Image Processing
Chapter(3)
Part 1:Relationships between pixels
Prepared by: Hanan Hardan
Hanan Hardan 1
Ch3: Some basic Relationships between pixels
Neighbors of a pixel
some of the points in ND (p) and N8 (p) fall outside the
image if (x,y) is on the border of the image.
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Connectivity
Two pixels are connected if:
– They are neighbors (i.e. adjacent in some
sense -- e.g. N4(p), N8(p), …)
– Their gray levels satisfy a specified criterion
of similarity (e.g. equality, …)
• V is the set of gray-level values used to
define adjacency (e.g. V={1} for adjacency
of pixels of value 1)
هذا يعتمد على مقدار القرب الذي تاخذه بعين االعتبار
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Adjacency and Connectivity
Let V: a set of intensity values used to
define adjacency and connectivity.
In a binary image, V = {1}, if we are
referring to adjacency of pixels with value
1.
In a gray-scale image, the idea is the
same, but V typically contains more
elements, for example, V = {180, 181,
182, …, 200}
If the possible intensity values 0 – 255, V
set can be any subset of these 256 values
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Ch3: Some basic Relationships between pixels
Adjacency
V: set of gray level values (L), (V is a subset of L.)
3 types of adjacency
4- adjacency: 2 pixels p and q with values from V are 4- adjacent if q is in the
set N4(p)
8- adjacency: 2 pixels p and q with values from V are 8- adjacent if q is in the
set N8(p)
m- adjacency: 2 pixels p and q with values from V are m-adjacent if
1. q is in N4(p), or
2. q is in ND(p) and the set N4(p) ∩ N4(q) has no pixels whose
values are from V
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Types of Adjacency
In this example, we can note that to connect
between two pixels (finding a path between
two pixels):
In 8-adjacency way, you can find multiple
paths between two pixels
While, in m-adjacency, you can find only
one path between two pixels
So, m-adjacency has eliminated the multiple
path connection that has been generated by
the 8-adjacency.
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Types of Adjacency
Two subsets S1 and S2 are adjacent, if
some pixel in S1 is adjacent to some pixel
in S2. Adjacent means, either 4-, 8- or m-
adjacency.
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Ch3: Some basic Relationships between pixels
A digital path
A digital path from pixel p with coordinates
(x,y) to pixel q with coordinates (s,t) is a
sequence of distinct pixels with coordinates
(x0,y0), (x1,y1), …, (xn,yn), where
(x0,y0)= (x,y) and (xn,yn)=(s,t), and
pixels (xi,yi) and (xi-1,yi-1) are adjacent
for 1 ≤ i ≤ n.
n is the length of the path
If (x0,y0) = (xn, yn), the path is closed.
We can specify 4-, 8- or m-paths depending
on the type of adjacency specified.
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A Digital Path
Return to the previous example:
In figure (b) the paths between the top
right and bottom right pixels are 8-paths.
And the path between the same 2 pixels in
figure (c) is m-path
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Ch3: Some basic Relationships between pixels
Connectivity
S: a subset of pixels in an image.
Two pixels p and q are said to be
connected in S if there exists a path
between them consisting entirely of
pixels in S.
For any pixel p in S, the set of pixels
that are connected to it in S is called a
connected component of S.
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Ch3: Some basic Relationships between pixels
Regions and boundaries
Region
Let R be a subset of pixels in an image, we call R a
region of the image if R is a connected set.
000000
010010
011010
010110
000000
Boundary
The boundary (also called border or contour)
of a region R is the set of pixels in the region
that have one or more neighbors that are not
in R.
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Region and Boundary
If R happens to be an entire image, then its
boundary is defined as the set of pixels in the
first and last rows and columns in the image.
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Foreground and background
Suppose that the image contains K disjoint
regions Rk none of which touches the
image border .
Ru : the union of all regions .
(Ru)c : is the complement .
so Ru is called foreground , and (Ru)c : is
the background .
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Ch3: Some basic Relationships between pixels
Distance measures
If we have 3 pixels: p,q,z respectively
p with (x,y)
q with (s,t)
z with (v,w)
Then:
A. D (p,q) ≥ 0 ,D(p,q) = 0 iff p = q
B. D(p,q) = D(q,p)
C. D(p,z) ≤ D(p,q) + D(q,z)
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Ch3: Some basic Relationships between pixels
Distance measures
Euclidean distance between p and q:
De(p,q) = [(x-s)2 + (y-t)2]1/2
D4 distance (also called city-block
distance):
D4(p,q) = |x-s| + |y-t|
D8 distance (also called chessboard
distance) :
D8(p,q) = max (|x-s| , |y-t|)
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Distance measures
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Example:
Compute the distance between the two pixels
using the three distances : 1 2 3
q:(1,1)
1 q
P: (2,2)
2 p
Euclidian distance : ((1-2)2+(1-2)2)1/2 = sqrt(2).
3
D4(City Block distance): |1-2| +|1-2| =2
D8(chessboard distance ) : max(|1-2|,|1-2|)= 1
(because it is one of the 8-neighbors )
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Distance measures
Example :
Use the city block distance to prove 4-
neighbors ? 1 2 3
1
d
Pixel A : | 2-2| + |1-2| = 1 2
a p c
Pixel B: | 3-2|+|2-2|= 1
3 b
Pixel C: |2-2|+|2-3| =1
Pixel D: |1-2| + |2-2| = 1
Now as a homework try the chessboard
distance to proof the 8- neighbors!!!!
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Distance Measures
Example:
The pixels with distance D4 ≤ 2 from (x,y)
form the following contours of constant
distance.
The pixels with D4 = 1 are
the 4-neighbors of (x,y)
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Distance Measures
Example:
D8 distance ≤ 2 from (x,y) form the
following contours of constant distance.
D8 = 1 are the 8-neighbors of (x,y)
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Distance Measures
Dm distance:
is defined as the shortest m-path between
the points.
In this case, the distance between two
pixels will depend on the values of the
pixels along the path, as well as the
values of their neighbors.
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Distance Measures
Example:
Consider the following arrangement of
pixels and assume that p, p2, and p4 have
value 1 and that p1 and p3 can have a
value of 0 or 1
Suppose that we consider
the adjacency of pixels
values 1 (i.e. V = {1})
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Distance Measures
Cont. Example:
Now, to compute the Dm between points p
and p4
Here we have 4 cases:
Case1: If p1 =0 and p3 = 0
The length of the shortest m-path
(the Dm distance) is 2 (p, p2, p4)
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Distance Measures
Cont. Example:
Case2: If p1 =1 and p3 = 0
then, the length of the shortest
path will be 3 (p, p1, p2, p4)
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Distance Measures
Cont. Example:
Case3: If p1 =0 and p3 = 1
The same applies here, and the shortest –
m-path will be 3 (p, p2, p3, p4)
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Distance Measures
Cont. Example:
Case4: If p1 =1 and p3 = 1
The length of the shortest m-path will be 4
(p, p1 , p2, p3, p4)
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