Robust lip region segmentation for lip images with complex background

Robust and accurate lip region segmentation is of vital importance for lip image analysis. However, most of the current techniques break down in the presence of mustaches and beards. With mustaches and beards, the background region becomes complex and inhomogeneous. We propose in this paper a novel multi-class, shape-guided FCM (MS-FCM) clustering algorithm to solve this problem. For this new approach, one cluster is set for the object, i.e. the lip region, and a combination of multiple clusters for the background which generally includes the skin region, lip shadow or beards. The proper number of background clusters is derived automatically which maximizes a cluster validity index. A spatial penalty term considering the spatial location information is introduced and incorporated into the objective function such that pixels having similar color but located in different regions can be differentiated. This facilitates the separation of lip and background pixels that otherwise are inseparable due to the similarity in color. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm provides accurate lip-background partition even for the images with complex background features like mustaches and beards. © 2007 Pattern Recognition Society.