Pre-processing optimization of an image processing system

• US 8,229,251 B2
• Filed: 02/08/2008
• Issued: 07/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/08/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kim, Moon J., Mori, Yumi, Yeo, Hangu, Doi, Munehiro
• Primary Examiner(s): ENTEZARI, MICHELLE M
• Application Number:
  US12/028,073
• Publication Number:
  US 20090202149A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,628 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 382/304
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/20 Processor architectures; Processor configuration, e.g. pipelining
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20021 Dividing image into blocks, subimages or windows
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/11 Region-based segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/955 using specific electronic processors
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 2201/06 Recognition of objects for industrial automation

Abstract

The present approach increases bandwidth by performing at least two functions at the pre-processing level. Specifically, under the present approach, program code is structured so that the segmentation and binarization functions/modules (and optionally a blob analysis function/module) are merged into a single module to reduce memory bandwidth. In addition, each image frame is segmented into a plurality of partitions (e.g., vertical strips) to enhance the reusability of the image data in LS already fetched from main memory. Each partition is then processed by a separate one of a plurality of processing engines, thereby increasing the utilization of all processing engines and allowing the processing engines to maintain good bandwidth.

Claims

1. A method for optimizing an image processing system, comprising:

structuring code of the image processing system to combine a segmentation function and a binarization function into a single module;

segmenting each frame of the image data received by the image processing system into a plurality of partitions; and

processing each of the plurality of partitions with a plurality of processing engines, wherein every one of the plurality of partitions is completely processed using a different one of the plurality of processing engines.

2. The method of claim 1, the structuring further comprising combining an analysis function into the single module.

3. The method of claim 1, each of the plurality of processing engines comprising at least one of an input buffer and a result buffer.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing a blob analysis on the image data with the plurality of processing engines.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the image data from an image grabber.

6. An image processing system, comprising:

a module for segmenting each frame of the image data into a plurality of partitions and for binarizing the image data; and

a plurality of processing engines for processing all of the plurality of partitions in the image data, the plurality of processing engines each completely processing a different one of the plurality of partitions.

7. The system of claim 6, the module being further configured to analyze the image data.

8. The system of claim 6, each of the plurality of processing engines comprising at least one of an input buffer and a result buffer.

9. The system of claim 6, further comprising the plurality of processing engines performing a blob analysis on the image data.

10. The system of claim 6, further comprising an image grabber for receiving the image data.

11. A method for processing images, comprising:

receiving image data on an interface unit from a set of image recordation mechanisms;

sending the image data and commands for processing the image data to an image processing unit;

segmenting each frame of the image data into a plurality of partitions; and

processing all of the plurality of partitions with a plurality of processing engines, each of the plurality of processing engines completely processing a different one of the plurality of partitions.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

binarizing the image data, wherein the binarizing and the segmenting are performed by a single module; and

analyzing the image data prior.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

interpreting the commands on the image processing unit; and

scheduling tasks for processing the image data on the image processing unit.

14. The method of claim 11, the receiving occurring via a plurality of image grabbers of the image interface unit.

15. A program product stored on a computer readable storage medium for processing images, the computer readable medium comprising program code for causing a computer system to:

receive image data on an image interface unit from a plurality of image recordation mechanisms;

send the image data and commands for processing the image data to an image processing unit;

segment each frame of the image data into a plurality of partitions; and

process all of the plurality of partitions with a plurality of processing engines, each of the plurality of processing engines completely processing a different one of the plurality of partitions.

16. The program product of claim 15, the computer readable medium further comprising program code for causing the computer system to:

binarize the image data, wherein the binarizing and the segmenting are performed by a single module; and

analyze the image data.

17. The program product of claim 15, the computer readable medium further comprising program code for causing the computer system to:

interpret the commands on the image processing unit; and

schedule tasks for processing the image data on the image processing unit.

18. A method for deploying an application for processing images, comprising:

providing a computer infrastructure being operable to;

receive image data image on an interface unit from a plurality of image recordation mechanisms;

send the image data and commands for processing the image data to an image processing unit;

segment the image data into a plurality of partitions; and

process the plurality of partitions with a plurality of processing engines, each of the plurality of processing engines completely processing a different one of the set of partitions.

19. The method of claim 18, the computer infrastructure being further operable to:

binarize the image data, wherein the binarizing and the segmenting are performed by a single module; and

analyze the image data.

20. The method of claim 18, the computer infrastructure being further operable to:

interpret the commands on the image processing unit; and

schedule tasks for processing the image data on the image processing unit.