Abstract
This paper describes a parallel neural net architecture for efficient and
robust visual selection in generic gray level images. Objects are represented
through flexible star type planar arrangements of binary local features,
which are in turn star type planar arrangements of oriented edges.
Candidate locations are detected over a range of scales and other deformations,
using a generalized Hough transform. The flexibility of the arrangements
provides the required invariance. Training involves selecting a
small number of stable local features, from a predefined pool, which are well
localized on registered examples of the object. Training therefore requires
only small data sets. The parallel architecture is constructed so that the
Hough transform associated with any object can be implemented without
creating or modifying any connections. The different object representations
are learned and stored in a central module. When one of these representations
is evoked, it ‘primes’ the appropriate layers in the network so that
the corresponding Hough transform is computed. Analogies between the
different layers in the network and those in the visual system are discussed,
furthermore the model can be used to explain certain experiments on visual
selection reported in the literature.