用图神经网络指导最大流计算,加速图像分割。
Graph Neural Network-Informed Predictive Flows for Faster Ford-Fulkerson and PAC-Learnability

- 用GNN学习边的重要性概率,引导寻找增广路径。
- 实际减少约40%的增广次数,保持最优解不变。
- 适合需要快速最大流求解的图像分割场景。
我们提出一种学习增强框架,通过将图神经网络(GNN)与Ford-Fulkerson算法结合,加速最大流计算和图像分割。不同于直接预测初始流,该方法学习边的重要性概率以指导增广路径的选择。引入消息传递型GNN(MPGNN),通过耦合更新联合学习节点与边嵌入,捕捉全局结构与局部流动动态,如残差容量和瓶颈。针对输入图像,构建基于网格的流网络,添加源点与汇点,提取特征并进行单次GNN推理,输出反映边属于高容量割可能性的边概率。这些概率存入优先队列,用于指导改进的Ford-Fulkerson过程,采用类似Edmonds-Karp的搜索策略并结合瓶颈感知的冲突解决机制。此方法避免对残差图重复推理,同时在整个优化过程中利用学习到的结构。我们还提出一种以高概率边为中心的双向路径构造策略,并建立预测质量与效率之间的理论关联,使用加权排列距离度量。所提方法在保持最大流/最小割最优性的同时,实际减少了增广次数。此外,我们设计了一种混合扩展方案,结合流预热与边优先级预测,为学习引导的组合优化在图像分割中的应用奠定基础。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
We propose a learning-augmented framework for accelerating max-flow computation and image segmentation by integrating Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) with the Ford-Fulkerson algorithm. Rather than predicting initial flows, our method learns edge importance probabilities to guide augmenting path selection. We introduce a Message Passing GNN (MPGNN) that jointly learns node and edge embeddings through coupled updates, capturing both global structure and local flow dynamics such as residual capacity and bottlenecks. Given an input image, we propose a method to construct a grid-based flow network with source and sink nodes, extract features, and perform a single GNN inference to assign edge probabilities reflecting their likelihood of belonging to high-capacity cuts. These probabilities are stored in a priority queue and used to guide a modified Ford-Fulkerson procedure, prioritizing augmenting paths via an Edmonds-Karp-style search with bottleneck-aware tie-breaking. This avoids repeated inference over residual graphs while leveraging learned structure throughout optimization. We further introduce a bidirectional path construction strategy centered on high-probability edges and provide a theoretical framework relating prediction quality to efficiency via a weighted permutation distance metric. Our method preserves max-flow/min-cut optimality while reducing the number of augmentations in practice. We also outline a hybrid extension combining flow warm-starting with edge-priority prediction, establishing a foundation for learning-guided combinatorial optimization in image segmentation.
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