Tongue Image Texture Classification Based on Image Inpainting and Convolutional Neural Network

Tongue texture analysis is of importance to inspection diagnosis in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which has great application and irreplaceable value. The tough and tender classification for tongue image relies mainly on image texture of tongue body. However, texture discontinuity adversely affects the classification of the tough and tender tongue classification. In order to promote the accuracy and robustness of tongue texture analysis, a novel tongue image texture classification method based on image inpainting and convolutional neural network is proposed. Firstly, Gaussian mixture model is applied to separate the tongue coating and body. In order to exclude the interference of tongue coating on tough and tender tongue classification, a tongue body image inpainting model is built based on generative image inpainting with contextual attention to realize the inpainting of the tongue body image to ensure the continuity of texture and color change of tongue body image. Finally, the classification model of the tough and tender tongue inpainting image based on ResNet101 residual network is used to train and test. The experimental results show that the proposed method achieves better classification results compared with the existing methods of texture classification of tongue image and provides a new idea for tough and tender tongue classification.