A tree matching algorithm and VLSI architecture for real-time 2D object classification

This paper presents a real-time classification algorithm for two-dimensional (2D) object contours using a tree model which is implemented in a modular very large scale integration (VLSI) architecture. The hardware implementation takes advantage of pipelining, parallelism, and the speed of VLSI technology to perform real-time object classification. Using the multiresolution tree model, the classification algorithm is invariant under 2D similarity transformations sind recognizes the visible portions of occluded objects. The VLSI classification system is implemented in 0.8 mm CMOS and is capable of performing 34 000 matchings per second. (C) 1998 Academic Press Limited.