Method and circuit for filtering signals representative of a picture

Abstract

For filtering a bi-dimensional image signal in the form of data representing pixels obtained by column per column scanning of bands each having a height equal to a fraction of the height of the image, the transform of each pixel is computed in turn. For that, a convolution product using MxN coefficients is carried out on the pixels of a zone of an image, each column of each M pixels. The image is fractionated into mutually adjacent blocks each representing N columns of M pixels and the transforms of all pixels of a same block are simultaneously computed in MxN cycles by: parallel computation, during a same cycle, of all partial convolution products of only one of the filtering coefficients and of those pixels which provide a partial product which intervenes in the computation of the transforms of all pixels of the block, within a 'window' of the picture which contains the block. The cycle is repeated for each coefficient in turn. All partial products obtained during the successive cycles are summed.