Cooperative Object Segmentation and Recognition via Restricted Boltzmann Machine

The authors present a model where object segmentation and recognition are connected with a bottom-up inference and a top-down generation pathway so that the two models can communicate and cooperate with each other. They are integrated into an energy function and optimised at the same time. To achieve the cooperation, objects are modelled in two aspects: shape and appearance, so that the recognition result could feedback to the segmentation process. Restricted Boltzmann machine is employed to learn the shapes of the objects with corresponding labels and perform object recognition based on the object shapes. Another pathway involved with the appearance knowledge of the objects is also established so that both the shape and appearance information will guide and constrain the evolution of the segmentation developing towards the region of interest, which will further facilitate the performances of both tasks. Experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model.