Level set segmentation with multiple regions

Abstract

The popularity of level sets for segmentation is mainly based on the sound and convenient treatment of regions and their boundaries. Unfortunately, this convenience is so far not known from level set methods when applied to images with more than two regions. This paper introduces a comparatively simple way how to extend active contours to multiple regions keeping the familiar quality of the two-phase case. We further suggest a strategy to determine the optimum number of regions as well as initializations for the contours.