International Journal of Mathematics and Soft Computing Vol.3, No.1. (2013), 69 – 78. 69 ISSN Print : 2249 – 3328 ISSN Online: 2319 – 5215 A novel watershed image segmentation technique using graceful labeling R. Sridevi Department of Mathematics, Sri.S.R.N.M.College, Sattur-626203,Tamil Nadu, INDIA. E-Mail: r.sridevi_2010@yahoo.com. K. Krishnaveni Department of Computer Science, Sri. S. R. N. M. College, Sattur - 626 203, Tamil Nadu, INDIA. E-Mail: kkveni_srnmc@yahoo.co.in. S. Navaneethakrishnan Department of Mathematics, V. O. C. College, Tuticorin - 628 008, Tamil Nadu, INDIA. E-Mail: snk.voc@gmail.com. Abstract In this paper, we propose a novel watershed image segmentation technique based on absolute difference graph labeling. The main objective is to partition the image into distinct regions that are visually different, homogeneous and meaningful with respect to some characteristics or computed property, that is, such as grey level, texture or color to enable easy image analysis. A graph representing an image is derived from the similarity between the pixels and partitioned by a computationally efficient absolute difference graph method, which identifies representative vertices for each absolute difference and then expands them to obtain complete absolute difference graph labeling. As a result, the image is portioned into a set of disjoint labels (regions). Keywords: graceful labeling, sum labeling. AMS Subject Classification (2010): 05C78. 1 Introduction Mathematical morphology [4, 10] is a well-known technique used in image processing and computer vision for manipulating the features present in the image based on shape analysis and description. Mathematical morphology is a collection of operators based on set theory and defined on an abstract structure known as an infinite lattice. The mathematical morphology is intended to analyze and recognize the geometrical properties and structure of the objects. Such analysis must be quantitative in order to provide a mathematical framework for describing the spatial organization. Watershed transform [1] is an important morphological tool used for image segmentation which can be classified as a region-based segmentation approach. The watershed concept is one of the classic tools in the field of topography. It is the line that determines where a drop of water will fall into a particular region. In image processing [9], especially mathematical morphology, gray scale images are considered as topographic relieves. Initially the watersheds are computed in the field of topography where the topographic surfaces are handled by Digital Elevation Models (DEM’s). The data structure