A unified approach to the segmentation of grey-level and dot-pattern images

The authors show the close relationship between two algorithms developed in their laboratory: (1) for segmenting grey-scale images and (2) for grouping patterns of dots or disconnected edge fragments. In both cases the output consists of objects each of which is bounded by a closed contours and contains a skeleton whose components are explicitly linked to boundary components. The second algorithm accomplishes a type of perceptual grouping which has often been regarded as implying a different type of processing from earlier segmentation steps. The authors suggest that early segmentation and later perceptual grouping can be, and should be, considered as fundamentally similar processes