EM image segmentation algorithm based on an inhomogeneous hidden MRF model

This paper introduces a Bayesian image segmentation algorithm that considers the label scale variability of images. An inhomogeneous hidden Markov random field is adopted in this algorithm to model the label scale variability as prior probabilities. An EM algorithm is developed to estimate parameters of the prior probabilities and likelihood probabilities. The image segmentation is established by using a MAP estimator. Different images are tested to verify the algorithm and comparisons with other segmentation algorithms are carried out. The segmentation results show the proposed algorithm has better performance than others.