Parametric models of linear prediction error distribution for color texture and satellite image segmentation

In this article we present a Bayesian color texture segmentation framework based on the multichannel linear prediction error. Two-dimensional causal and non-causal real (in RGB color space) and complex (in IHLS and L∗a∗b∗ color spaces) multichannel linear prediction models are used to characterize the spatial structures in color images. The main contribution of this segmentation methodology resides in the robust parametric approximations proposed for the multichannel linear prediction error distribution. These are composed of a unimodal approximation based on the Wishart distribution and a multimodal approximation based on the multivariate Gaussian mixture models. For the spatial regularization of the initial class label estimates, computed through the proposed parametric priors, we compare the conventional Potts model to a Potts model fusioned with a region size energy term. We provide performances of the method when using Iterated Conditional Modes algorithm and simulated annealing. Experimental results for the segmentation of synthetic color textures as well as high resolution QuickBird and IKONOS satellite images validate the application of this approach for highly textured images. Advantages of using these priors instead of classical Gaussian approximation and improved label field model are shown by these results. They also verify that the L∗a∗b∗ color space exhibits better performance among the used color spaces, indicating its significance for the characterization of color textures through this approach.