1984/03/01 by Tingwei Zhang, Ching Y. Suen · 2,728 citations
Computer Science · #Digital Image Processing Techniques #Computational Geometry and Mesh Generation #Algorithms and Data Compression #Citation #Computer science #Thinning #Zhàng #China #Algorithm #History #World Wide Web #Geography #Forestry #Archaeology
paper · pdf · doi:10.1145/357994.358023
published in Communications of the ACM 27(3), 236-239 (Association for Computing Machinery)
openalex publication_date 1984/03/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
A fast parallel thinning algorithm is proposed in this paper. It consists of two subiterations: one aimed at deleting the south-east boundary points and the north-west corner points while the other one is aimed at deleting the north-west boundary points and the south-east corner points. End points and pixel connectivity are preserved. Each pattern is thinned down to a "skeleton" of unitary thickness. Experimental results show that this method is very effective.