Morphing active contours: a geometric approach to topology-independent image segmentation and tracking

A method for deforming curves in a given image to a desired position in a second image is introduced in this paper. The algorithm is based on deforming the first image toward the second one via a partial differential equation, while tracking the deformation of the curves of interest in the first image with an additional, coupled, partial differential equation. The technique can be applied to object tracking and slice-by-slice segmentation of 3D data. The topology of the deforming curve can change, without any special topology handling procedures added to the scheme. This permits for example the automatic tracking of scenes where, due to occlusions, the topology of the objects of interest changes from frame to frame