Pool-Unet: A Novel Tongue Image Segmentation Method Based on Pool-Former and Multi-Task Mask Learning

Abstract

Automated tongue segmentation plays a crucial role in the realm of computer-aided tongue diagnosis. The challenge lies in developing algorithms that achieve higher segmentation accuracy and maintain less memory space and swift inference capabilities. To relieve this issue, we propose a novel Pool-unet integrating Pool-former and Multi-task mask learning for tongue image segmentation. First of all, we collected 756 tongue images taken in various shooting environments and from different angles and accurately labeled the tongue under the guidance of a medical professional. Second, we propose the Pool-unet model, combining a hierarchical Pool-former module and a U-shaped symmetric encoder-decoder with skip-connections, which utilizes a patch expanding layer for up-sampling and a patch embedding layer for down-sampling to maintain spatial resolution, to effectively capture global and local information using fewer parameters and faster inference. Finally, a Multi-task mask learning strategy is designed, which improves the generalization and anti-interference ability of the model through the Multi-task pre-training and self-supervised fine-tuning stages. Experimental results on the tongue dataset show that compared to the state-of-the-art method (OET-NET), our method has 25% fewer model parameters, achieves 22% faster inference times, and exhibits 0.91% and 0.55% improvements in Mean Intersection Over Union (MIOU), and Mean Pixel Accuracy (MPA), respectively.