimal structuring elements of a texture. The experimental results show that the proposed method provides more representative estimations than the conventional method.

In this paper, we propose a new approach to rotation invariant texture analysis. This method uses the Radon transform with some considerations in direction estimation of textural images. Furthermore, it utilizes the information obtained from the number of peaks in the variance array of the Radon transform as a realty feature. The textural features are then generated after rotation of texture along principle direction. Also, to eliminating the introduced error due to rotation of texture, a simple technique is presented. Experimental results on a set of images from the Brodatz album show a good performance achieved by the proposed method in comparison with some recent texture analysis methods.

This paper introduces a texture analysis mechanism utilizing multiresolution technique to reduce false motion detection and hence thoroughly improve the interpolation results for high-quality deinterlacing. Conventional motion-adaptive deinterlacing algorithm selects from inter-field and intra-field interpolations according to motion. Accurate determination of motion information is essential for this purpose. Fine textures, having high local pixel variation, tend to cause false detection of motion. Based on hierarchical wavelet analysis, this algorithm provides much better perceptual visual quality and considerably higher PSNR than other motion adaptive deinterlacers as shown. In addition, a recursive 3-field motion detection algorithm is also proposed to achieve better performance than the traditional 2-field motion detection algorithm with little memory overhead.

In this paper, we address the problem of the rotation-invariant texture analysis. For this purpose, we first present a modified version of the discrete Radon transform whose performance, including accuracy and processing time, is significantly better than the conventional transform in direction estimation and categorization of textural images. We then utilize this transform with a rotated version of Gabor filters to propose a new scheme for texture classification. Experimental results on a set of images from the Brodatz album indicate that the proposed scheme outperforms previous works.

In this paper, we study how a multidimensional local binary pattern (LBP) texture feature data can be visually explored and analyzed. The goal is to determine how true paper properties can be characterized with local texture features from visible light images. We utilize isometric feature mapping (Isomap) for the LBP texture feature data and perform non-linear dimensionality reduction for the data. These 2D projections are then visualized with original images to study data properties. Visualization is utilized in the manner of selecting texture models for unlabeled data and analyzing feature performance when building a training set for a classifier. The approach is experimented on with simulated image data illustrating different paper properties and on-line transilluminated paper images taken from a running paper web in the paper mill. The simulated image set is used to acquire quantitative figures on the performance while the analysis of real-world data is an example of semi-supervised learning.

In this paper, a 2-D iteratively reweighted least squares lattice algorithm, which is robust to the outliers, is introduced and is applied to defect detection problem in textured images. First, the philosophy of using different optimization functions that results in weighted least squares solution in the theory of 1-D robust regression is extended to 2-D. Then a new algorithm is derived which combines 2-D robust regression concepts with the 2-D recursive least squares lattice algorithm. With this approach, whatever the probability distribution of the prediction error may be, small weights are assigned to the outliers so that the least squares algorithm will be less sensitive to the outliers. Implementation of the proposed iteratively reweighted least squares lattice algorithm to the problem of defect detection in textured images is then considered. The performance evaluation, in terms of defect detection rate, demonstrates the importance of the proposed algorithm in reducing the effect of the outliers that generally correspond to false alarms in classification of textures as defective or nondefective.

Text detection in color images has become an active research area in the past few decades. In this paper, we present a novel approach to accurately detect text in color images possibly with a complex background. The proposed algorithm is based on the combination of connected component and texture feature analysis of unknown text region contours. First, we utilize an elaborate color image edge detection algorithm to extract all possible text edge pixels. Connected component analysis is performed on these edge pixels to detect the external contour and possible internal contours of potential text regions. The gradient and geometrical characteristics of each region contour are carefully examined to construct candidate text regions and classify part non-text regions. Then each candidate text region is verified with texture features derived from wavelet domain. Finally, the Expectation maximization algorithm is introduced to binarize each text region to prepare data for recognition. In contrast to previous approach, our algorithm combines both the efficiency of connected component based method and robustness of texture based analysis. Experimental results show that our proposed algorithm is robust in text detection with respect to different character size, orientation, color and language and can provide reliable text binarization result.

In this paper, a novel Wold decomposition algorithm is proposed to address the issue of deterministic component extraction for texture images. This algorithm exploits the wavelet-based singularity detection theory to process both harmonic a nd evanescent features from frequency domain. This exploitation is based on the 2D Lebesgue decomposition theory. When applying multiresolution analysis techniq ue to the power spectrum density (PSD) of a regular homogeneous random field, its indeterministic component will be effectively smoothed, and its deterministic component will remain dominant at coarse scale. By means of propagating these positions to the finest scale, the deterministic component can be properly extracted. From experiment, the proposed algorithm can obtain results that satisfactorily ensure its robustness and efficiency.

A wide variety of visual textures could be successfully modeled as spatially variant by quantitatively describing them through the variation of their local spatial frequency and/or local orientation components. This class of patterns includes flow-like, granular or oriented textures. Modeling is achieved by assuming that locally, textured images contain a single dominant component describing their local spatial frequency and modulating amplitude or contrast. Spatially variant textures are non-homogeneous in the sense of having nonstationary local spectra, while remaining locally coherent. Segmenting spatially variant textures is the challenging task undertaken in this paper. Usually, the goal of texture segmentation is to split an image into regions with homogeneous textural properties. However, in the case of image regions with spatially variant textures, there is no global homogeneity present and thus segmentation passes through identification of regions with globally nonstationary, but locally coherent, textural content. Local spatial frequency components are accurately estimated using Gabor wavelet outputs along with the absolute magnitude of the convolution of the input image with the first derivatives of the underlying Gabor function. In this paper, a frequency estimation approach is used for segmentation. Indeed, at the boundary between adjacent textures, discontinuities occur in texture local spatial frequency components. These discontinuities are interpreted as corresponding to texture boundaries. Experimental results are in remarkable agreement with human visual perception, and demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed technique.

A novel method for the primitive description of the multiprimitive texture is proposed. This method segments a texture by the watershed algorithm into fragments each of which contains one grain. The similar fragments are grouped by the cluster analysis in the feature space whose basis is the morphological size density. Each primitive is extracted as the grain of the central fragment in each cluster.

In this paper, we propose a new approach for describing image patterns. We integrate the concepts of multiscale image analysis, aura matrix (Gibbs random fields and cooccurrences related statistical model of texture analysis) to define image features, and to obtain the features having robustness with illumination variations and shading effects, we analyse images based on the Topographic Structure described by the Surface-Shape Operator, which describe gray-level image patterns in terms of 3D shapes instead of intensity values. Then, we illustrate usefulness of the proposed features with texture classifications. Results show that the proposed features extracted from multiscale images work much better than those from a single scale image, and confirm that the proposed features have robustness with illumination and shading variations. By comparisons with the MRSAR (Multiresolution Simultaneous Autoregressive) features using Mahalanobis distance and Euclidean distance, the proposed multiscale features give better performances for classifying the entire Brodatz textures: 112 categories, 2016 samples having various brightness in each category.

In this paper, we propose a two-dimensional (2-D) least-squares lattice (LSL) algorithm for the general case of the autoregressive (AR) model with an asymmetric half-plane (AHP) coefficient support. The resulting LSL algorithm gives both order and space recursions for the 2-D deterministic normal equations. The size and shape of the coefficient support region of the proposed lattice filter can be chosen arbitrarily. Furthermore, the ordering of the support signal can be assigned arbitrarily. Finally, computer simulation for modeling a texture image is demonstrated to confirm the proposed model gives rapid convergence.

The paper describes the architecture and the simulated performances of a memory-based chip that emulates human cortical processing in early visual tasks, such as texture segregation. The featural elements present in an image are extracted by a convolution block and subsequently processed by the cortical chip, whose neurons, organized into three layers, gain relational descriptions (intelligent processing) through recurrent inhibitory/excitatory interactions between both inter-and intra-layer parallel pathways. The digital implementation of this architecuture directly maps the set of equations determining the status of the cortical network to achieve an optimal exploitation of VLSI technology in neural computation. Neurons are mapped into a memory matrix whose elements are updated through a programmable computational unit that implements synaptic interconnections. By using 0.5 µm-CMOS technology, full cortical image processing can be attained on a single chip (2020 mm2 die) at a rate higher than 70 frames/second, for images of 256256 pixels.

We observed a ship as a radar target embedded in sea clutter using a millimeter wave radar. The shape of the ship and sea clutter were discriminated by using texture analysis in image processing. As a discriminator, a nonlinear transformation of a local pattern was defined to deal with high order statistics.