A Co-processor for Computing the Euler Number of a Binary Image using Divide-and-Conquer Strategy

Abstract

Euler number is a fundamental topological feature of an image. The efficiency of computation of topological features of an image is critical for many digital imaging applications such as image matching, database retrieval, and computer vision that require real time response. In this paper, a novel algorithm for computing the Euler number of a binary image based on divide-andconquer paradigm, is proposed, which outperforms significantly the conventional techniques used in image processing tools. The algorithm can be easily parallelized for computing the Euler number of an N × N image in O(N) time, with O(N) processors. Using a simple architecture, the proposed method can be implemented as a special purpose VLSI chip to be used as a co-processor.