Fuzzy C-Means clustering through SSIM and patch for image segmentation

Abstract

In this study, we propose a new robust Fuzzy C-Means (FCM) algorithm for image segmentation called the patch-based fuzzy local similarity c-means (PFLSCM). First of all, the weighted sum distance of image patch is employed to determine the distance of the image pixel and the cluster center, where the comprehensive image features are considered instead of a simple level of brightness (gray value). Second, the structural similarity (SSIM) index takes into account similar degrees of luminance, contrast, and structure of image. The DSSIM (distance for structural similarity) metric is developed on a basis of SSIM in order to characterize the distance between two pixels in the whole image. Next a new similarity measure is proposed. Furthermore, a new fuzzy coefficient is proposed via the new similarity measure together with the weighted sum distance of image patch, and then the PFLSCM algorithm is put forward based on the idea of image patch and this coefficient. Through a collection of experimental studies using synthetic and publicly available images, we demonstrate that the proposed PFLSCM algorithm achieves improved segmentation performance in comparison with the results produced by some related FCM-based algorithms.