A thinning algorithm for discrete binary images

✍ Scribed by Theo Pavlidis

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1980
• Weight: 891 KB
• Volume: 13
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0146-664X
• DOI: 10.1016/s0146-664x(80)80037-2

✦ Synopsis

The paper discusses thirming algorithms and introduces a characterization of skeletal pixels in terms of how many arcs of the boundary pass through a pixel. A new algorithm is proposed which proceeds by peeling off successive contours of the set to be thinned while identifying pixels where disjoint parts of the boundary have been mapped. The union of these pixels (plus a few others with similar properties) forms the skeleton. The algorithm can be implemented in such a way as to have time complexity which is a linear function of the area.