Geodesic Colour Active Contour Resistent to Weak Edges and Noise

The standard geometric or geodesic active contour is a powerful segmentation method, yet it is susceptible to weak edges and image noise. We propose a new region-aided, geometric, colour active contour that integrates gradient flow forces with region constraints. These constraints are composed of image region vector flow forces obtained through the diffusion of the region segmentation map. The extra region force gives the snake a global view of the boundary information within the image which, along with the local gradient flow, helps detect fuzzy boundaries and overcome noisy regions. The partial differential equation (PDE) resulting from this integration of image gradient flow and diffused region flow is implemented using the level set approach.