A Robust Hough Transform Technique for Description of Multiple Line Segments
in an Image
Varsha Kamat*and Subramaniam Ganesan
Oakland University,Rochester, MI
* Now working at General Motors Research and Development Center, Warren,MI
E-mail: vsadekar@rvsahs.gmr.com
Abstract
The process of using the Hough transform (HT) to detect
lines in an image involves the computation of the HT for
the entire image, accumulating votes in an accumulator
array and searching the array for peaks which hold
information of potential lines present in the input image.
The process of peak formation generates a butterfly
shaped spread of votes in the accumulator array. The
authors have used this property to aa'aptively define
windows of interest around a detected peak to facilitate
the description of multiple line segments within an image
in terms of the coordinates of their end points.
The developed technique has been employed to test
several images composed of multiple line segments and
the results in terms of accuracy of the determination of
line segment mid points have been presented, While
most methods which employ the HT to detect line
segments cannot handle the case of separate line
segments formed by a colinear set of points, it has been
shown that the developed method can successfully do so.
This algorithm would Bnd applications in different areas
of machine vision like Robotics and Manufacturing
Systems. Results of the application of the developed
method, to detect lane markers and curve signs from a
road scene captured by a CCD camera, to aid in the
maneuvering of autonomous vehicles has been presented.
1. Introduction
The Hough transform @IT)is commonly used in machine
vision applications for detecting discontinuous patterns in
noisy images. The process of using the HT to detect lines
in an image involves the computation of the HT for the
entire image, accumulating votes in an accumulator array
and searching the array for peaks which hold information
of potential lines present in the input image. The only
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information that these peaks provide is the normal
parameters of a line segment. General machine vision
applications require the exact position of all the line
segments in the image which cannot be obtained using
only the peak information.
However, during the process of peak formation, a
butterfly shaped' spread of votes is generated in the
accumulator array which holds vital information about
the length and position of the input line segment. Some
authors2 have used this property to develop an algorithm
to determine the coordinates of the end points, the length,
and the normal parameters of straight lines. This method
has two limitations
1. the precision of this algorithm is dependent on the
detection of a sharp and distinct peak.
2. it is unsuitable for application to a real machine
vision problem as it would yield erroneous results if
applied to an image consisting of anything more
than a single line segment.
This paper describes a new method which overcomes the
above mentioned shortcomings. It provides the complete
description of multiple line segments in an image
(including separate line segments from a set of colinear
points).
2. Description of single line segment
The input image is first transformed to the parameter
space using the H P modified by Duda4which is based on
the description of a line in terms of the length of the
normal ( p ) to the line and the angle ( e ) that the normal
makes with the x - axis and is given by equation (1).
p = xcose + ysine (1)
The locus of points corresponding to a single point (x, y )
in the image constitutes a sinusoidal curve described by
equation (1). In computer based implementations, all the
cells along this curve in the parameter space receive
votes. Repeated application of equation (1) for sampled
 values of e between 0 and ‘ ~ tto a colinear set of points
with parameters ( p, ,ep) generates a set of sinusoidal
curves which cross each other (thereby accumulating a
higher number of votes, “peak”) at the cell ( p, ,e, ) in
the parameter space as shown in Figure 1.
P
P:
PrB
Figure 1 Distribution of votes
Apart from generating a peak, the process of peak
formation describes a butterfly shaped spread of votes
within the parameter space which varies with 6 for the
same line segment as shown in Figure 1. In fact, it can
be easily proved that the spread of votes of the entire line
segment is bound by the votes accumulated by the end
points of that line segment. Based on this assertion, for
an arbitrary line segment described by end :points ( XI, y1)
and (x2,y2), two sets of simultaneous equations can be
set up using any two columns of 6 (er and 8, ) in the
parameter space.
p: = x1coser+ y1s i n e l
p: = ~ ~ c o s e ~ + y ~ s i n e ~
pf = x,coSOr+ Ylsiner
p,B=x2cos0,+~~sine, (5)
The coordinates of the line segment end points ( xl,yl)
and ( x 2 ,yz) can be obtained by simu1tant:ously solving
equations (2 and 4) and (3 and 5 ) respectively. In the
image space (Figure 2), the solutions of the equations (2
P P
e e I = il;il i2 e
Fig 3a fixed Q and 1 Fig 3b fixed 8 and! 1
Figuire 3 Butterflies for different line segments
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and 4) gives the intersection of bars B1 and B4; and the
solutions of equations (3 and 5) gives the intersection
between bars B2 and B3. Although, these intersections
are considered to be the end points, the actual end points
can lie anywhere within the solution regions shown by
shaded parallelograms. Smaller sized solution regions
yield higher accuracy of the end points detection. Size of
the solution region itself depends upon the angle between
the bars and the value of Ap .
A6
Y
‘ I x
Figure 2 Solution space
3. Description of multiple line segments
The task of determining the bounding limits of the
butterfly is trivial in the case of the input image
consisting of a single line segment. However, real
images contain multiple line segments, and the butterflies
due to individual line segments would be contaminated
by the voting due to other line segments. This has a
negative influence on the accuracy of the computed
(2) values of the line segment end points. An intuitive
approach to minimizing this effect leads to the definition
(3)
of a window of interest around the peak under
(4) consideration.
3.1. Shapes of butterflies
Figure 3 shows that the spread and orientation of the
wings of the butterflies due to line segments of varying
length, position and orientation within the image.
P
1 = i2;1, < i2 e e
Fig 3c fixed P and6 Fig 3d colinear points
217
 Butterflies corresponding to the special case of line
segments formed by a colinear set of points are shown in
Figure 3d. Although, these line segments transform to
the same HT peak, it can be seen that the three line
segments form separate butterflies with varying slopes
which can be attributed to the position of the line with
respect to the foot of the perpendicular. In summarizing
the shapes of the butterflies, it can be said that the
orientation of the butterfly wings varies with 6 (Fig 3a);
the width of the wings varies with length (Fig 3c); and
the slope of the wings varies with the position of the line
within the bar of width Ap (Fig 3b and 3d). It can now
be concluded that the spread and orientation of the wings
of the butterfly is different for different line segments and
varies with its length, position and orientation within the
image. This property will be exploited to define windows
of interest to facilitate complete description of multiple
line segments.
32. Shape and sue of the window of interest
In order to define a window of interest at a specific cell in
the parameter space (accumulator cell), the maximum
width of the butterfly wings possible at that cell must be
determined. It is known that, at any accumulator cell the
p and 0 values for the line segment are fixed, with only
its length and position being variable factors. It can be
proved mathematically that the maximum width of the
butterfly wings for every accumulator cell is defined by
the coordinates of the end points of the longest line that
can be placed within the image corresponding to that cell
(not merely the longest line in that image), and therefore
depends on the considered cell and the input image size.
The size of the window is based on the longest line
segment because for a specific accumulator cell
Distribution of votes
Figure 4 Window of interest
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butterflies corresponding to any line segment would fall
within the extremities of the butterfly wings defined by
the coordinates of this longest line. Thus the size of the
window is different for different peaks in the parameter
space because the longest line at each accumulator cell
varies based on the p and 6 values and the size of the
input image. The proposed window of interest is defined
1 2 1
in terms of four offsets p(e-6). P(e-s)* P(e+s) and
2 1
P(e+s). P(e*s, and pfe*s, define the bounding limits
of the width of the butterfly wings k 6 degrees away
from the peak as shown in Figure 4. Although Figure 4
depicts the window of interest at an equal distance (6
degrees) on either side of the peak, this need not be the
case and the developed technique could be used to define
windows with any two different values of 6 . Typical
1 2
computed values of P(e-8) and P(e-s), for an image of
size 120x 100 at 6 = 5 are shown in Figures 5a and 5b
respectively. The gray shades scale used to depict the p
offsets is shown in Figures 5c.
33. Compute end points of multiple line segments
For every detected peak in the parameter space a window
of interest is computed around it. The distribution of
votes within this window is examined to extract the
bounds of all the butterflies (including those formed by
“n” line segments) defined by that peak. The p values
defined by these bounds is substituted in equations (2-5)
to obtain the coordinates of the end points of all the line
segments in the image.
Figure 5c Color shade scale for Figure 5
1 2
Figure 5 p(e4),p(e4) for a 120 x 100 image @ 6 -5
2 18
 4. Results and Conclusions
Figure 6 shows the parameter space resulting from the
application of the developed method to four images
containing multiple line segments of arbitrary lengths,
orientations, and positions within the image. The
butterflies have been marked with numbers
corresponding to their line counterparts in the image
space. The computed windows of interest corresponding
to each peak have been highlighted with bold faced lines,
and are shown (Figure 6) to contain the butterflies
formed by the input line segments.
Next, the defined windows of interest were used to
compute the line segment end points using; the proposed
algorithm. Figures 7 and 8 depict the performance
comparison of the proposed method (labeled “nopeak”) to
Atiquzzaman’s method’ (labeled “withpeak.”) in terms of
the accuracy with which the line segment end points have
been detected. The errors have been computed at Ap =1;
-
and At3 1 and 2. Figure 7 illustrates the effect of the
variation in distance from the peak on the m o r values of
the detected midpoint for a single line segment. Figure 8
plots the errors in the detected midpoints itgainst all the
line segments 1-15 (including the special case of scenario
3). In both the cases, it is seen that errors are minimum
when peak information is not used in the computation of
the end points.
Figures 7 and 8 show that a reduction in errors is
observed for larger value of A0 and also as distance
(larger difference in 8 ) from the peak increases. This is
because larger values of A0 result in larger angles
between bars (Figure 2). A larger angle implies a
smaller solution space and therefore a better accuracy in
the computed end points. However, it should be noted
that for images containing multiple line segments a
reduction in the errors is observed only until there is
minimum interference from other peaks. The concept of
I
Scenario 1
I -- scenario 2
I
Figure 6 Results of the application of the developed method to scenarios containing multiple line segments
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defining windows of interest has greatly aided in limiting
this undesirable interference.
Finally, the developed method was applied to real road
scenes to detect lane markers and curve signs. The HT
was computed at limited angles (defined by the geometry
of the object to be detected) and in a limited area within
the image (defined by the position of the object detected
in the previous frame of the sequence). The peaks
corresponding to potential objects of interest (based on
length) were chosen. The results of the application of the
developed techniques are shown in Figure 9 by bold faced
line segments superimposed on the corresponding input
images.
The developed algorithm is robust as its precision is not
dependent on the detection of a sharp and distinct peak,
thus enabling it to overcome the problems (commonly
encountered in HT based techniques) associated with
peak splitting and merging. This algorithm is a non-
iterative computationally efficient method which requires
only one accumulation of the accumulator array. If the
time required to perform one accumulation is ignored the
developed technique has a complexity of 0(1) which
makes it attractive for use in real-time applications.
References
1 Leavers, V F and J F Boyce, “The Radon transform and its
application to shape parameterization in machine vision”,
Image and Vision Computing, Vol. 5, No. 2, 1987, pp.
161-166.
2 Atiquzzaman, M. and M. W. Akhtar, “Complete line
segment description using the Hough transform,” Image
and Vision Comp., Vol. 12, No. 5, June 1994, pp. 267-
273.
3 Hough, P. V. C., “Method and means for recognizing
complex pattems,” U.S.Patent 3069654,1962
4 Duda, R. 0. and P. E. Hart, “Use of Hough transformation
to detect lines and curves in pictures,” Comm. of the
ACM, Vol. 15, NO. 1, January 1972, pp. 1 1-15.
Scenario 3
I
Scenario 4
I
 1 3 5 7 9 1 3 5 7 9
Distance from peak Distance from peak
Figure 7 Plot of error in midpoint of y1 and yz versus distance from the peak

0 5 10 15 0 5 10 15
Line numbers Line numbers

Figure 8 Plot of error in midpoint of y , and y2 versus input line numbers

Figure 9a Detection of lane markers

etected curve sign

Figure 9b Detection of curve sign

Figure 9 Results of the application of the developed method

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