Histogram clustering for unsupervised image segmentation

Abstract

This paper introduces a novel statistical mixture model for probabilistic grouping of distributional (histogram) data. Adopting the Bayesian framework, we propose to perform annealed maximum a posteriori estimation to compute optimal clustering solutions. In order to accelerate the optimization process, an efficient multiscale formulation is developed. We present a prototypical application of this method for the unsupervised segmentation of textured images based on local distributions of Gabor coefficients. Benchmark results indicate superior performance compared to K-means clustering and proximity-based algorithms.