Abstract The visibility of outdoor images is usually significantly degraded by haze. Existing dehazing algorithms, such as dark channel prior (DCP) and colour attenuation prior (CAP), have made great progress and are highly effective. However, they all suffer from the problems of dark distortion and detailed information loss. This paper proposes an improved algorithm for single‐image haze removal based on dark channel prior with weighted guided coefficient and union self‐adaptive image enhancement. First, a weighted guided coefficient method with sampling based on guided image filtering is proposed to refine the transmission map efficiently. Second, the k ‐means clustering method is adopted to calibrate the original image into bright and non‐bright colour areas and form a transmission constraint matrix. The constraint matrix is then marked by connected‐component labelling, and small bright regions are eliminated to form an atmospheric light constraint matrix, which can suppress the halo effect and optimize the atmospheric light. Finally, an adaptive linear contrast enhancement algorithm with a union score is proposed to optimize restored images. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can overcome the problems of image distortion and detailed information loss and is more efficient than conventional dehazing algorithms.

This article addresses the connected-component labeling problem which consists in assigning a unique label to all pixels of each connected component (i.e., each object) in a binary image. Connected-component labeling is indispensable for distinguishing different objects in a binary image, and prerequisite for image analysis and object recognition in the image. Therefore, connected-component labeling is one of the most important processes for image analysis, image understanding, pattern recognition, and computer vision. In this article, we review state-of-the-art connected-component labeling algorithms presented in the last decade, explain the main strategies and algorithms, present their pseudo codes, and give experimental results in order to bring order of the algorithms. Moreover, we will also discuss parallel implementation and hardware implementation of connected-component labeling algorithms, extension for n-D images, and try to indicate future work on the connected component labeling problem.

Labeling connected components and calculating the Euler number in a binary image are two fundamental processes for computer vision and pattern recognition. This paper presents an ingenious method for identifying a hole in a binary image in the first scan of connected-component labeling. Our algorithm can perform connected component labeling and Euler number computing simultaneously, and it can also calculate the connected component (object) number and the hole number efficiently. The additional cost for calculating the hole number is only O(H) , where H is the hole number in the image. Our algorithm can be implemented almost in the same way as a conventional equivalent-label-set-based connected-component labeling algorithm. We prove the correctness of our algorithm and use experimental results for various kinds of images to demonstrate the power of our algorithm.

This paper proposes a new approach to label-equivalence-based two-scan connected-component labeling. We use two strategies to reduce repeated checking-pixel work for labeling. The first is that instead of scanning image lines one by one and processing pixels one by one as in most conventional two-scan labeling algorithms, we scan image lines alternate lines, and process pixels two by two. The second is that by considering the transition of the configuration of pixels in the mask, we utilize the information detected in processing the last two pixels as much as possible for processing the current two pixels. With our method, any pixel checked in the mask when processing the current two pixels will not be checked again when the next two pixels are processed; thus, the efficiency of labeling can be improved. Experimental results demonstrated that our method was more efficient than all conventional labeling algorithms.

In this paper, we proposed a fuzzy approach to segmenting objects using spatial location information from depth image. The optical and location information are combined by proposed fuzzy rules tale which base on K-means clustering. The segmentation of our framework is an efficient graph-based image segmentation algorithm. This framework combined obvious changes in color and physical location to segment reality scenes into uniform regions. The performance of our proposed framework is demonstrated in a series of reality-scene images using experimental data from the Middlebury stereo image data.

Whenever one wants to distinguish, recognize, and/or measure objects (connected components) in binary images, labeling is required. This paper presents two efficient label-equivalence-based connected-component labeling algorithms for 3-D binary images. One is voxel based and the other is run based. For the voxel-based one, we present an efficient method of deciding the order for checking voxels in the mask. For the run-based one, instead of assigning each foreground voxel, we assign each run a provisional label. Moreover, we use run data to label foreground voxels without scanning any background voxel in the second scan. Experimental results have demonstrated that our voxel-based algorithm is efficient for 3-D binary images with complicated connected components, that our run-based one is efficient for those with simple connected components, and that both are much more efficient than conventional 3-D labeling algorithms.

This paper presents a run- and label-equivalence-based one-and-a-half-scan algorithm for labeling connected components in a binary image. Major differences between our algorithm and conventional label-equivalence-based algorithms are: (1) all conventional label-equivalence-based algorithms scan all pixels in the given image at least twice, whereas our algorithm scans background pixels once and object pixels twice; (2) all conventional label-equivalence-based algorithms assign a provisional label to each object pixel in the first scan and relabel the pixel in the later scan(s), whereas our algorithm assigns a provisional label to each run in the first scan, and after resolving label equivalences between runs, by using the recorded run data, it assigns each object pixel a final label directly. That is, in our algorithm, relabeling of object pixels is not necessary any more. Experimental results demonstrated that our algorithm is highly efficient on images with many long runs and/or a small number of object pixels. Moreover, our algorithm is directly applicable to run-length-encoded images, and we can obtain contours of connected components efficiently.

We present an efficient run-based two-scan algorithm for labeling connected components in a binary image. Unlike conventional label-equivalence-based algorithms, which resolve label equivalences between provisional labels, our algorithm resolves label equivalences between provisional label sets. At any time, all provisional labels that are assigned to a connected component are combined in a set, and the smallest label is used as the representative label. The corresponding relation of a provisional label and its representative label is recorded in a table. Whenever different connected components are found to be connected, all provisional label sets concerned with these connected components are merged together, and the smallest provisional label is taken as the representative label. When the first scan is finished, all provisional labels that were assigned to each connected component in the given image will have a unique representative label. During the second scan, we need only to replace each provisional label by its representative label. Experimental results on various types of images demonstrate that our algorithm outperforms all conventional labeling algorithms.

This paper presents a fast linear-time two-scan algorithm for labeling connected components in binary images. In the first scan, provisional labels are assigned to object pixels in the same way as do most conventional labeling algorithms. To improve efficiency, we use corresponding equivalent label sets and a representative label table for resolving label equivalences. When the first scan is finished, all provisional labels belonging to each connected component in a given image are combined in the corresponding equivalent label set, and they are assigned a unique representative label with the representative label table. During the second scan, by use of the completed representative label table, all provisional labels belonging to each connected component are replaced by their representative label. Our algorithm is very simple in principle, and is easy to implement. Experimental results demonstrated that the efficiency of our algorithm is superior to that of other labeling algorithms.

Some research has been conducted on applying coloration of painterly art to a photographic image. Most of the proposed methods use some absolute criteria, e.g., the nearest distance in CIEL*a*b* color space, converting a color to another uniquely. However, we think that basic color transfer depends on the subjective feelings and sensitivities of users themselves. We describe an algorithm where every user can produce an original color-transformed image resulting from two inputs, which are a target photograph and a reference painting. Our algorithm is based on interactive evolutionary computation (IEC) and can produce a variety of color-transformed images semi-automatically. Some color-transformed examples similar to reference paintings are illustrated, and the searching efficiency of our method is discussed.

In this paper, three refinements on I-SATCHMO are presented. I-SATCHMO is an application of the backjumping strategy for SATCHMO, which is a model generation theorem prover and is formalized as positive unit hyperresolution tableaux, to pruning away redundant branches. However, I-SATCHMO does not completely implement backjumping. Since marking an atom as useful whenever it contributes to a forward chaining reasoning, I-SATCHMO suffers from two problems. One is that the atoms that only contribute to irrelevant forward chaining reasoning are marked as ‘useful’. The other is that the atoms that are only useful for the sibling branches of the branch under consideration are taken as ‘useful’ for the branch. In both cases, I-SATCHMO might take some irrelevant violated clauses as ‘relevant’ and therefore use them to expand the search space. Moreover, not utilizing the partial reasoning results derivable during reasoning, I-SATCHMO might make repeated reasoning. Addressing these problems, our extension, called R-SATCHMO, refines I-SATCHMO in three ways: (1) only making the atoms that contribute to relevant forward chaining reasoning as useful; (2) it distinguishes between the set of useful atoms in different branches of a proof tree; (3) it summarizes the derived refutations as nogoods and utilizes them to avoid repeated reasoning. Hence, R-SATCHMO always searches a subspace of that which I-SATCHMO does. R-SATCHMO is optimal in the sense that during reasoning no same complete subtree is constructed in a proof tree. Moreover, R-SATCHMO can be used to generate minimal unsatisfiable subsets of an unsatisfiable set of clauses, and the strategies proposed in R-SATCHMO are applicable to minimal model generation procedures. We describe our refinements, present our implementation, prove the correctness, provide examples to demonstrate the power of our refinements, and discuss the application to minimal model generation.