CURVE EXTRACTION IN IMAGES USING A MULTIRESOLUTION FRAMEWORK

A multiresolution approach to curve extraction in images is described. Based on a piecewise linear representation of curves, the scheme comb ines an efficient method of extracting line segments with a grouping p rocess to identify curve traces. The line segments correspond to linea r features defined at appropriate spatial resolutions within a quadtre e structure and are extracted using a hierarchical decision process ba sed on frequency domain properties. Implementation is achieved through the use of the multiresolution Fourier transform, a linear transform providing spatially localized estimates of the frequency spectrum over multiple scales. The scheme is simple to implement and computationall y inexpensive, and results of experiments performed on natural images demonstrate that its performance compares favorably with that of exist ing methods. (C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc.