Color segmentation by hierarchical connected components analysis with image enhancement by symmetric neighborhood filters

The authors introduce a general-purpose procedure for image segmentation which combines iterative image enhancement by a symmetric neighborhood filter (SNF) with an iterative, hierarchical connected component (HCC) analysis. Color vector versions of both SNF and HCC are developed, using two common kinds of metrics applied to color vector intensity differences-a simple Euclidean-type metric and a coordinate maximum-type metric. The segmentation procedures are illustrated with three-band color images of indoor and outdoor scenes