Joint Image Reconstruction and Segmentation Using the Potts Model

We propose a new algorithmic approach to the non-smooth and non-convex Potts problem (also called piecewise-constant Mumford-Shah problem) for inverse imaging problems. We derive a suitable splitting into specific subproblems that can all be solved efficiently. Our method does not require a priori knowledge on the gray levels nor on the number of segments of the reconstruction. Further, it avoids anisotropic artifacts such as geometric staircasing. We demonstrate the suitability of our method for joint image reconstruction and segmentation. We focus on Radon data, where we in particular consider limited data situations. For instance, our method is able to recover all segments of the Shepp-Logan phantom from $7$ angular views only. We illustrate the practical applicability on a real PET dataset. As further applications, we consider spherical Radon data as well as blurred data

Sublabel-Accurate Relaxation of Nonconvex Energies

We propose a novel spatially continuous framework for convex relaxations based on functional lifting. Our method can be interpreted as a sublabel-accurate solution to multilabel problems. We show that previously proposed functional lifting methods optimize an energy which is linear between two labels and hence require (often infinitely) many labels for a faithful approximation. In contrast, the proposed formulation is based on a piecewise convex approximation and therefore needs far fewer labels. In comparison to recent MRF-based approaches, our method is formulated in a spatially continuous setting and shows less grid bias. Moreover, in a local sense, our formulation is the tightest possible convex relaxation. It is easy to implement and allows an efficient primal-dual optimization on GPUs. We show the effectiveness of our approach on several computer vision problems

Nonsmooth Convex Variational Approaches to Image Analysis

Variational models constitute a foundation for the formulation and understanding of models in many areas of image processing and analysis. In this work, we consider a generic variational framework for convex relaxations of multiclass labeling problems, formulated on continuous domains. We propose several relaxations for length-based regularizers, with varying expressiveness and computational cost. In contrast to graph-based, combinatorial approaches, we rely on a geometric measure theory-based formulation, which avoids artifacts caused by an early discretization in theory as well as in practice. We investigate and compare numerical first-order approaches for solving the associated nonsmooth discretized problem, based on controlled smoothing and operator splitting. In order to obtain integral solutions, we propose a randomized rounding technique formulated in the spatially continuous setting, and prove that it allows to obtain solutions with an a priori optimality bound. Furthermore, we present a method for introducing more advanced prior shape knowledge into labeling problems, based on the sparse representation framework

Regularizers for Vector-Valued Data and Labeling Problems in Image Processing

Дан обзор последних результатов в области регуляризаторов, основанных на полных вариациях, применительно к векторным данным. Результаты оказались полезными для хранения или улучшения мультимодальных данных и задач разметки на непрерывной области определения. Возможные регуляризаторы и их свойства рассматриваются в рамках единой модели.The review of recent developments on total variation-based regularizers is given with the emphasis on vector-valued data. These have been proven to be useful for restoring or enhancing data with multiple channels, and find particular use in relaxation techniques for labeling problems on continuous domains. The possible regularizers and their properties are considered in a unified framework.Наведено огляд останніх результатів у галузі регуляризаторів, що базуються на повних варіаціях, стосовно векторних даних. Результати виявилися корисними для зберігання та покращення мультимодальних даних і задач розмітки на неперервній області визначення. Можливі регуляризатори та їх властивості розглядаються в рамках єдиної моделі

Variational methods and its applications to computer vision

Many computer vision applications such as image segmentation can be formulated in a ''variational'' way as energy minimization problems. Unfortunately, the computational task of minimizing these energies is usually difficult as it generally involves non convex functions in a space with thousands of dimensions and often the associated combinatorial problems are NP-hard to solve. Furthermore, they are ill-posed inverse problems and therefore are extremely sensitive to perturbations (e.g. noise). For this reason in order to compute a physically reliable approximation from given noisy data, it is necessary to incorporate into the mathematical model appropriate regularizations that require complex computations. The main aim of this work is to describe variational segmentation methods that are particularly effective for curvilinear structures. Due to their complex geometry, classical regularization techniques cannot be adopted because they lead to the loss of most of low contrasted details. In contrast, the proposed method not only better preserves curvilinear structures, but also reconnects some parts that may have been disconnected by noise. Moreover, it can be easily extensible to graphs and successfully applied to different types of data such as medical imagery (i.e. vessels, hearth coronaries etc), material samples (i.e. concrete) and satellite signals (i.e. streets, rivers etc.). In particular, we will show results and performances about an implementation targeting new generation of High Performance Computing (HPC) architectures where different types of coprocessors cooperate. The involved dataset consists of approximately 200 images of cracks, captured in three different tunnels by a robotic machine designed for the European ROBO-SPECT project.Open Acces

An introduction to continuous optimization for imaging

International audienceA large number of imaging problems reduce to the optimization of a cost function , with typical structural properties. The aim of this paper is to describe the state of the art in continuous optimization methods for such problems, and present the most successful approaches and their interconnections. We place particular emphasis on optimal first-order schemes that can deal with typical non-smooth and large-scale objective functions used in imaging problems. We illustrate and compare the different algorithms using classical non-smooth problems in imaging, such as denoising and deblurring. Moreover, we present applications of the algorithms to more advanced problems, such as magnetic resonance imaging, multilabel image segmentation, optical flow estimation, stereo matching, and classification

A Convex Approach to Minimal Partitions

We describe a convex relaxation for a family of problems of minimal perimeter partitions. The minimization of the relaxed problem can be tackled numerically, we describe an algorithm and show some results. In most cases, our relaxed problem finds a correct numerical approximation of the optimal solution: we give some arguments to explain why it should be so, and also discuss some situation where it fails. This preprint is a revised version of an technical paper of 2008 (see for instance the CMAP preprint #649, november 2008), which was rewritten in order to clarify, in particular, the relationship with the classical "paired calibration" approach for minimal surfaces