Multiple active contour models based on the EM algorithm

This paper describes an algorithm for the extraction of multiple regions using multiple active contour models (ACMs). The algorithm organizes edge points into strokes and assigns a set of weights summing to one to each stroke. These weights represent the soft assignment of the stroke to each of the ACMs and depend on the distance between the stroke points and the ACM units. Both the weights and the ACMs energy minimization are computed using the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm. The algorithm described in this paper is an extension of the adaptive snakes recently proposed in Nascimento, JC and Marques, JS (2003). Experimental results are provided to illustrate the performance of the proposed algorithm.