Texture and Structure Two-view Classification of Images

Abstract: Textural and structural features can be regraded as "two-view" feature sets. Inspired by the recent progress in multi-view learning, we propose a novel two-view classification method that models each feature set and optimizes the process of merging these views efficiently. Examples of implementation of this approach in classification of real-world data are presented, with special emphasis on medical images. We firstly decompose fully-textured images into two layers of representation, corresponding to natural stochastic textures (NST) and structural layer, respectively. The structural, edge-and-curve-type, information is mostly represented by the local spatial phase, whereas, the pure NST has random phase and is characterized by Gaussianity and self-similarity. Therefore, the NST is modeled by the 2D self-similar process, fractional Brownian motion (fBm). The Hurst parameter, characteristic of fBm, specifies the roughness or irregularity of the texture. This leads us to its estimation and implementation along other features extracted from the structure layer, to build the "two-view" features sets used in our classification scheme. A shallow neural net (NN) is exploited to execute the process of merging these feature sets, in a straightforward and efficient manner.