Orthogonal shift level comparison reuse for structuring element shape independent VLSI-Architectures of 2D morphological operations

In this work we present an efficient and flexible - structuring element shape independent - new VLSI-architecture design approach for 2D morphological operations. Contrary to common used architecture design concepts based on structuring element areal decomposition is the ability to handle arbitrary non-convex flat structuring elements. Furthermore, no intermediate image data storage over several image lines is required and the amount of comparators and registers is reduced by reusing results on so called orthogonal shift levels. This leads to efficient realizations regarding hardware complexity and maximum clock frequency.