Identifying salient circular arcs on curves

Abstract This paper addresses the problem of identifying perceptually significant segments on general planar curvilinear contours. Lacking a formal definition for what constitutes perceptual salience, we develop subjective criteria for evaluating candidate segmentations and formulate corresponding objective measures. An algorithm following these criteria delivers segments with following properties: (1) each segment is well approximated by a circular arc; (2) each pair of segments describe different sections of the contour; and (3) the curve either terminates or changes in orientation and/ or curvature beyond each end of every segment. The result is a description of the contour at multiple scales in terms of circular arcs that may overlap one another.