# IPixMatch: Boost Semi-supervised Semantic Segmentation with Inter-Pixel Relation

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.18891 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.18891/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Detection and dense prediction distillation, one of 12 directions in Knowledge distillation.
- Builds on 24 of its 31 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 29 Apr 2024.

## Placed in

- Knowledge distillation / [Detection and dense prediction distillation](https://mlsanity.com/distill/detection-and-dense-prediction-distillation/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 24 of 24)

- [Deep Residual Learning for Image Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1512.03385/) (2015)
- [The Cityscapes Dataset for Semantic Urban Scene Understanding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1604.01685/) (2016)
- [DeepLab: Semantic Image Segmentation with Deep Convolutional Nets, Atrous Convolution, and Fully Connected CRFs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1606.00915/) (2016)
- [FixMatch: Simplifying Semi-Supervised Learning with Consistency and Confidence](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2001.07685/) (2020)
- [MixMatch: A Holistic Approach to Semi-Supervised Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.02249/) (2019)
- [Self-training with Noisy Student improves ImageNet classification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1911.04252/) (2019)
- [Unsupervised Data Augmentation for Consistency Training](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.12848/) (2019)
- [Temporal Ensembling for Semi-Supervised Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1610.02242/) (2016)
- [Semi-Supervised Semantic Segmentation with Cross Pseudo Supervision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.01226/) (2021)
- [Semi-Supervised Semantic Segmentation with Cross-Consistency Training](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.09005/) (2020)
- [Semi-Supervised Semantic Segmentation Using Unreliable Pseudo-Labels](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.03884/) (2022)
- [Knowledge Distillation from A Stronger Teacher](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.10536/) (2022)
- [ST++: Make Self-training Work Better for Semi-supervised Semantic Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.05095/) (2021)
- [Revisiting Weak-to-Strong Consistency in Semi-Supervised Semantic Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.09910/) (2022)
- [Channel-wise Knowledge Distillation for Dense Prediction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.13256/) (2020)
- [Guided Collaborative Training for Pixel-wise Semi-Supervised Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2008.05258/) (2020)
- [Perturbed and Strict Mean Teachers for Semi-supervised Semantic Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.12903/) (2021)
- [Semi-supervised Semantic Segmentation with Directional Context-aware Consistency](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.14133/) (2021)
- [Pixel Contrastive-Consistent Semi-Supervised Semantic Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2108.09025/) (2021)
- [Semi-Supervised Semantic Segmentation via Adaptive Equalization Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.05474/) (2021)
- [A Simple Baseline for Semi-supervised Semantic Segmentation with Strong Data Augmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.07256/) (2021)
- [Re-distributing Biased Pseudo Labels for Semi-supervised Semantic Segmentation: A Baseline Investigation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.11279/) (2021)
- [Unbiased Subclass Regularization for Semi-Supervised Semantic Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.10026/) (2022)
- [Region-level Contrastive and Consistency Learning for Semi-Supervised Semantic Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.13314/) (2022)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [BoundMatch: Boundary detection applied to semi-supervised segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.23519/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The scarcity of labeled data in real-world scenarios is a critical bottleneck of deep learning's effectiveness. Semi-supervised semantic segmentation has been a typical solution to achieve a desirable tradeoff between annotation cost and segmentation performance. However, previous approaches, whether based on consistency regularization or self-training, tend to neglect the contextual knowledge embedded within inter-pixel relations. This negligence leads to suboptimal performance and limited generalization. In this paper, we propose a novel approach IPixMatch designed to mine the neglected but valuable Inter-Pixel information for semi-supervised learning. Specifically, IPixMatch is constructed as an extension of the standard teacher-student network, incorporating additional loss terms to capture inter-pixel relations. It shines in low-data regimes by efficiently leveraging the limited labeled data and extracting maximum utility from the available unlabeled data. Furthermore, IPixMatch can be integrated seamlessly into most teacher-student frameworks without the need of model modification or adding additional components. Our straightforward IPixMatch method demonstrates consistent performance improvements across various benchmark datasets under different partitioning protocols.