Image Segmentation
Dr. Nilamani Bhoi
Associate Professor
Dept. of Electronics and Telecommunication
Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology, Burla
Image Segmentation
Image segmentation is the process by which a digital image is partitioned
into various groups called image objects.
• Segmentation divides an image into groups of pixels
• Pixels are grouped because they share some local property (gray level,
color, texture, motion, etc.)
2
Image segmentation example
Image Segmentation
4/18/2025 Dr. Nilamani Bhoi, Associate Professor, ETC Engg, VSSUT Burla 3
USE:
Image segmentation applicable to object extraction
Image Segmentation
4/18/2025 Dr. Nilamani Bhoi, Associate Professor, ETC Engg, VSSUT Burla 4
Different methods of image segmentation
Image Segmentation
1. Thresholding based segmentation
2. Edge based segmentation
3. Region based segmentation
4. Clustering based segmentation
5. Hybrid segmentation
4/18/2025 Dr. Nilamani Bhoi, Associate Professor, ETC Engg, VSSUT Burla 5
Region based segmentation
The region based segmentation methods involve the
algorithm creating segments by dividing the image
Image Segmentation
into various components having similar characteristics.
Region base segmentation method can be
(i) Region growing
(ii) Region splitting and merging
4/18/2025 Dr. Nilamani Bhoi, Associate Professor, ETC Engg, VSSUT Burla 6
Region Growing
Region growing is a procedure that groups pixels or sub regions
into larger regions.
The simplest of these approaches is pixel aggregation, which starts
Image Segmentation
with a set of “seed” points and from these grows regions by
appending to each seed points those neighboring pixels that have
similar properties (such as gray level, texture, color, shape).
Region growing based techniques are better than the edge-based
techniques in noisy images where edges are difficult to detect.
4/18/2025 Dr. Nilamani Bhoi, Associate Professor, ETC Engg, VSSUT Burla 7
8×8, 3-bit image
Seed Pixel
5 6 6 7 7 7 6 6
Image Segmentation
Region Growing
6 7 6 7 5 5 4 7
6 6 4 4 3 2 5 6
5 4 5 4 2 3 4 6
0 3 2 3 3 2 4 7
0 0 0 0 2 2 5 6
1 1 0 1 0 3 4 4
1 0 1 0 2 3 5 4
Criteria: diff(pixel, seed pixel)<Threshold
Threshold =3
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Region 1
Developed Region
5 6 6 7 7 7 6 6
Image Segmentation
Region Growing
6 7 6 7 5 5 4 7
6 6 4 4 3 2 5 6
5 4 5 4 2 3 4 6
0 3 2 3 3 2 4 7
0 0 0 0 2 2 5 6
1 1 0 1 0 3 4 4
1 0 1 0 2 3 5 4
Region 2
4/18/2025 Dr. Nilamani Bhoi, Associate Professor, ETC Engg, VSSUT Burla 9
8×8, 3-bit image
Seed Pixel
5 6 6 7 7 7 6 6
Image Segmentation
Region Growing
6 7 6 7 5 5 4 7
6 6 4 4 3 2 5 6
5 4 5 4 2 3 4 6
0 3 2 3 3 2 4 7
0 0 0 0 2 2 5 6
1 1 0 1 0 3 4 4
1 0 1 0 2 3 5 4
Criteria: diff(pixel, seed pixel)<Threshold
Threshold =3
4/18/2025 Dr. Nilamani Bhoi, Associate Professor, ETC Engg, VSSUT Burla 10
Developed Region
5 6 6 7 7 7 6 6
Image Segmentation
Region Growing
6 7 6 7 5 5 4 7
6 6 4 4 3 2 5 6
5 4 5 4 2 3 4 6
0 3 2 3 3 2 4 7
0 0 0 0 2 2 5 6
1 1 0 1 0 3 4 4
1 0 1 0 2 3 5 4
4/18/2025 Dr. Nilamani Bhoi, Associate Professor, ETC Engg, VSSUT Burla 11
Results - Region Growing
Image Segmentation
4/18/2025 Dr. Nilamani Bhoi, Associate Professor, ETC Engg, VSSUT Burla 12
Results - Region Growing
Image Segmentation
4/18/2025 Dr. Nilamani Bhoi, Associate Professor, ETC Engg, VSSUT Burla 13
Region Splitting
Region growing starts from a set of seed points.
An alternative is to start with the whole image as a single region
and subdivide the regions that do not satisfy a condition of
homogeneity.
Image Segmentation
Region Merging
Region merging is the opposite of region splitting.
Start with small regions (e.g. 2x2 or 4x4 regions) and merge the
regions that have similar characteristics (such as gray level,
variance).
Typically, splitting and merging approaches are used iteratively.
4/18/2025 Dr. Nilamani Bhoi, Associate Professor, ETC Engg, VSSUT Burla 14
Region Splitting & Merging
Region Splitting
5 6 6 7 7 7 6 6
Image Segmentation
6 7 6 7 5 5 4 7
6 6 4 4 3 2 5 6
5 4 5 4 2 3 4 6
0 3 2 3 3 2 4 7
0 0 0 0 2 2 5 6
1 1 0 1 0 3 4 4
1 0 1 0 2 3 5 4
Criteria: diff(Maximum pixel, Minimum pixel)≤Threshold
Threshold =3
Splitting into 4 regions if diff > 3 Max=7, Min=0
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Region Splitting Contd....
Region Splitting & Merging
Max=7, Min=4 Max=7, Min=2
5 6 6 7 7 7 6 6
Image Segmentation
6 7 6 7 5 5 4 7
6 6 4 4 3 2 5 6
5 4 5 4 2 3 4 6
0 3 2 3 3 2 4 7
0 0 0 0 2 2 5 6
1 1 0 1 0 3 4 4
1 0 1 0 2 3 5 4
Max=3, Min=0
Max=7, Min=0
Criteria: diff(Maximum pixel, Minimum pixel)≤Threshold
Threshold =3
Splitting into 4 regions if diff > 3
4/18/2025 Dr. Nilamani Bhoi, Associate Professor, ETC Engg, VSSUT Burla 16
Splited Regions
Region Splitting & Merging
5 6 6 7 7 7 6 6
Image Segmentation
6 7 6 7 5 5 4 7
6 6 4 4 3 2 5 6
5 4 5 4 2 3 4 6
0 3 2 3 3 2 4 7
0 0 0 0 2 2 5 6
1 1 0 1 0 3 4 4
1 0 1 0 2 3 5 4
Criteria: diff(Maximum pixel, Minimum pixel)≤Threshold
Threshold =3
Splitting into 4 regions if diff > 3
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Region Merging Region 1 and Region 2 Merged
Region Splitting & Merging
5 6 6 7 7 7 6 6
Image Segmentation
6 7 6 7 5 5 4 7
6 6 4 4 3 2 5 6
5 4 5 4 2 3 4 6
0 3 2 3 3 2 4 7
0 0 0 0 2 2 5 6
1 1 0 1 0 3 4 4
1 0 1 0 2 3 5 4
Region 1: Max. Pixel =7 Region 2: Max. Pixel =7
Min. Pixel=4 Min. Pixel=5
Criteria: diff(Maximum pixel, Minimum pixel)≤Threshold
Threshold =3
4/18/2025 Dr. Nilamani Bhoi, Associate Professor, ETC Engg, VSSUT Burla 18
Region Merging Contd.. Region 2 and Region 3 Merged
Region Splitting & Merging
5 6 6 7 7 7 6 6
Image Segmentation
6 7 6 7 5 5 4 7
6 6 4 4 3 2 5 6
5 4 5 4 2 3 4 6
0 3 2 3 3 2 4 7
0 0 0 0 2 2 5 6
1 1 0 1 0 3 4 4
1 0 1 0 2 3 5 4
Region 2: Max. Pixel =7 Region 2: Max. Pixel =7
Min. Pixel=5 Min. Pixel=4
Criteria: diff(Maximum pixel, Minimum pixel)≤Threshold
Threshold =3
4/18/2025 Dr. Nilamani Bhoi, Associate Professor, ETC Engg, VSSUT Burla 19
Developed Region using Splitting and Merging
Region Splitting & Merging
5 6 6 7 7 7 6 6
Image Segmentation
6 7 6 7 5 5 4 7
6 6 4 4 3 2 5 6
5 4 5 4 2 3 4 6
0 3 2 3 3 2 4 7
0 0 0 0 2 2 5 6
1 1 0 1 0 3 4 4
1 0 1 0 2 3 5 4
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Results – Region Split
Image Segmentation
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Results – Region Split and Merge
Image Segmentation
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Results – Region Split
Image Segmentation
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Results – Region Split and Merge
Image Segmentation
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