IMAGE RELAXATION - RESTORATION AND FEATURE-EXTRACTION

The techniques of a posteriori image restoration and iterative image f eature extraction are described and compared. Image feature extraction methods known as Graduated Nonconvexity (GNC), Variable Conductance D iffusion (VCD), Anisotropic Diffusion, and Biased Anisotropic Diffusio n (BAD), which extract edges from noisy images, are compared with a re storation/feature extraction method known as Mean Field Annealing (MFA ). Ail are shown to be performing the same basic operation: image rela xation, This equivalence shows the relationship between energy minimiz ation methods and spatial analysis methods and between their respectiv e parameters of temperature and scale. As a result of the equivalence, VCD is demonstrated to minimize a cost function, and that cost is spe cified explicitly. Furthermore, operations over scale space are shown to be a method of avoiding local minima.