Color edge detection using vector order statistics

A method is proposed whereby a color image is treated as a vector field and the edge information carried directly by the vectors is exploited. A class of color edge detectors is defined as the minimum over the magnitudes of linear combinations of the sorted vector samples. From this class, a specific edge detector is obtained and its performance characteristics studied. Results of a quantitative evaluation and comparison to other color edge detectors, using Pratt´s (1991) figure of merit and an artificially generated test image, are presented. Edge detection results obtained for real color images demonstrate the efficiency of the detector