2D analysis of Gabor-filter output signatures for texture segmentation

Many texture-segmentation schemes use Gabor elementary functions as filters to decompose a textured image into a joint space/spatial-frequency domain. Dunn et al. (1991, 1992) showed for a 1-D model that these filters (when properly tuned) can produce certain characteristic discontinuities (step, valley and ridge) at texture boundaries, aiding image segmentation. The authors generalize the work of Dunn et al. by providing a more general 2-D analytical development. They also show when vertical and horizontal texture-phase discontinuities produce ridge or valley discontinuities, and when asymmetric filters are beneficial