The detected arcs by the cone intersection(CI) method exist within a tolerant error from the original curve. But the position of breakpoint by the CI method is sensitive to the tolerant error. The deviation of breakpoint position makes ill effects to the detection of arc center or radius. In this paper a improved CI method for center detection and arc segmentation is proposed. The detected arcs from curves by the proposed method have very stable mean of deviations from the original curves. The experimental results show that the position of breakpoint by the proposed method is closer to real position than the one by other methods.