Application Centric and Algorithm Centric Classification of Image Segmentation Algorithms

Image segmentation is critical for many computer vision and information retrieval systems. Although lot of advancements has been made in this area, but there is no standard technique for selecting a segmentation algorithm to use in a particular application. Two different segmentation algorithms will produce completely different segmentation results when applied to same image, which in turn affects the performance of the application. The diverse requirements of systems that use segmentation have led to the development of segmentation algorithms that vary widely in both algorithmic approach, and the quality and nature of the segmentation produced. The objective of this paper is to categorize the different segmentation algorithms according to the characteristics of algorithms and according to the characteristics of the application for which they are used.