Block decomposition and segmentation for fast Hough transform evaluation

The decomposition of binary images using rectangular blocks of foreground pixels as primitives is considered. Based on this type of decomposition, a fast method for evaluating the Hough transform is introduced. A complexity analysis of the proposed block Hough transform algorithm sets constraints on the complexity of algorithms used for block decomposition, so that the total decomposition and Hough transform application time is much less than the time consumed by the usual point Hough transform. Using this analysis, we propose two algorithms for the decomposition and segmentation of binary images into rectangular blocks. A combination of these methods leads to significant acceleration in the identification of linear features, which is demonstrated in various image processing experiments. ( 1999 Pattern Recognition Society. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.