Patent ID: 8456480
Filing Date: 2013-06-04
Classification: G06T

Abstract:
1. A method of processing image data, the method using a Single-Instruction-Multiple-Data (SIMD) processor having multiple lanes and local memory, the method comprising: mapping a group of N consecutive rasters within the image data to N consecutive lanes of the SIMD processor; processing an image strip formed of the group of N consecutive rasters within the image data, wherein a vertical stack of image strips forms a strip column, and the image data comprises one or more strip columns, wherein the processing of each of the N consecutive rasters advances within each of the respective N consecutive lanes from left to right across the image strip with different rasters of the image strip being processed in different lanes of the SIMD processor in parallel, wherein the step of processing an image strip further comprises processing the image strip in a sequence of functions configured to execute on the SIMD processor according to a pipeline implementation, the pipeline implementation looping over portions of the image data in multiple iterations, wherein intermediate data processed during the sequence of functions is stored in the local memory, wherein the sequence of functions comprises a sequence of kernels configured to execute on the SIMD processor according to the pipeline implementation, and wherein each kernel in the pipeline implementation is configured to implement an image processing function; storing in the local memory the image strip; repeating the processing step for different image strips forming a strip column, so as to process an entire strip column, and for different strip columns across the image, as necessary, so as to process the entire image data; and defining overlapping regions between adjacent strip columns in the image data, wherein an amount of overlap corresponds to an amount of horizontal context requested by all of the kernels in the pipeline implementation.