A Markov pixon information approach for low-level image description

The problem of extracting information from an image which corresponds to early stage processing in vision is addressed. We propose a new approach (the MPI approach) which simultaneously provides a restored image, a segmented image and a map which reflects the local scale for representing the information. Embedded in a Bayesian framework, this approach is based on an information prior, a pixon model and two Markovian priors. This model based approach is oriented to detect and analyze small parabolic patches in a noisy environment. The number of clusters and their parameters are not required for the segmentation process. The MPI approach is applied to the analysis of statistical parametric maps obtained from fMRI experiments