A hierarchical approach to feature extraction and grouping

In this paper, the problem of extracting and grouping image features from complex scenes is solved by a hierarchical approach based on two main processes: voting and clustering. Voting is performed for assigning a score to both global and local features. The score represents the evidential support provided by input data for the presence of a feature. Clustering aims at individuating a minimal set of significant local features by grouping together simpler correlated observations. It is based on a spatial relation between simple observations on a fixed level, i.e., the definition of a distance in an appropriate space. As the multilevel structure of the system implies that input data for an intermediate level are outputs of the lower level, voting can be seen as a functional representation of the "part-of" relation between features at different abstraction levels. The proposed approach has been tested on both synthetic and real images and compared with other existing feature grouping methods.