//--------------------------------------------------------------------
+  template<class ImageType, class LabelType>
+  typename itk::LabelMap< itk::ShapeLabelObject<LabelType, ImageType::ImageDimension> >::Pointer
+  ComputeLabelMap(const ImageType * image, 
+                  typename ImageType::PixelType BG,                   
+                  bool computePerimeterFlag=false);
   template<class ImageType>
   void
   ComputeCentroids(const ImageType * image, 
   //--------------------------------------------------------------------
   
 
+  //--------------------------------------------------------------------
+  template<class ImageType>
+  typename ImageType::Pointer
+  Clone(const ImageType * input);
+  //--------------------------------------------------------------------
+  
+
 }
 
 #include "clitkSegmentationUtils.txx"
 
 #include <itkConstantPadImageFilter.h>
 #include <itkImageSliceIteratorWithIndex.h>
 #include <itkBinaryMorphologicalOpeningImageFilter.h>
+#include <itkImageDuplicator.h>
 
 namespace clitk {
 
   //--------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
+  //--------------------------------------------------------------------
+  template<class ImageType, class LabelType>
+  typename itk::LabelMap< itk::ShapeLabelObject<LabelType, ImageType::ImageDimension> >::Pointer
+  ComputeLabelMap(const ImageType * image, 
+                  typename ImageType::PixelType BG, 
+                  bool computePerimeterFlag) 
+  {
+    static const unsigned int Dim = ImageType::ImageDimension;
+    typedef itk::ShapeLabelObject< LabelType, Dim > LabelObjectType;
+    typedef itk::LabelMap< LabelObjectType > LabelMapType;
+    typedef itk::LabelImageToLabelMapFilter<ImageType, LabelMapType> ImageToMapFilterType;
+    typename ImageToMapFilterType::Pointer imageToLabelFilter = ImageToMapFilterType::New(); 
+    typedef itk::ShapeLabelMapFilter<LabelMapType, ImageType> ShapeFilterType; 
+    typename ShapeFilterType::Pointer statFilter = ShapeFilterType::New();
+    imageToLabelFilter->SetBackgroundValue(BG);
+    imageToLabelFilter->SetInput(image);
+    statFilter->SetInput(imageToLabelFilter->GetOutput());
+    statFilter->SetComputePerimeter(computePerimeterFlag);
+    statFilter->Update();
+    return statFilter->GetOutput();
+  }
+  //--------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
   //--------------------------------------------------------------------
   template<class ImageType>
   void
   //--------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
+  //--------------------------------------------------------------------
+  template<class ImageType>
+  typename ImageType::Pointer
+  Clone(const ImageType * input) {
+    typedef itk::ImageDuplicator<ImageType> DuplicatorType;
+    typename DuplicatorType::Pointer duplicator = DuplicatorType::New();
+    duplicator->SetInputImage(input);
+    duplicator->Update();
+    return duplicator->GetOutput();
+  }
+  //--------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
 } // end of namespace