Automated skin lesion segmentation using deep side layers

A non-transitory computer readable medium embodying computer executable instructions which when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform the method of:

• obtaining a dermoscopic image;
• convolving the dermoscopic image in a plurality of convolutional layers;
• obtaining deconvolved outputs of at least two convolutional layers of the plurality of convolutional layers;
• obtaining side-output feature maps by applying loss functions to the deconvolved outputs of the at least two convolutional layers;
• obtaining a first concatenated feature map by concatenating the side-output feature maps with different first weights;
• obtaining a second concatenated feature map by concatenating the side-output feature maps with different second weights;
• and
• producing a final score map by convolving the first and second concatenated feature maps in a final convolutional layer followed by a loss layer.

An apparatus comprising:

• a memory in which computer executable instructions are stored;
• and
• at least one processor, coupled to said memory, and operative by the computer executable instructions to perform a method comprising:
• obtaining a dermoscopic image;
• convolving the dermoscopic image in a plurality of convolutional layers;
• obtaining deconvolved outputs of at least two convolutional layers of the plurality of convolutional layers;
• obtaining side-output feature maps by applying loss functions to the deconvolved outputs of the at least two convolutional layers;
• obtaining a first concatenated feature map by concatenating the side-output feature maps with different first weights;
• obtaining a second concatenated feature map by concatenating the side-output feature maps with different second weights;
• and
• producing a final score map by convolving the first and second concatenated feature maps in a final convolutional layer followed by a loss layer.