Advanced statistical matrices for texture characterization: Application to DNA chromatin and microtubule network classification

This paper presents significant improvements of Gray Level Size Zone Matrix (GLSZM) which is a bivariate statistical representation of texture, based on the co-occurrences of size/intensity of each flat zone (connected pixels of the same gray level). The first improvement is a multi-scale extension of the matrix which merges various quantizations of gray levels. A second alternative is proposed to take into account radial distribution of zone intensities. The third variant is a generalization of the matrix structure which allows to analyze fibrous textures, by changing the pair intensity/size for the pair length/orientation of each region. The interest of these improved descriptors is illustrated by texture classification problems arising from quantitative cell biology.