main steps of region splitting and merging segmentation algorithm

Describe the main steps of region splitting and merging segmentation algorithm.

Steps:

1. Split into four disjoint quadrants any region Ri for which Q(Ri) = FALSE.
2. When no further splitting is possible, merge any adjacent regions Rj and Rk for which Q(Rj∪Rk)=TRUE.
3. Stop when no further merging is possible.

Algorithm for successive region splitting

Set ProcessList = IMAGE
Repeat
     Extract the first element of ProcessList
     If the region is uniform then add to RegionList
     Else split the region into 4 sub-regions and add these to ProcessList
Until ( all regions removed from ProcessList)

Algorithm for successive region merging

Put all regions on ProcessList
Repeat
     Extract each region from ProcessList
     Traverse remainder of list to find similar region (homogeneity criterion)
     If they are neighbours then
         merge the regions and recalculate property values;
until (no merges are possible)

Reference