An Effective Merge Criterion and Two Parallel Strategies for Split and Merge Algorithm

To improve the split and merge algorithm and propose its parallel strategies,a modified criterion based on the best merge criterion(BMC) is proposed at the merge stage.It can increase the number of matching for neighboring regions that satisfy the merge criterion and decrease the number of iterations.A new method is put forward to solve the load imbalance at the merge stage by using the available parallel strategy.A new parallel strategy is given based on master-slave programming model to settle the load imbalance caused by the split stage.These two parallel strategies are discussed by analyzing their difference in load balance,communication complexity and scalability.Experimental results showed that the methods improved the efficiency of the split and merge algorithm,and the parallel strategies to be applicable.