Object-Based Analog VLSI Vision Circuits

We describe two successfully working, analog VLSI vision circuits that move beyond pixel-based early vision algorithms. One circuit, implementing the dynamic wires model, provides for dedicated lines of communication among groups of pixels that share a common property. The chip uses the dynamic wires model to compute the arclength of visual contours. Another circuit labels all points inside a given contour with one voltage and all other with another voltage. Its behavior is very robust, since small breaks in contours are automatically sealed, providing for Figure-Ground segregation in a noisy environment. Both chips are implemented using networks of resistors and switches and represent a step towards object level processing since a single voltage value encodes the property of an ensemble of pixels