Signal and image segmentation using pairwise Markov chains

The aim of this paper is to apply the recent pairwise Markov chain model, which generalizes the hidden Markov chain one, to the unsupervised restoration of hidden data. The main novelty is an original parameter estimation method that is valid in a general setting, where the form of the possibly correlated noise is not known. Several experimental results are presented in both Gaussian and generalized mixture contexts. They show the advantages of the pairwise Markov chain model with respect to the classical hidden Markov chain one for supervised and unsupervised restorations.