Generalized Hit - Miss Operators with Applications to Document Image Analysis

The morphological operators of a hit-miss transformation, opening, and closing are generalized in a number of ways. The new operators are useful for solving a variety of binary image analysis problems that involve pattern detection and reconstruction. Generalized openings are developed by replacing erosions with hit-miss operators. These new openings are shown to be anti-extensive, idempotent, and center-independent. Similarly generalized closings are developed and related to openings by duality. Additionally, the hit-miss operator is further generalized by replacing the erosions with rank order operators in order to improve the robustness of pattern matches based on statictical criteria. Some applications of the new operators to document image analysis are also provided. P. Maragos was supported by the NSF under Grant MIPS-86-58150 with matching funds from DEC, Sun, and Xerox, and in part by the ARO under Grant DAALO3-86-K-0171 to the Center for Intelligent Control Systems. 1