Image classification using GMM with context information and with a solution of singular covariance problem

Summary form only given. Taking the average of feature vectors from the center and neighboring blocks to a block being coded is proposed as a method of considering context information in block classification. The algorithm has the advantage of low complexity. Gauss mixture models (GMM) are adopted to extract features from image blocks, including an algorithm to handle singular covariance matrices. Two different distortion measures are used; namely log-likelihood quadratic discrimination analysis (QDA) and a dimension-compensated distortion measure defined by dividing the QDA distortion by the corresponding cell's dimension. Aerial images were used to train and test. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm not only improves the classification performance, but also provides a solution to the singular covariance problem.