Fifth workshop on computer architecture for non-numeric processing: A flexible image processor using array elements

The purpose of this short paper is to describe some activities in our laboratory on designing a flexible image processor using array processing elements. In many document creation applications, it is desirable to include image handling capability in the system together with keystroke captured text processing function. However, this image handling creates two problems: one is the large amount of data needed for image storage, and the other is the large amount of processing required to produce an output image. Data compression reduces storage and transmission bandwidth requirements, but it also requires processing power to do compression and de-compression of images. The objective of the study is to provide low-cost hardware which has the flexibility to do a variety of image processing algorithms.