PRIP - TR - 81 July 16 , 2003 Hierarchical Image Partitioning with Dual Graph Contraction 1 Yll

We present a hierarchical partitioning of images using a pairwise similarity function on a graph-based representation of an image. This function measures the difference along the boundary of two components relative to a measure of differences of the components’ internal differences. This definition tries to encapsulate the intuitive notion of contrast. Two components are merged if there is a low-cost connection between them. Each component’s internal difference is represented by the maximum edge weight of its minimum spanning tree. External differences are the smallest weight of edges connecting components. We use this idea for building a minimum spanning tree to find region borders quickly and effortlessly in a bottom-up way, based on local differences in a specific feature.