Patent ID: 6973212

Claim:
A method of segmenting one or more objects from one or more backgrounds in an image, the method comprising: defining a plurality of image nodes, each said image node corresponding to one or more pixels of said image; connecting pairs of adjacent nodes with n-links, each said n-link weighted with an n-link cost; defining a source node; defining a sink node; defining one or more object seeds, said object seeds corresponding to image nodes within said objects; defining one or more background seeds, said background seeds corresponding to image nodes within said backgrounds; connecting said source node with each said object seed with a t-link; connecting said sink node with each said background seed with a t-link; wherein each said t-link is weighted with a t-link cost, wherein said t-link cost between the source and the object seeds and between the sink and the background seeds is infinity; and calculating a segmentation cut having the smallest total cost of all cuts separating said source from said sink, wherein said total cost of each said cut is defined as the sum of the costs of all said n-links and t-links that each said cut severs.