A fast filter for real-time image processing

In this paper, a new digital filter structure is developed for the implementation of two-dimensional (2-D) recursive filters for realtime image processing. The proposed structure has a short clock cycle time or a high data throughput rate, independent of the order of the filter. Parallelism and pipelining are the two features of the proposed filter structure that contribute to its high-speed performance. The filter can be implemented without multipliers. Using standard integrated circuits and memories, the new filter is capable of filtering images of size up to pixels with a TV scan rate of 30 frames/s in real time. The effects of the finite precision arithmetic have been considered. Scaling and overflow problems are studied to give insight into the choice of a proper scaling factor, so that an adequate signal-to-noise ratio at the filter output can be obtained.