Image segmentation and boundary extraction are very important in the fields of image understanding

image analysis

pattern recognition and computer vision et al

while active contour model is one of the most important tools in the areas of image segmentation and boundary extraction which mainly includes parametric active contour model and geometric active contour model.Geometric active contour model has many advantages over parametric active contour model

such as computational simplicity and the ability to change curve topology during deformation

et al.Therefore

significant advances have been made in theories and applications of geometric active contour model recently.In order to show the general idea of this technique

a novel classified mode is developed to describe the parametric active contour model

geometric active contour model and the relationship between them at first in this paper.Moreover

by analyzing several classical active contour models

this paper summarizes the research

development and applications of active contour model.Finally

this paper points out future research orientations on the theories and applications research of active contour model.