Variational Methods in Image Segementation - Progress in Nonlinear Differential Equations S.

This text contains a synthesis and a mathematical analysis of a wide set of algorithms and theories whose aim is the automatic segmentation of digital images as well as the understanding of visual perception. A common formalism for these theories and algorithms is obtained in variational form. Thanks to the formalization, mathematical questions about the soundness can be raised and answered.;Perception theory has to deal with the complex interaction between regions and "edges" (or boundaries) in an image; in the variational segmentation energies, "edge" terms compete with "region" terms in a way which is intended to impose regularity on both regions and boundaries.;The first part of the book presents a unified presentation of the evidence in favour of the conjecture. It is proven that the competition of one-dimensional and two-dimensional energy terms in a variational formulation cannot create fractal-like behaviour for the edges. The proof of regularity for the edges of a segmentation constantly involves concepts from geometric measure theory, which proves to be central in image processing theory. The second part of the book provides a fast and self-contained presentation of the classical theory of rectifiable sets (the "edges") and unrectifiable sets ("fractals").