Coding cells of digital spaces: a framework to write generic digital topology algorithms

Abstract: This paper proposes a concise coding of the cells of n-dimensional finite regular grids. It induces a simple, generic and efficient framework for implementing classical digital topology data structures and algorithms. Discrete subsets of multidimensional images (e.g. regions, digital surfaces, cubical cell complexes) have then a common and compact representation. Moreover, algorithms have a straightforward and efficient implementation, which is independent from the dimension or sizes of digital images. We illustrate that point with generic hypersurface boundary extraction algorithms by scanning or tracking. This framework has been implemented and basic operations as well as the presented applications have been benchmarked.