Shape tracking and production using Hidden Markov Models

This paper is concerned with an application of Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) to the generation of shape boundaries from image features. In the proposed model, shape classes are defined by sequences of "shape states" each of which has a probability distribution of expected image feature types (feature "symbols"). The tracking procedure uses a generalization of the well-known Viterbi method by replacing its search by a type of "beam-search" so allowing the procedure, at any time, to consider less likely features (symbols) as well the search for an instantiable optimal state sequences. We have evaluated the model's performance on a variety of image and shape types and have also developed a new performance measure defined by an expected Hamming distance between predicted and observed symbol sequences. Results point to the use of this type of model for the depiction of shape boundaries when it is necessary to have accurate boundary annotations as, for example, occurs in Cartography.