Image segmentation apparatus, image segmentation method, and image segmentation integrated circuit for processing an image

An image segmentation apparatus in which a region belonging to the same category is specified from an input image by a pixel unit to identify an image segmentation region, and an image of an optional image segmentation region is selectively output, the apparatus comprising:

• an input image memory in which each pixel value of the input image is stored;
• a cell network comprising a plurality of cells which are disposed for each pixel of a block at a time when the input image is divided into a plurality of blocks having predetermined sizes and shapes and which shift in non-ignited, self-ignitable, and ignited states, and a plurality of coupling weight registers disposed between adjacent cells in the plurality of cells to hold a coupling weight between the cells;
• a coupling weight calculation circuit which reads each pixel value of the block designated as a processing object in the plurality of blocks in order from the input image memory to associate the values with the plurality of cells and which calculates the coupling weight between the adjacent cells based on the pixel value corresponding to each of the plurality of cells, the calculated coupling weight being held in the plurality of coupling weight registers;
• a leader cell determination circuit to determine a cell whose sum of coupling weights with the adjacent cell exceeds a standard value as the leader cell based on the coupling weight calculated by the coupling weight calculation circuit;
• region distinguishing means for repeatedly executing processing including deciding from a held value of the coupling weight register disposed adjacent to each of the plurality of cells whether or not ignition is possible, shifting the leader cell determined by the leader cell determination circuit into the ignited state in order, and selecting the ignitable cell from the cells adjacent to the ignited leader cell to shift the ignitable cell into the ignited state, and distinguishing the image segmentation region of the selected block from the region of the cell brought into the ignited state;
• a label control circuit which attaches and stores different labels to the respective pixels of the selected block for at least each adjacent region of the distinguished image segmentation region;
• an auxiliary dividing control circuit which selects one of the plurality of blocks in order as the processing object to designate a range of the block and which interconnects image segmentation regions of the plurality of blocks successively distinguished by the region distinguishing means based on a label of each pixel attached by the label control circuit and which specifies the image segmentation region of the whole input image;
• a divided region storage circuit to store information of all the cells in which the image segmentation region of the whole input image is specified by the auxiliary dividing control circuit;
• and
• an output image memory in which the pixel value corresponding to each cell of an optional image segmentation region is stored based on a stored content of the divided region storage circuit.

An integrated circuit comprising all circuits integrated for image segmentation in which a region belonging to the same category is specified from an input image by a pixel unit to identify an image segmentation region, and an image of an optional image segmentation region is selectively output, the circuit comprising:

• an input image memory in which each pixel value of the input image is stored;
• a cell network comprising a plurality of cells which are disposed for each pixel of a block at a time when the input image is divided into a plurality of blocks having predetermined sizes and shapes and which shift in non-ignited, self-ignitable, and ignited states, and a plurality of coupling weight registers disposed between adjacent cells in the plurality of cells to hold a coupling weight between the cells;
• a coupling weight calculation circuit which reads each pixel value of the block designated as a processing object in the plurality of blocks in order from the input image memory to associate the values with the plurality of cells and which calculates the coupling weight between the adjacent cells based on the corresponding pixel value, the calculated coupling weight being held in the plurality of coupling weight registers;
• a leader cell determination circuit to determine a cell whose sum of coupling weights with an adjacent cell exceeds a standard value as the leader cell based on the coupling weight calculated by the coupling weight calculation circuit;
• region distinguishing means for repeatedly executing processing including deciding from a held value of the coupling weight register disposed adjacent to each of the plurality of cells whether or not ignition is possible, shifting the leader cell determined by the leader cell determination circuit into the ignited state in order, and selecting the ignitable cell from the cells adjacent to the ignited leader cell to shift the ignitable cell into the ignited state, and distinguishing the image segmentation region of the selected block from the region of the cell brought into the ignited state;
• a label control circuit which attaches and stores different labels to the respective pixels of the selected block for at least each adjacent region of the distinguished image segmentation region;
• an auxiliary dividing control circuit which selects one of the plurality of blocks in order as the processing object to designate a range of the block and which interconnects image segmentation regions of the plurality of blocks successively distinguished by the region distinguishing means based on a label of each pixel attached by the label control circuit and which specifies the image segmentation region of the whole input image;
• a divided region storage circuit to store information of all the cells in which the image segmentation region of the whole input image is specified by the auxiliary dividing control circuit;
• and
• an output image memory in which the pixel value corresponding to each cell of an optional image segmentation region is stored based on a stored content of the divided region storage circuit.