  This paper defines the basis of a new hierarchical framework for segmentation
algorithms based on energy minimization schemes. This new framework is based on
two formal tools. First, a combinatorial pyramid encode efficiently a hierarchy
of partitions. Secondly, discrete geometric estimators measure precisely some
important geometric parameters of the regions. These measures combined with
photometrical and topological features of the partition allows to design energy
terms based on discrete measures. Our segmentation framework exploits these
energies to build a pyramid of image partitions with a minimization scheme.
Some experiments illustrating our framework are shown and discussed.
