Abstract

A novel method of texture characterization, called intersize correlation of grain occurrences, is proposed. This idea is based on a model of texture description, called �gPrimitive, Grain and Point Configuration (PGPC)�h texture model. This model assumes that a texture is composed by arranging grains, which are locally extended objects appearing actually in a texture. The grains in the PGPC model are regarded to be derived from one primitive by the homothetic magnification, and the size of grain is defined as the degree of magnification. The intersize correlation is the correlation between the occurrences of grains of different sizes located closely to each other. This is introduced since homothetic grains of different sizes often appear repetitively and the appearance of smaller grains depends on that of larger grains. Estimation methods of the primitive and grain arrangement of a texture are presented. A method of estimating the intersize correlation and its application to texture regeneration are presented with experimental results. The regenerated texture has the same intersize correlation as the original while the global arrangement of large-size grains are completely different. Although the appearance of the resultant texture is globally different from the original, the semi-local appearance in the neighborhood of each largesize grain is preserved.