A new Edge Detector Based on Parametric Surface Model: Regression Surface Descriptor

In this paper we present a new methodology for edge detection in digital images. The first originality of the proposed method is to consider image content as a parametric surface. Then, an original parametric local model of this surface representing image content is proposed. The few parameters involved in the proposed model are shown to be very sensitive to discontinuities in surface which correspond to edges in image content. This naturally leads to the design of an efficient edge detector. Moreover, a thorough analysis of the proposed model also allows us to explain how these parameters can be used to obtain edge descriptors such as orientations and curvatures. In practice, the proposed methodology offers two main advantages. First, it has high customization possibilities in order to be adjusted to a wide range of different problems, from coarse to fine scale edge detection. Second, it is very robust to blurring process and additive noise. Numerical results are presented to emphasis these properties and to confirm efficiency of the proposed method through a comparative study with other edge detectors.Comment: 21 pages, 13 figures and 2 table

Theoretical model of the FLD ensemble classifier based on hypothesis testing theory

International audienceThe FLD ensemble classifier is a widely used machine learning tool for steganalysis of digital media due to its efficiency when working with high dimensional feature sets. This paper explains how this classifier can be formulated within the framework of optimal detection by using an accurate statistical model of base learners' projections and the hypothesis testing theory. A substantial advantage of this formulation is the ability to theoretically establish the test properties, including the probability of false alarm and the test power, and the flexibility to use other criteria of optimality than the conventional total probability of error. Numerical results on real images show the sharpness of the theoretically established results and the relevance of the proposed methodology

Non-Stationary Process Monitoring for Change-Point Detection With Known Accuracy: Application to Wheels Coating Inspection

International audienceThis paper addresses the problem of monitoring online a non-stationary process to detect abrupt changes in the process mean value. Two main challenges are addressed: First, the monitored process is nonstationary; i.e., naturally changes over time and it is necessary to distinguish those “regular”process changes from abrupt changes resulting from potential failures. Second, this paper aims at being applied for industrial processes where the performance of the detection method must be accurately controlled. A novel sequential method, based on two fixed-length windows, is proposed to detect abrupt changes with guaranteed accuracy while dealing with non-stationary process. The first window is used for estimating the non-stationary process parameters, whereas the second window is used to execute the detection. A study on the performances of the proposed method provides analytical expressions of the test statistical properties. This allows to bound the false alarm probability for a given number of observations while maximizing the detection power as a function of a given detection delay. The proposed method is then applied for wheels coating monitoring using an imaging system. Numerical results on a large set of wheel images show the efficiency of the proposed approach and the sharpness of the theoretical study

Statistical decision methods in the presence of linear nuisance parameters and despite imaging system heteroscedastic noise: Application to wheel surface inspection

International audienceThis paper proposes a novel method for fully automatic anomaly detection on objects inspected using an imaging system. In order to address the inspection of a wide range of objects and to allow the detection of any anomaly, an original adaptive linear parametric model is proposed; The great flexibility of this adaptive model offers highest accuracy for a wide range of complex surfaces while preserving detection of small defects. In addition, because the proposed original model remains linear it allows the application of the hypothesis testing theory to design a test whose statistical performances are analytically known. Another important novelty of this paper is that it takes into account the specific heteroscedastic noise of imaging systems. Indeed, in such systems, the noise level depends on the pixels’ intensity which should be carefully taken into account for providing the proposed test with statistical properties. The proposed detection method is then applied for wheels surface inspection using an imaging system. Due to the nature of the wheels, the different elements are analyzed separately. Numerical results on a large set of real images show both the accuracy of the proposed adaptive model and the sharpness of the ensuing statistical test

Camera model identification based on the generalized noise model in natural images

International audienceThe goal of this paper is to design a statistical test for the camera model identification problem. The approach is based on the generalized noise model that is developed by following the image processing pipeline of the digital camera. More specifically, this model is given by starting from the heteroscedastic noise model that describes the linear relation between the expectation and variance of a RAW pixel and taking into account the non-linear effect of gamma correction.The generalized noise model characterizes more accurately a natural image in TIFF or JPEG format. The present paper is similar to our previous work that was proposed for camera model identification from RAW images based on the heteroscedastic noise model. The parameters that are specified in the generalized noise model are used as camera fingerprint to identify camera models. The camera model identification problem is cast in the framework of hypothesis testing theory. In an ideal context where all model parameters are perfectly known, the Likelihood Ratio Test is presented and its statistical performances are theoretically established. In practice when the model parameters are unknown, two Generalized Likelihood Ratio Tests are designed to deal with this difficulty such that they can meet a prescribed false alarm probability while ensuring a high detection performance. Numerical results on simulated images and real natural JPEG images highlight the relevance of the proposed approac

Generalized signal-dependent noise model and parameter estimation for natural images

International audienceThe goal of this paper is to propose a generalized signal-dependent noise model that is more appropriate to describe a natural image acquired by a digital camera than the conventional Additive White Gaussian Noise model widely used in image processing.This non-linear noise model takes into account effects in the image acquisition pipeline of a digital camera. In this paper, an algorithm for estimation of noise model parameters from a single image is designed. Then the proposed noise model is applied with the Local Linear Minimum Mean Square Error filter to design an efficient image denoising method

Camera model identification based on DCT coefficient statistics

International audienceThe goal of this paper is to design a statistical test for the camera model identification problem from JPEG images. The approach relies on the camera fingerprint extracted in the Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) domain based on the state-of-the-art model of DCT coefficients. The camera model identification problem is cast in the framework of hypothesis testing theory. In an ideal context where all model parameters are perfectly known, the Likelihood Ratio Test is presented and its performances are theoretically established. For a practical use, two Generalized Likelihood Ratio Tests are designed to deal with unknown model parameters such that they can meet a prescribed false alarm probability while ensuring a high detection performance. Numerical results on simulated and real JPEG images highlight the relevance of the proposed approach

Is ensemble classifier needed for steganalysis in high-dimensional feature spaces?

International audienceThe ensemble classifier, based on Fisher Linear Discriminant base learners, was introduced specifically for steganalysis of digital media, which currently uses high-dimensional feature spaces. Presently it is probably the most used method to design supervised classifier for steganalysis of digital images because of its good detection accuracy and small computational cost. It has been assumed by the community that the classifier implements a non-linear boundary through pooling binary decision of individual classifiers within the ensemble. This paper challenges this assumption by showing that linear classifier obtained by various regularizations of the FLD can perform equally well as the ensemble. Moreover it demonstrates that using state of the art solvers linear classifiers can be trained more efficiently and offer certain potential advantages over the original ensemble leading to much lower computational complexity than the ensemble classifier. All claims are supported experimentally on a wide spectrum of stego schemes operating in both the spatial and JPEG domains with a multitude of rich steganalysis feature sets

Individual camera device identification from JPEG images

International audienceThe goal of this paper is to investigate the problem of source camera device identification for natural images in JPEG format. We propose an improved signal-dependent noise model describing the statistical distribution of pixels from a JPEG image. The noise model relies on the heteroscedastic noise parameters, that relates the variance of pixels’ noise with the expectation considered as unique fingerprints. It is also shown in the present paper that, non-linear response of pixels can be captured by characterizing the linear relation because those heteroscedastic parameters, which are used to identify source camera device. The identification problem is cast within the framework of hypothesis testing theory. In an ideal context where all model parameters are perfectly known, the Likelihood Ratio Test (LRT) is presented and its performance is theoretically established. The statistical performance of LRT serves as an upper bound of the detection power. In a practical identification, when the nuisance parameters are unknown, two generalized LRTs based on estimation of those parameters are established. Numerical results on simulated data and real natural images highlight the relevance of our proposed approach. While those results show a first positive proof of concept of the method, it still requires to be extended for a relevant comparison with PRNU-based approaches that benefit from years of experience

Une nouvelle méthode de détection de contours basée sur une régression locale de surface

preprint des Actes du Colloque GRETSI 2013Ce papier présente un nouveau détecteur de contour. Un modèle paramétrique local considérant le contenu des images comme une surface parcimonieuse est proposé. Il est ensuite montré combien le modèle proposé est sensible aux discontinuités, ce qui correspond aux contours présents dans l'image. Le détecteur de contours en découlant est ensuite comparé numériquement à d'autres détecteurs