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    Otsu Thresholding Explained: Hide Menu

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    Otsu thresholding is a method for automatic image thresholding that finds the threshold to minimize the intra-class variance of the black and white pixels. It works by calculating the variance between each possible threshold and foreground/background pixels and choosing the threshold with the maximum variance between classes. The algorithm is explained using a sample 6x6 image and histogram. A faster Java implementation is also provided that calculates the between-class variance instead of within-class variance to find the optimal threshold in fewer computations. Examples show Otsu thresholding works well on images with bi-modal histograms containing two distinct regions.

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    Otsu Thresholding Explained: Hide Menu

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    sulorken
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    Otsu thresholding is a method for automatic image thresholding that finds the threshold to minimize the intra-class variance of the black and white pixels. It works by calculating the variance between each possible threshold and foreground/background pixels and choosing the threshold with the maximum variance between classes. The algorithm is explained using a sample 6x6 image and histogram. A faster Java implementation is also provided that calculates the between-class variance instead of within-class variance to find the optimal threshold in fewer computations. Examples show Otsu thresholding works well on images with bi-modal histograms containing two distinct regions.

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    09_Greensted_10

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    Otsu thresholding is a method for automatic image thresholding that finds the threshold to minimize the intra-class variance of the black and white pixels. It works by calculating the variance between each possible threshold and foreground/background pixels and choosing the threshold with the maximum variance between classes. The algorithm is explained using a sample 6x6 image and histogram. A faster Java implementation is also provided that calculates the between-class variance instead of within-class variance to find the optimal threshold in fewer computations. Examples show Otsu thresholding works well on images with bi-modal histograms containing two distinct regions.

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    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    68 views4 pages

    Otsu Thresholding Explained: Hide Menu

    Uploaded by

    sulorken
    Otsu thresholding is a method for automatic image thresholding that finds the threshold to minimize the intra-class variance of the black and white pixels. It works by calculating the variance between each possible threshold and foreground/background pixels and choosing the threshold with the maximum variance between classes. The algorithm is explained using a sample 6x6 image and histogram. A faster Java implementation is also provided that calculates the between-class variance instead of within-class variance to find the optimal threshold in fewer computations. Examples show Otsu thresholding works well on images with bi-modal histograms containing two distinct regions.

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    Otsu Thresholding - The Lab Book Pages http://www.labbookpages.co.uk/software/imgProc/otsuThreshold.

    html

    Dr. Andrew Greensted


    Last modified: 17th June 2010
    Hide Menu
    An online collection of electronics information

    You are here: Software » Image Processing

    Converting a greyscale image to monochrome is a common image processing task. Otsu's method, named after its
    inventor Nobuyuki Otsu, is one of many binarization algorithms. This page describes how the algorithm works and
    provides a Java implementation, which can be easily ported to other languages. If you are in a hurry, jump to the code.

    Otsu Thresholding Explained


    A Faster Approach
    Java Implementation
    Examples

    Many thanks to Eric Moyer who spotted a potential overflow when two integers are multiplied in the variance calculation. The
    example code has been updated with the integers cast to floats during the calculation.

    Otsu Thresholding Explained


    Otsu's thresholding method involves iterating through all the possible threshold values and calculating a measure of spread for the
    pixel levels each side of the threshold, i.e. the pixels that either fall in foreground or background. The aim is to find the threshold
    value where the sum of foreground and background spreads is at its minimum.
    The algorithm will be demonstrated using the simple 6x6 image shown below. The histogram for the image is shown next to it. To
    simplify the explanation, only 6 greyscale levels are used.

    A 6-level greyscale image and its histogram

    The calculations for finding the foreground and background variances (the measure of spread) for a single threshold are now shown.
    In this case the threshold value is 3.

    1 -> 4 20.07.2010 11:45


    Otsu Thresholding - The Lab Book Pages http://www.labbookpages.co.uk/software/imgProc/otsuThreshold.html

    The next step is to calculate the 'Within-Class Variance'. This is simply the sum of the two variances multiplied by their associated
    weights.

    This final value is the 'sum of weighted variances' for the threshold value 3. This same calculation needs to be performed for all the
    possible threshold values 0 to 5. The table below shows the results for these calculations. The highlighted column shows the values
    for the threshold calculated above.

    Threshold T=0 T=1 T=2 T=3 T=4 T=5

    Weight,
    Wb = 0 Wb = 0.222 Wb = 0.4167 Wb = 0.4722 Wb = 0.6389 Wb = 0.8889
    Background
    Mean, Mb = 0 Mb = 0 Mb = 0.4667 Mb = 0.6471 Mb = 1.2609 Mb = 2.0313
    Background
    Variance,
    σ2 b = 0 σ2b = 0 σ2b = 0.2489 σ2b = 0.4637 σ2b = 1.4102 σ2b = 2.5303
    Background
    Weight, Wf = 1 Wf = 0.7778 Wf = 0.5833 Wf = 0.5278 Wf = 0.3611 Wf = 0.1111
    Foreground
    Mean, Mf = 2.3611 Mf = 3.0357 Mf = 3.7143 Mf = 3.8947 Mf = 4.3077 Mf = 5.000
    Foreground
    Variance,
    σ2f = 3.1196 σ2f = 1.9639 σ2f = 0.7755 σ2f = 0.5152 σ2f = 0.2130 σ2 f = 0
    Foreground
    Within Class
    σ2W = 3.1196 σ2W = 1.5268 σ2W = 0.5561 σ2W = 0.4909 σ2W = 0.9779 σ2W = 2.2491
    Variance

    It can be seen that for the threshold equal to 3, as well as being used for the example, also has the lowest sum of weighted
    variances. Therefore, this is the final selected threshold. All pixels with a level less than 3 are background, all those with a level equal
    to or greater than 3 are foreground. As the images in the table show, this threshold works well.

    Result of Otsu's Method

    2 -> 4 20.07.2010 11:45


    Otsu Thresholding - The Lab Book Pages http://www.labbookpages.co.uk/software/imgProc/otsuThreshold.html

    This approach for calculating Otsu's threshold is useful for explaining the theory, but it is computationally intensive, especially if you
    have a full 8-bit greyscale. The next section shows a faster method of performing the calculations which is much more appropriate
    for implementations.

    A Faster Approach
    By a bit of manipulation, you can calculate what is called the between class variance, which is far quicker to calculate. Luckily, the
    threshold with the maximum between class variance also has the minimum within class variance. So it can also be used for finding
    the best threshold and therefore due to being simpler is a much better approach to use.

    The table below shows the different variances for each threshold value.

    Threshold T=0 T=1 T=2 T=3 T=4 T=5

    σ2 W = σ2W = σ2 W = σ2W = σ2 W = σ2W =


    Within Class Variance
    3.1196 1.5268 0.5561 0.4909 0.9779 2.2491
    Between Class σ2B = σ2 B = σ2B = σ2 B = σ2B =
    σ2B = 0
    Variance 1.5928 2.5635 2.6287 2.1417 0.8705

    Java Implementation
    A simple demo program that uses the Otsu threshold is linked to below.

    Otsu Threshold Demo

    The important part of the algorithm is shown here. The input is an array of bytes, srcData that stores the greyscale image.
    File Excerpt: OtsuThresholder.java
    // Calculate histogram
    int ptr = 0;
    while (ptr < srcData.length) {
    int h = 0xFF & srcData[ptr];
    histData[h] ++;
    ptr ++;
    }

    // Total number of pixels


    int total = srcData.length;

    float sum = 0;
    for (int t=0 ; t<256 ; t++) sum += t * histData[t];

    float sumB = 0;
    int wB = 0;
    int wF = 0;

    float varMax = 0;
    threshold = 0;

    for (int t=0 ; t<256 ; t++) {


    wB += histData[t]; // Weight Background
    if (wB == 0) continue;

    wF = total - wB; // Weight Foreground


    if (wF == 0) break;

    sumB += (float) (t * histData[t]);

    float mB = sumB / wB; // Mean Background


    float mF = (sum - sumB) / wF; // Mean Foreground

    // Calculate Between Class Variance


    float varBetween = (float)wB * (float)wF * (mB - mF) * (mB - mF);

    // Check if new maximum found


    if (varBetween > varMax) {
    varMax = varBetween;
    threshold = t;
    }
    }

    Examples
    Here are a number of examples of the Otsu Method in use. It works well with images that have a bi-modal histogram (those with two

    3 -> 4 20.07.2010 11:45


    Otsu Thresholding - The Lab Book Pages http://www.labbookpages.co.uk/software/imgProc/otsuThreshold.html

    distinct regions).

    Greyscale Image Binary Image Histogram

    4 -> 4 20.07.2010 11:45

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