Abstract
The recognition of primitives in digital geometry is deeply linked with separability problems. This framework leads us to consider the following problem of pattern recognition : given a finite lattice set \(S\subset \mathbb {Z}^d\) and a positive integer n, is it possible to separate S from \(\mathbb {Z}^d \setminus S\) by n half-spaces? In other words, does there exist a polyhedron P defined by at most n half-spaces satisfying \(P\cap \mathbb {Z}^d = S\)? The difficulty comes from the infinite number of constraints generated by all the points of \(\mathbb {Z}^d\setminus S\). It makes the decidability of the problem non-straightforward since the classical algorithms of polyhedral separability can not be applied in this framework. We conjecture that the problem is nevertheless decidable and prove it under some assumptions: in arbitrary dimension, if the interior of the convex hull of S contains at least one lattice point or if the dimension d is 2 or if the dimension \(d=3\) and S is not in a specific configuration of lattice width 0 or 1. The proof strategy is to reduce the set of outliers \(\mathbb {Z}^d\setminus S\) to its minimal elements according to a partial order “is in the shadow of.” These minimal elements are called the lattice jewels of S. We prove that under some assumptions, the set S admits only a finite number of lattice jewels. The result about the decidability of the problem is a corollary of this fundamental property.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aggarwal, A., Booth, H., O’Rourke, J., Suri, S., Yap, C.: Finding minimal convex nested polygons. Inf. Comput. 83(1), 98–110 (1989)
Andres, E., Acharya, R., Sibata, C.: Discrete analytical hyperplanes. CVGIP Graph Model Image Process. 59(5), 302–309 (1997)
Andres, E., Jacob, M.: The discrete analytical hyperspheres. IEEE Trans. Vis. Comput. Graph. 3(1), 75–86 (1997)
Asano, T., Brimkov, V.E., Barneva, R.P.: Some theoretical challenges in digital geometry: a perspective. Discrete Appl. Math. 157(16), 3362–3371 (2009)
Bárány, I., Howe, R., Lovász, L.: On integer points in polyhedra: a lower bound. Combinatorica 12(2), 135–142 (1992)
Barvinok, A.I.: Lattice points and lattice polytopes. In: Goodman, J.E., O’Rourke, J. (eds.) Handbook of Discrete and Computational Geometry, Second Edition, pp. 153–176. Chapman and Hall/CRC, (2004)
Beck, M., Robins, S.: Computing the Continuous Discretely. Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics. Springer, Berlin (2007)
Brimkov, V.E., Andres, E., Barneva, R.P.: Object discretizations in higher dimensions. Pattern Recogn. Lett. 23(6), 623–636 (2002)
Brimkov, V.E., Coeurjolly, D., Klette, R.: Digital planarity—a review. Discrete Appl. Math. 155(4), 468–495 (2007)
Buzer, L.: A linear incremental algorithm for naive and standard digital lines and planes recognition. Graph. Models 65, 61–76 (2003)
Buzer, L.: A simple algorithm for digital line recognition in the general case. Pattern Recogn. 40(6), 1675–1684 (2007)
Clarkson, K.L.: Algorithms for polytope covering and approximation. In: Proceedings of the Algorithms and Data Structures, Third Workshop, WADS ’93, pp. 246–252. Montréal, Canada, August 11–13 (1993)
Coeurjolly, D., Gérard, Y., Reveillès, J., Tougne, L.: An elementary algorithm for digital arc segmentation. Discrete Appl. Math. 139(1–3), 31–50 (2004). doi:10.1016/j.dam.2003.08.003
Cook, W., Hartmann, M., Kannan, R., McDiarmid, C.: On integer points in polyhedra. Combinatorica 12(1), 27–37 (1992)
Das, G., Joseph, D.: The complexity of minimum convex nested polyhedra. In: Proceedings of the 2nd Canadian Conference of Computational Geometry, pp. 296–301 (1990)
Dorst, L., Smeulders, A.W.M.: Discrete representation of straight lines. IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell. 6(4), 450–463 (1984)
Edelsbrunner, H., Preparata, F.: Minimum polygonal separation. Inf. Comput. 77(3), 218–232 (1988)
Ehrhart, E.: Sur les polyèdres rationnels homothétiques à n dimensions. Comptes Rendus l’Acad. Sci. 254, 616–618 (1962)
Feschet, F., Tougne, L.: On the min DSS problem of closed discrete curves. Discrete Appl. Math. 151(1–3), 138–153 (2005)
Fiorio, C., Toutant, J.: Arithmetic discrete hyperspheres and separatingness. In: Proceedings of the 13th International Conference of Discrete Geometry for Computer Imagery, DGCI 2006, pp. 425–436. Szeged, Hungary, October 25–27 (2006)
Forchhammer, S., Kim, C.: Digital squares. IEEE 2, 672–674 (1988)
Gérard, Y.: Recognition of digital polyhedra with a fixed number of faces. In: Proceedings of the 19th IAPR International Conference of Discrete Geometry for Computer Imagery, DGCI 2016, pp. 415–426. Nantes, France, April 18–20 (2016)
Gérard, Y., Coeurjolly, D., Feschet, F.: Gift-wrapping based preimage computation algorithm. Pattern Recogn. 42(10), 2255–2264 (2009). doi:10.1016/j.patcog.2008.10.003
Gérard, Y., Debled-Rennesson, I., Zimmermann, P.: An elementary digital plane recognition algorithm. Discrete Appl. Math. 151(1–3), 169–183 (2005). doi:10.1016/j.dam.2005.02.026
Gérard, Y., Provot, L., Feschet, F.: Introduction to digital level layers. In: Proceedings of the 16th IAPR International Conference of Discrete Geometry for Computer Imagery, DGCI 2011, pp. 83–94. Nancy, France, April 6–8 (2011)
Haase, C., Ziegler, G.M.: On the maximal width of empty lattice simplices. Eur. J. Comb. 21(1), 111–119 (2000)
Klette, R., Rosenfeld, A.: Digital Geometry : Geometric Methods for Digital Picture Analysis. The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Graphics and Geometric Modeling. Elsevier, Amsterdam (2004)
Krishnaswamy, R., Kim, C.E.: Digital parallelism, perpendicularity, and rectangles. IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell. 9(2), 316–321 (1987)
Lenstra, H.: Integer programming with a fixed number of variables. Math. Oper. Res. 8, 538–548 (1983)
Lindenbaum, M., Bruckstein, A.M.: On recursive, O(N) partitioning of a digitized curve into digital straight segments. IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell. 15(9), 949–953 (1993)
Megiddo, N.: Linear-time algorithms for linear programming in \(r^3\) and related problems. SIAM J. Comput. 12(4), 759–776 (1983)
Megiddo, N.: On the complexity of polyhedral separability. Discrete Comput. Geom. 3(4), 325–337 (1988)
Nakamura, A., Aizawa, K.: Digital squares. Comput. Vis. Graph. Image Process. 49(3), 357–368 (1990)
Nguyen, T.P., Debled-Rennesson, I.: Arc segmentation in linear time. In: Proceedings of the 14th International Conference of Computer Analysis of Images and Patterns, CAIP 2011, Part I, pp. 84–92. Seville, Spain, August 29-31 (2011)
Nill, B., Ziegler, G.M.: Projecting lattice polytopes without interior lattice points. Math. Oper. Res. 36(3), 462–467 (2011)
O’Rourke, J.: Computational geometry column 4. SIGACT News 19(2), 22–24 (1988)
Pick, G.: Geometrisches zur zahlenlehre. Sitzungsberichte des deutschen naturwissenschaftlich-medicinischen Vereines für Böhmen “Lotos” in Prag. 19, 311–319 (1965)
Provot, L., Gérard, Y.: Recognition of digital hyperplanes and level layers with forbidden points. In: Proceedings of the 14th International Workshop of Combinatorial Image Analysis, IWCIA 2011, pp. 144–156. Madrid, Spain, May 23–25 (2011)
Provot, L., Gérard, Y., Feschet, F.: Digital level layers for digital curve decomposition and vectorization. IPOL J. 4, 169–186 (2014)
Rabinowitz, S.: A census of convex lattice polygons with at most one interior lattice point. Ars Comb. 28, 83–96 (1989)
Debled-Rennesson, I., Reveilles, J.-P.: A linear algorithm for incremental digital display of circular arcs. Int. J. Pattern Recogn. Artif. Intell. 9, 635–662 (1995)
Rosenfeld, A., Klette, R.: Digital straightness. Electr. Notes Theor. Comput. Sci. 46, 1–32 (2001)
Schrijver, A.: Theory of Linear and Integer Programming. Wiley, New York (1986)
Sebö, A.: An introduction to empty lattice simplices. In: Proceedings of the 7th International IPCO Conference of Integer Programming and Combinatorial Optimization, pp. 400–414. Graz, Austria, June 9–11 (1999)
Stojmenović, I., Tosić, R.: Digitization schemes and the recognition of digital straight lines, hyperplanes and flats in arbitrary dimensions. Vis. Geom. 119, 197–212 (1991)
Toutant, J., Andres, E., Largeteau-Skapin, G., Zrour, R.: Implicit digital surfaces in arbitrary dimensions. In: Proceedings of the 18th IAPR International Conference of Discrete Geometry for Computer Imagery, DGCI 2014, pp. 332–343. Siena, Italy, September 10–12 (2014)
Toutant, J., Andres, E., Roussillon, T.: Digital circles, spheres and hyperspheres: from morphological models to analytical characterizations and topological properties. Discrete Appl. Math. 161(16–17), 2662–2677 (2013)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gerard, Y. About the Decidability of Polyhedral Separability in the Lattice \(\mathbb {Z}^d\) . J Math Imaging Vis 59, 52–68 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10851-017-0711-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10851-017-0711-y