Abstract: In order to get quick and accurate image segmentation and object extraction for real-time applications,a new algorithm which is fully based on edge information is proposed in this paper.In this new algorithm,Canny edge detection,with improvements in edge detection and edge tracing for parallel processing,is used to generate an edge map of the original image.Then a new edge-connection method is introduced to connect breakpoints and therefore to obtain closed contours of target objects.Finally,a new region filling method called four-direction-scanning is raised to fulfill object extraction.The whole algorithm is optimized for parallel calculation.Experiments show that the proposed algorithm performs an accurate execution of object extraction and image segmentation for any kind of complicated images.Moreover,throughout its full exploitation of GPU's parallel calculation resources,the proposed algorithm has a dramatic reduction of its runtime which enables its use in today's real-time applications.