A New Variational Level Set Evolving Algorithm for Image Segmentation

Level set methods are the numerical techniques for tracking interfaces and shapes. They have been successfully used in image segmentation. A new variational level set evolving algorithm without re-initialization is presented in this paper. It consists of an internal energy term that penalizes deviations of the level set function from a signed distance function, and an external energy term that drives the motion of the zero level set toward the desired image feature. This algorithm can be easily implemented using a simple finite difference scheme. Meanwhile, not only can the initial contour can be shown anywhere in the image, but the interior contours can also be automatically detected.