A Two-Dimensional Analog VLSI Circuit for Detecting Discontinuities in Early Vision

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 248; no. 4960; pp. 1209 - 1211
• Main Authors: Harris, John G., Koch, Christof, Luo, Jin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Society for the Advancement of Science 08.06.1990; American Association for the Advancement of Science; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Algorithms; Analog circuits; Applied sciences; Computer Graphics; Computer Simulation; Computer vision; Computers; Cost functions; Data smoothing; Electric fuses; Electric potential; Electronics; Exact sciences and technology; Humans; Information retrieval noise; Integrated circuits; Integrated circuits by function (including memories and processors); Machine vision; Mathematical minima; Mathematics; Number theory; Pixels; Resistors; Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices; Vision, Ocular; Computer vision; VLSI circuit; Segmentation; Complementary MOS technology; Integrated circuit; Resistive circuit; Algorithm; Implementation
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.2349479

A large number of computer vision algorithms for finding intensity edges, computing motion, depth, and color, and recovering the three-dimensional shape of objects have been developed within the framework of minimizing an associated "energy" or "cost" functional. Particularly successful has been the introduction of binary variables coding for discontinuities in intensity, optical flow field, depth, and other variables, allowing image segmentation to occur in these modalities. The associated nonconvex variational functionals can be mapped onto analog, resistive networks, such that the stationary voltage distribution in the network corresponds to a minimum of the functional. The performance of an experimental analog very-large-scale integration (VLSI) circuit implementing the nonlinear resistive network for the problem of two-dimensional surface interpolation in the presence of discontinuities is demonstrated; this circuit is implemented in complementary metal oxide semiconductor technology.