Fuzzy medial axis transformation (FMAT): image representation, skeleton extraction and uncertainty management in computer vision

Abstract

The problem of extraction of medial axis transformation of a gray image with reference to skeletonization, image representation and uncertainty management in a vision system has been addressed. The Fuzzy Medial Axis Transformation (FMAT) of a fuzzy set f is a set of fuzzy disks whose sup is f. Unfortunately, specifying the FMAT sometimes requires more storage space than specifying f itself. The present paper describes some techniques to improve the compact representation of FMAT; thereby making it practically useful to an image for its skeleton extraction and compact representation, for shape analysis and template matching, for representation and retrieval, for uncertainty management in recognition and for creating new images of various poses. The algorithms involve reduction of redundancy in FMAT, its approximation, and reduction of the searching spaces for its computation. Computational aspects for the convenience of writing an efficient program have been described. Some applications of the FMAT have also been mentioned.