Adaptive snakes using the EM algorithm

Deformable models (e.g., snakes) perform poorly in many image analysis problems. The contour model is attracted by edge points detected in the image. However, many edge points do not belong to the object contour, preventing the active contour from converging toward the object boundary. A new algorithm is proposed in this paper to overcome this difficulty. The algorithm is based on two key ideas. First, edge points are associated in strokes. Second, each stroke is classified as valid (inlier) or invalid (outlier) and a confidence degree is associated to each stroke. The expectation maximization algorithm is used to update the confidence degrees and to estimate the object contour. It is shown that this is equivalent to the use of an adaptive potential function which varies during the optimization process. Valid strokes receive high confidence degrees while confidence degrees of invalid strokes tend to zero during the optimization process. Experimental results are presented to illustrate the performance of the proposed algorithm in the presence of clutter, showing a remarkable robustness.