Abstract
Local binarization methods deal with the separation of foreground objects (textual content) and background noise (non-text) specifically at the pixel level. This is a much-explored field in the domain of documents image-processing that tends to separate the textual content from a degraded document. Since three decades, many local binarization methods have been developed to binarize documents images suffering from severe deteriorations. This paper presents a review of local binarization methods that are developed based on Niblack’s binarization method (NBM, developed in 1986) only. Further, this paper is a review of local binarization methods having more or less modifications to the original Niblack’s method, depending on the requirements of their model and the processed output. The modifications to NBM can be seen in various applications, such as deteriorated documents image binarization, manuscripts restoration, finding texts in video frames, revealing engraved wooden stamps, vehicle license plate number recognition, stained cytology nuclei detection and product barcodes reading. However, there could be a possibility of other applications using NBM with modifications based on the input images and the applications’ requirements.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aghdasi F, Ndungo H (2004) Automatic licence plate recognition system. Proc AFRICON Conf Afr 1:45–50
Alginahi Y (2010) Preprocessing techniques in character recognition. In: Minoru Mori (ed) Character recognition. ISBN: 978-953-307-105-3, InTech. doi:10.5772/9776
Athimethphat M (2011) A review on global binarization algorithms for degraded document images. AU J.T. 14:188–195
Badekas E, Nikolaou N, Papamarkos N (2006) Text binarization in color documents. Int J Imaging Syst Technol 16:262–274
Banerjee P, Bhattacharya U, Chaudhuri BB (2014) Automatic detection of handwritten texts from video frames of lectures. In: Proceedings of the IEEE international conference on frontiers in handwriting recognition, ICFRH, pp 627–632
Boiangiu CA, Olteanu A, Stefanescu A, Rosner D, Tapus N, Andreica M (2011) Local thresholding algorithm based on variable window size statistics. In: Proceedings of the international conference on control systems and computer science, pp 647–652
Bradley D, Roth G (2007) Adaptive thresholding using the integral image. J Graph Tools 12:13–21
Bukhari SS, Shafait F, Breuel MT (2009) Foreground-background regions guided binarization of camera-captured document images. In: Proceedings of the international workshop on camera based document analysis recognition, pp 18–25
Carabias DM (2012) Analysis of image thresholding methods for their application to augmented reality environments. Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Thesis
Chaki N, Shaikh SH, Saeed K (2014) A comprehensive survey on image binarization techniques. Exploring image binarization techniques. Stud Comput Intell 560:5–15
Chamchong R, Fung CC (2009) Comparing background elimination approaches for processing of ancient thai manuscipts on palm leaves. Proc Intl Conf Mach Learn Cybern 6:3436–3441
Deepa ST, Victor SP (2012) A weighted hybrid thresholding approach for text binarization. Int J Comput Appl 52:41–43
Feng ML, Tan YP (2004) Contrast adaptive binarization of low quality document images. IEICE Electron Exp 1:501–506
Halabi YS, Sasa Z, Hamdan F, Yousef KH (2009) Modeling adaptive degraded document image binarization and optical character system. Eur J Sci Res 28:14–32
He J, Do QDM, Downton AC, Kim JH (2005) A comparison of binarization methods for historical archive documents. Proc Int Conf Doc Anal Recognit 1:538–542
Hennecke ME, Schneider W, Hoppe C (2012) Efficient, robust license plate detection—Niblack revisited. ADFA 1, Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Huang X (2014) Automatic license plate detection based on colour gradient map. Comput Model New Tech 18:393–397
Khurshid K, Siddiqi I, Faure C, Vincent N (2009) Comparison of Niblack inspired binarization methods for ancient documents. In: IS&T/SPIE Proceedings, 72470U–72470U
Kinoshita T, Mitamura Y, Mori T, Akaiwa K, Semba K, Egawa E, Mori J, Sonoda S, Sakamoto S (2016) Changes in choroidal structures in eyes with chronic central serous chorioretinopathy after half-dose photodynamic therapy. PLoS ONE 11:1–15
Korzynska A, Roszkowiak L, Lopez C, Bosch R, Witkowski L, Lejeune M (2013) Validation of various adaptive threshold methods of segmentation applied to follicular lymphoma digital images stained with 3,3’-Diaminobenzidine & Haematoxylin. Diagn Pathol 8:1–21
Krzyzak A, Fevens T, Habibzadeh M, Jelen L (2011) Application of pattern recognition techniques for the analysis of histopathological images. Comput Recogit Syst 95:623–644
Kulyukin V, Kutiyanawala A, Zaman T (2012) Eyes-free barcode detection on smartphones with Niblack’s binarization and support vector machines. Proc Int Conf Image Process Comput Vis Pattern Recognit 1:284–290
Kutiyanawala A, Kulyukin V, Nicholson J (2011) Toward real time eyes-free barcode scanning on smartphones in video mode. In: Proceedings of the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America conference, RESNA
LaTorre A, Alonso-Nanclares L, Muelas S, Pena JM, DeFelipe J (2013) Segmentation of neuronal nuclei based on clump splitting and a two-step binarization of images. Expert Syst Appl 40:6521–6530
Li X, Wang W, Huang Q, Gao W, Qing L (2009) A hybrid text segmentation approach. In: Proceedings of the IEEE international conference on multimedia and expo, ICME, pp 510–513
Liu BC, Xie SJ, Park DS (2016) Finger vein recognition using optimal partitioning uniform rotation invariant LBP descriptor. J Electron Comput Eng 2016:1–10
Liu H, Ding R (2009) Restoring chinese documents images based on text boundary lines. In: Proceedings of the IEEE international conference on systems, man, and cybernetics, pp 571–576
Liu M, Liu Y, Hu H, Nie L (2016b) Genetic algorithm and mathematical morphology based binarization method for strip steel defect image with non-uniform illumination. J Vis Commun Image R 37:70–77
Liu M, Liu Y, Liu Z, Hu H, Fang W (2017) Pooling-based quantitative approach to evaluating binarization algorithms. IEEE Multimed 24:86–92
Liu Q, Jung C, Moon Y (2006) Text segmentation based on stroke filter. In: Proceedings of the annual ACM international conference on multimedia. ACM, pp 129–132
Mandal S, Roy S, Tanna H (2012) A low-cost image analysis technique for seed size determination. Curr Sci 103:1401–1403
Misiak D, Posch S, Lederer M, Reinke C, Huttelmaier S, Moller B (2014) Extraction of protein profiles from primary neurons using active contour models and wavelets. J Neurosci Methods 225:1–12
Mohan A, Poobal S (2017) Crack detection using image processing: a critical review and analysis. Alex Eng J. doi:10.1016/j.aej.2017.01.020
Niblack W (1986) An introduction to digital image processing. Printice Hall, Englewood Cliffs
Nielsen B, Albregtsen F, Danielsen HE (2012) Automatic segmentation of cell nuclei in feulgen-stained histological sections of prostate cancer and quantitative evaluation of segmentation results. Cytom A 81:588–601
Nielsen B, Maddison J, Danielsen H (2011) Optimizing the initialization and convergence of active contours for segmentation of cell nuclei in histological sections. US Patent Appl, 027,433,6A1
Ntirogiannis K, Gatos B, Pratikakis I (2014) A combined approach for the binarization of handwritten document images. Pattern Recogit Letters 35:3–15
Otsu N (1979) A threshold selection method from gray-level histograms. IEEE Trans Syst Man Cybern 9:62–66
Ottaviani E, Pavan A, Bottazzi M, Brunelli E, Caselli F, Guerrero M (1999) A common image processing framework for 2D barcode reading. Proc Int Conf Image Process Appl 2:652–655
Perantonis SJ, Gatos B, Ntzios K, Pratikakis I, Vrettaros I, Drigas A, Emmanouilidis C, Kesidis A, Kalomirakis D (2004) A system for processing and recognition of old Greek manuscripts (The D-SCRIBE Project). In: International conference on applied information and communication, In WEAS
Petitjean C, Dacher JN (2011) A review of segmentation methods in short axis cardiac MR images. Med Image Anal 15:169–84
Phansalkar N, More S, Sabale A, Joshi M (2011) Adaptive local thresholding for detection of nuclei in diversely stained cytology images. In: Proceedings of the IEEE international conference on communication and signal processing, ICCSP, pp 218–222
Rais NB, Hanif MS, Taj IA (2004) Adaptive thresholding technique for document image analysis. In: Proceedings of the international conference on INMIC, pp 61–66
Rebelo A, Fujinaga I, Paszkiewicz F, Marcal ARS, Guedes C, Cardoso JS (2012) Optical music recognition: state-of-the-art and open issues. Int J Multimed Info Retr 1:173–190
Sahoo PK, Soltani S, Wong AKC (1988) A survey of thresholding techniques. Comput Vis Graph Image Process 41:233–260
Saidane Z, Garcia C (2007) Robust binarization for video text recognition. In: Proceedings of the international conference on document analysis and recognition, ICDAR, pp 874–879
Sauvola J, Pietikainen M (2000) Adaptive document image binarization. Pattern Recogit 33:225–236
Saxena LP (2014) An effective binarization method for readability improvement of stain-affected (degraded) palm leaf and other types of manuscripts. Curr Sci 107:489–496
Seulin R, Stolz C, Fofi D, Millon G, Nicolier F (2006) Three-dimensional tools for analysis and conservation of ancient wooden stamps. Imaging Sci J 54:111–121
Sezgin M, Sankur B (2004) Survey over image thresholding techniques and quantitative performance evaluation. J Electron Imaging 13:146–165
Shafait F, Keysers D, Breuel TM (2008) Efficient implementation of local adaptive thresholding techniques using integral images. In: Proceedings of the SPIE 6815, 681510
Singh SS, Singh M (1988) Blood flow analysis through complex microvessels by digital image velocimetry. Curr Sci 75:719–723
Singh TR, Roy S, Singh OI, Sinam T, Singh KM (2011) A new local adaptive thresholding technique in binarization. Int J Comput Sci 8:271–277
Som HM, Zain JM, Ghazali AJ (2011) Application of threshold techniques for readability improvement of jawi historical manuscript images. Adv Comput Int J 2:60–69
Stathis P, Kavallieratou E, Papamarkos N (2008) An evaluation survey of binarization algorithms on historical documents. In: Proceedings of the international conference on pattern recognition, ICPR, pp 1–4
Trapeznikov I, Priorov A, Volokhov V (2014) Allocation of text characters of automobile license plates on the digital image. In: Proceedings of the conference of open innovation association, FRUCT, pp 144–149
Trier OD, Jain AK (1995) Goal-directed evaluation of binarization methods. IEEE Trans PAMI 17:1191–1201
Trier OD, Taxt T (1995) Evaluation of binarization methods for document images. IEEE Trans PAMI 17:312–315
Uchida S (2013) Image processing and recognition for biological images. Dev Growth Differ 55:523–549
Valverde JS, Grigat RR (2000) Optimum binarization of technical document images. Proc IEEE Int Conf Image Process 3:985–988
Ventzas D, Ntogas N, Ventza MM (2012) Digital restoration by denoising and binarization of historical manuscripts images. Adv Image Acquis Proc Technol Appl I:73–108
Viola P, Jones MJ (2004) Robust real-time face detection. Int J Comput Vis 57:137–154
Wolf C, Jolion JM (2003) Extraction and recognition of artificial text in multimedia documents. Pattern Anal Appl 6:309–326
Wu S, Amin A (2003) Automatic thresholding of gray-level using multi-stage approach. In: Proceedings of the international conference on document analysis and recognition. IEEE, pp 493–497
Yarramalle S, Rao KS (2007) Unsupervised image segmentation using finite doubly truncated Gaussian mixture model and hierarchical clustering. Curr Sci 93:507–514
Yoder GJ (2009) Character contour correction. US Patent Appl 004,693,8A1
Zhang Z, Tan CL (2001) Restoration of images scanned from thick bound documents. Proc Int Conf Image Process 1:1074–1077
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Saxena, L.P. Niblack’s binarization method and its modifications to real-time applications: a review. Artif Intell Rev 51, 673–705 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10462-017-9574-2
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10462-017-9574-2