Video-Rate Labeling Processor
Masatoshi Komeichi, Yoshiyuki Ohta, Toshiyuki Gotoh, Toshiya Mima, Masumi Yoshida · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · 1989
We have developed a component labeling processor amenable to pipelining and video-rate processing. The component labeling is widely used in various fields. However, the conventional algorithms have a problem that the operations rapidly increases as the shape of components becomes complex. This problem prevents us from realizing a high-speed processing. In this paper, we discuss an architecture of this processor and the algorithm for solving the problem. Our processor consists of four kinds of processing units. The pre-processing unit simplifies the shape of components to reduce the number of provisional labels. In the provisional labeling unit, each pixel of components is labeled provisionally using the local connectivity of pixels. The label classification unit classifies the provisional labels by the method of searching the label connectivities. In the label update unit, the provisional label of each pixel is replaced by the new label, and each component has been uniquely labeled. By this configuration, the provisional labels are searched directly according to the connectivities of the labels in time proportional to only the first power of the labels. The experimental results verify that we can process 512 x 512 x 8 bit TV images in pipeline at video-rate using our processor.