Relation-induced connectedness in the digital plane (Q1692282)

Processing of digital images forces the use of a digital plane with a convenient structure. An important criterion of such a convenience is the validity of a digital analogue of the Jordan curve theorem. The classical approach is based on using 4-adjacency and 8-adjacency graphs for structuring the digital plane. Unfortunately, neither the 4-adjacency nor the 8-adjacency graph alone allows for an analogue of the Jordan curve theorem. In this paper a connectedness induced by \(n\)-ary relations on their underlying sets is introduced. In particular, certain \(n\)-ary relations with the induced connectedness allowing for a definition of digital Jordan curves are considered. For every integer one such \(n\)-ary relation is introduced on the digital plane and a digital analogue of the Jordan curve theorem for the induced connectedness is proven. The \(n\)-ary relations provide convenient structures on the digital plane for the study of geometric properties of digital images, esspecialy those that are related to boundaries.