Digital Image Processing

Lecture # 3
Connected Component Analysis

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 Relationships between pixels

 Neighbors of pixel are the pixels that are

adjacent pixels of an identified pixel

y-1 y y+1
x-1

x
x+1

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 What
Whatare the
arethe
coordinates
coordinatesofofeach of
eachof
the
theblue pixels
bluepixels

x
x+1
x-1
y-1 y
y+1

(x-1,y), (x+1,y), (x, y-1), (x, y+1)

4- Neighbors of a Pixel –N4(p)

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 Diagonal Neighbors of a Pixel –ND(p)

y-1 y y+1
x-1

x
x+1

(x-1,y-1), (x+1,y-1), (x-1, y+1), (x+1, y+1)

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8- Neighbors of a Pixel –N8(p)

y-1 y y+1
x-1

x
x-1

N8 ( p )  N 4 ( p )  N D ( p )

(x-1,y), (x+1,y), (x, y-1), (x, y+1)

(x-1,y-1), (x+1,y-1), (x-1, y+1), (x+1, y+1)
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Determine different regions in the
image

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 Connectivity
 Establishing boundaries of objects and components in an image
 Group the same region by assumption that the pixels being the same
color or equal intensity
 Two pixels p & q are connected if
 They are adjacent in some sense
 If their gray levels satisfy a specified criterion of
similarity

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 Connectivity
V: Set of gray levels used to define the criterion of similarity

4-connectivity
4-connectivity

If gray level ( p, q )  V , and q  N 4 ( p )

Set
Setofofgray
graylevels
levelsVV=={1}
{1}

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 Connectivity
V: Set of gray levels used to define the criterion of similarity

8-connectivity
8-connectivity

If gray level ( p, q )  V , and q  N8 ( p )

Set
Setofofgray
graylevels
levelsVV=={1}
{1}

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 Connectivity
V: Set of gray levels used to define the criterion of similarity

m-connectivity
m-connectivity(Mixed
(MixedConnectivity)
Connectivity)

If gray level

( p, q) V , and q satisfies one of the following:

a. q  N 4 ( p ) or
b. q  N D ( p) And N 4 ( p)  N 4 (q) has no pixels
whose values are from V

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 Example: m – Connectivity

 Set of gray levels V = {1}

Note: Mixed connectivity can eliminate the multiple path connections that often
occurs in 8-connectivity

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 Paths
 Path: Let coordinates of pixel p: (x, y), and of pixel q: (s, t)

 A path from p to q is a sequence of distinct pixels with

coordinates: (x0, y0), (x1, y1), ......, (xn,yn)

where (x0, y0) = (x, y) & (xn,yn) = (s, t), and (xi,yi) is adjacent
to (xi-1,yi-1) 1≤i ≤n

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Test Yourself
CC labeling – 4 Connectivity

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 CC labeling – 4 Connectivity
 Process the image from left to
right, top to bottom:
1.) If the next pixel to process is 1
i.) If only one of its neighbors
(top or left) is 1, copy its label.

ii.) If both are 1 and have the

same label, copy it.

iii.) If they have different labels

Pass 1
 Copy the label from the left.
 Update the equivalence table.

iv.) Otherwise, assign a new label.

 Re-label with the smallest of equivalent

labels
Pass 2

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CC labeling – 4 Connectivity

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CC labeling – 4 Connectivity

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 CC labeling – 8 Connectivity

Same
Samealgorithm
algorithmbut
butexamine
examinealso
alsothe
theupper
upperdiagonal
diagonalneighbors
neighborsofofpp

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 CC labeling – 8 Connectivity

Background pixel
Background pixel
Unlabeled Pixel
Unlabeled Pixel
Label 1

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CC labeling – 8 Connectivity

Background pixel Background pixel

Unlabeled Pixel Unlabeled Pixel
Label 1 Label 1
Label 2 Label 2
Label 3

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 CC labeling – 8 Connectivity

Background pixel Background pixel

Unlabeled Pixel Unlabeled Pixel

Label 1 Label 1
Label 2 Label 2
Label 3 Label 3

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 CC labeling – 8 Connectivity

Background pixel Background pixel

Unlabeled pixel Unlabeled pixel

Label 1 Label 1

Label 2 Label 2

Label 3 Label 3

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CC labeling – 8 Connectivity

Background pixel Background pixel

Unlabeled pixel Unlabeled pixel
Label 1 Label 1
Label 2 Label 2
Label 3 Label 3
Label 4 Label 4

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 Distance Metrics
 Let pixels p, q and z have coordinates (x,y), (s,t) and (u,v) respectively.

 D is a distance function or metric if

 D(p,q) ≥ 0 and
 D(p,q) = 0 iff p = q and
 D(p,q) = D(q,p) and
 D(p,z) ≤ D(p,q) + D(q,z)

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City block distance (D4 distance)

D4 ( p, q)  x  s  y  t

 Diamond with center at (x,y)

 D4 = 1 are the 4 neighbors of
pixel p(x,y)

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Chessboard distance (D8 distance)

D8 ( p, q)  max( x  s , y  t )

 Square centered at p(x,y)

 D8 = 1 are the 8 neighbors
of pixel p(x,y)

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 Euclidean Distance

De ( p, q)  ( x  s) 2  ( y  t ) 2
q(s,t)

p(x,y)

A circle with radius r centered at (x,y)

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 Acknowledgements
 Statistical Pattern Recognition: A Review – A.K Jain et al., PAMI (22) 2000

Material in these slides has been taken from, the following resources

Pattern Recognition and Analysis Course – A.K. Jain, MSU

 Pattern Classification” by Duda et al., John Wiley & Sons.
 Digital Image Processing”, Rafael C. Gonzalez & Richard E. Woods, Addison-Wesley, 2002
 Machine Vision: Automated Visual Inspection and Robot Vision”, David Vernon, Prentice Hall,
1991
 www.eu.aibo.com/
 Advances in Human Computer Interaction, Shane Pinder, InTech, Austria, October 2008

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