itkCollidingFrontsImageFilter.h

/*=========================================================================

  Program:   Insight Segmentation & Registration Toolkit
  Module:    itkCollidingFrontsImageFilter.h
  Language:  C++
  Date:      $Date$
  Version:   $Revision$

  Copyright (c) Insight Software Consortium. All rights reserved.
  See ITKCopyright.txt or http://www.itk.org/HTML/Copyright.htm for details.

     This software is distributed WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even
     the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
     PURPOSE.  See the above copyright notices for more information.

=========================================================================*/

#ifndef __itkCollidingFrontsImageFilter_h
#define __itkCollidingFrontsImageFilter_h

#include "itkFastMarchingUpwindGradientImageFilter.h"
#include "itkImageToImageFilter.h"
#include "itkImage.h"

namespace itk
{
/** \class CollidingFrontsImageFilter
 *
 * \brief Selects a region of space where two independent fronts run towards
 * each other.
 *
 * The filter can be used to quickly segment anatomical structures (e.g. for
 * level set initialization). 
 * 
 * The filter uses two instances of FastMarchingUpwindGradientImageFilter to
 * compute the gradients of arrival times of two wavefronts propagating from
 * two sets of seeds. The input of the filter  is used as the speed of the two
 * wavefronts. The output is the dot product between the two gradient vector
 * fields.
 *
 * The filter works on the following basic idea. In the regions where the dot
 * product between the two gradient fields is negative, the two fronts
 * propagate in opposite directions. In the regions where the dot product is
 * positive, the two fronts propagate in the same direction.  This can be used
 * to extract the region of space between two sets of points.
 * 
 * Optionally, a connectivity criterion can be applied to the resulting dot
 * product image. In this case, the only negative region in the output image is
 * the one connected to the seeds.
 *
 * \author Luca Antiga Ph.D.  Biomedical Technologies Laboratory,
 *                            Bioengineering Deparment, Mario Negri Institute, Italy.
 *
 */
template <typename TInputImage, typename TOutputImage>
class CollidingFrontsImageFilter :
    public ImageToImageFilter< TInputImage, TOutputImage >
{
public:
  /** Standard class typedefs. */
  typedef CollidingFrontsImageFilter                      Self;
  typedef ImageToImageFilter< TInputImage, TOutputImage > Superclass;
  typedef SmartPointer<Self>                              Pointer;
  typedef SmartPointer<const Self>                        ConstPointer;

  /** Method for creation through the object factory. */
  itkNewMacro(Self);

  /** Run-time type information (and related methods) */
  itkTypeMacro(CollidingFrontsImageFilter, ImageToImageFilter);
  
  /** Extract some information from the image types.  Dimensionality
   * of the two images is assumed to be the same. */
  typedef typename TOutputImage::PixelType                 OutputPixelType;
  typedef typename TInputImage::PixelType                  InputPixelType;
  typedef typename NumericTraits<InputPixelType>::RealType RealType;

  /** Extract some information from the image types.  Dimensionality
   * of the two images is assumed to be the same. */
  itkStaticConstMacro(ImageDimension, unsigned int,
                      TOutputImage::ImageDimension);
  
  /** Image typedef support */
  typedef TInputImage                       InputImageType;
  typedef typename InputImageType::Pointer  InputImagePointer;
  typedef TOutputImage                      OutputImageType;
  typedef typename OutputImageType::Pointer OutputImagePointer;
  
  /** Superclass typedefs. */
  typedef typename Superclass::OutputImageRegionType OutputImageRegionType;

  /** FastMarchingUpwindGradientImageFilter typedefs. */
  typedef itk::FastMarchingUpwindGradientImageFilter<TInputImage,TOutputImage> FastMarchingUpwindGradientImageFilterType;

  /** Typedef support of level set method types. */
  typedef typename FastMarchingUpwindGradientImageFilterType::PixelType
                                                   PixelType;
  typedef typename FastMarchingUpwindGradientImageFilterType::NodeType
                                                   NodeType;
  typedef typename FastMarchingUpwindGradientImageFilterType::NodeContainer
                                                   NodeContainer;
  typedef typename FastMarchingUpwindGradientImageFilterType::NodeContainerPointer
                                                   NodeContainerPointer;
  typedef typename FastMarchingUpwindGradientImageFilterType::GradientImageType
                                                   GradientImageType;
  typedef typename FastMarchingUpwindGradientImageFilterType::IndexType  IndexType;

  /** Set the container of Seed Points representing the first initial front.
   * Seed points are represented as a VectorContainer of LevelSetNodes. */
  void SetSeedPoints1( NodeContainer * points )
    {
    m_SeedPoints1 = points;
    this->Modified();
    }
  
  /** Get the container of Seed Points representing the first initial front. */
  NodeContainerPointer GetSeedPoints1( )
    { return m_SeedPoints1; }

  /** Set the container of Seed Points representing the second initial front.
   * Seed points are represented as a VectorContainer of LevelSetNodes. */
  void SetSeedPoints2( NodeContainer * points )
    {
    m_SeedPoints2 = points;
    this->Modified();
    }
  
  /** Get the container of Seed Points representing the second initial front. */
  NodeContainerPointer GetSeedPoints2( )
    { return m_SeedPoints2; }
  
  itkSetMacro(NegativeEpsilon, double);
  itkGetMacro(NegativeEpsilon, double);

  itkSetMacro(ApplyConnectivity, bool);
  itkGetMacro(ApplyConnectivity, bool);
  itkBooleanMacro(ApplyConnectivity);

#ifdef ITK_USE_CONCEPT_CHECKING
  /** Begin concept checking */
  itkConceptMacro(InputHasNumericTraitsCheck,
                  (Concept::HasNumericTraits<InputPixelType>));
  /** End concept checking */
#endif

protected:
  CollidingFrontsImageFilter();
  virtual ~CollidingFrontsImageFilter() {}

  void GenerateData();

  void PrintSelf(std::ostream&, Indent) const;
  
private:
  CollidingFrontsImageFilter(const Self&); //purposely not implemented
  void operator=(const Self&); //purposely not implemented

  NodeContainerPointer m_SeedPoints1;
  NodeContainerPointer m_SeedPoints2;

  bool m_ApplyConnectivity;

  double m_NegativeEpsilon;
};
  
} // end namespace itk

#ifndef ITK_MANUAL_INSTANTIATION
#include "itkCollidingFrontsImageFilter.txx"
#endif

#endif