Faster and better: a machine learning approach to corner detection

The repeatability and efficiency of a corner detector determines how likely it is to be useful in a real-world application. The repeatability is importand because the same scene viewed from different positions should yield features which correspond to the same real-world 3D locations [Schmid et al 2000]. The efficiency is important because this determines whether the detector combined with further processing can operate at frame rate. Three advances are described in this paper. First, we present a new heuristic for feature detection, and using machine learning we derive a feature detector from this which can fully process live PAL video using less than 5% of the available processing time. By comparison, most other detectors cannot even operate at frame rate (Harris detector 115%, SIFT 195%). Second, we generalize the detector, allowing it to be optimized for repeatability, with little loss of efficiency. Third, we carry out a rigorous comparison of corner detectors based on the above repeatability criterion applied to 3D scenes. We show that despite being principally constructed for speed, on these stringent tests, our heuristic detector significantly outperforms existing feature detectors. Finally, the comparison demonstrates that using machine learning produces significant improvements in repeatability, yielding a detector that is both very fast and very high quality.Comment: 35 pages, 11 figure

Feature-Based Correspondences to Infer the Location of Anatomical Landmarks

A methodology has been developed for automatically determining inter-image correspondences between cliques of features extracted from a reference and a query image. Cliques consist of up to threefeatures and correspondences between them are determined via a hierarchy of similarity metrics based on the inherent properties of the features and geometric relationships between those features. As opposed to approaches that determine correspondences solely by voxel intensity, features that also include shape description are used. Specifically, medial-based features areemployed because they are sparse compared to the number of image voxels and can be automatically extracted from the image.The correspondence framework has been extended to automatically estimate the location of anatomical landmarks in the query image by adding landmarks to the cliques. Anatomical landmark locationsare then inferred from the reference image by maximizing landmark correspondences. The ability to infer landmark locations has provided a means to validate the correspondence framework in thepresence of structural variation between images. Moreover, automated landmark estimation imparts the user with anatomical information and can hypothetically be used to initialize andconstrain the search space of segmentation and registration methods.Methods developed in this dissertation were applied to simulated MRI brain images, synthetic images, and images constructed from several variations of a parametric model. Results indicate that the methods are invariant to global translation and rotation and can operate in the presence of structure variation between images.The automated landmark placement method was shown to be accurate as compared to ground-truth that was established both parametrically and manually. It is envisioned that these automated methods could prove useful for alleviating time-consuming and tedious tasks in applications that currently require manual input, and eliminate intra-user subjectivity

Landmark Localization, Feature Matching and Biomarker Discovery from Magnetic Resonance Images

The work presented in this thesis proposes several methods that can be roughly divided into three different categories: I) landmark localization in medical images, II) feature matching for image registration, and III) biomarker discovery in neuroimaging. The first part deals with the identification of anatomical landmarks. The motivation stems from the fact that the manual identification and labeling of these landmarks is very time consuming and prone to observer errors, especially when large datasets must be analyzed. In this thesis we present three methods to tackle this challenge: A landmark descriptor based on local self-similarities (SS), a subspace building framework based on manifold learning and a sparse coding landmark descriptor based on data-specific learned dictionary basis. The second part of this thesis deals with finding matching features between a pair of images. These matches can be used to perform a registration between them. Registration is a powerful tool that allows mapping images in a common space in order to aid in their analysis. Accurate registration can be challenging to achieve using intensity based registration algorithms. Here, a framework is proposed for learning correspondences in pairs of images by matching SS features and random sample and consensus (RANSAC) is employed as a robust model estimator to learn a deformation model based on feature matches. Finally, the third part of the thesis deals with biomarker discovery using machine learning. In this section a framework for feature extraction from learned low-dimensional subspaces that represent inter-subject variability is proposed. The manifold subspace is built using data-driven regions of interest (ROI). These regions are learned via sparse regression, with stability selection. Also, probabilistic distribution models for different stages in the disease trajectory are estimated for different class populations in the low-dimensional manifold and used to construct a probabilistic scoring function.Open Acces

A survey of traditional and deep learning-based feature descriptors for high dimensional data in computer vision

Higher dimensional data such as video and 3D are the leading edge of multimedia retrieval and computer vision research. In this survey, we give a comprehensive overview and key insights into the state of the art of higher dimensional features from deep learning and also traditional approaches. Current approaches are frequently using 3D information from the sensor or are using 3D in modeling and understanding the 3D world. With the growth of prevalent application areas such as 3D games, self-driving automobiles, health monitoring and sports activity training, a wide variety of new sensors have allowed researchers to develop feature description models beyond 2D. Although higher dimensional data enhance the performance of methods on numerous tasks, they can also introduce new challenges and problems. The higher dimensionality of the data often leads to more complicated structures which present additional problems in both extracting meaningful content and in adapting it for current machine learning algorithms. Due to the major importance of the evaluation process, we also present an overview of the current datasets and benchmarks. Moreover, based on more than 330 papers from this study, we present the major challenges and future directions. Computer Systems, Imagery and Medi

Detection of anatomical structures in medical datasets

Detection and localisation of anatomical structures is extremely helpful for many image analysis algorithms. This thesis is concerned with the automatic identification of landmark points, anatomical regions and vessel centre lines in three-dimensional medical datasets. We examine how machine learning and atlas-based ideas may be combined to produce efficient, context-aware algorithms. For the problem of anatomical landmark detection, we develop an analog to the idea of autocontext, termed atlas location autocontext, whereby spatial context is iteratively learnt by the machine learning algorithm as part of a feedback loop. We then extend our anatomical landmark detection algorithm from Computed Tomography to Magnetic Resonance images, using image features based on histograms of oriented gradients. A cross-modality landmark detector is demonstrated using unsigned gradient orientations. The problem of brain parcellation is approached by independently training a random forest and a multi-atlas segmentation algorithm, then combining them by a simple Bayesian product operation. It is shown that, given classifiers providing complementary information, the hybrid classifier provides a superior result. The Bayesian product method of combination outperforms simple averaging where the classifiers are sufficiently independent. Finally, we present a system for identifying and tracking major arteries in Magnetic Resonance Angiography datasets, using automatically detected vascular landmarks to seed the tracking. Knowledge of individual vessel characteristics is employed to guide the tracking algorithm by two means. Firstly, the data is pre-processed using a top-hat transform of size corresponding to the vessel diameter. Secondly, a vascular atlas is generated to inform the cost function employed in the minimum path algorithm. Fully automatic tracking of the major arteries of the body is satisfactorily demonstrated