Method and circuits for scaling images using neural networks

摘要

There is disclosed an artificial neural network (ANN) based system that is adapted to process an input pattern to generate an output pattern related thereto having a different number of components. Basically, the system (26) is comprised of an ANN (27) and a memory (28), such as a DRAM memory, that are serially connected. The input pattern (23) is applied to a processor (22), where it can be processed or not (the most general case), before it is applied to the ANN and stored therein as a prototype (if learned). A category is associated to each stored prototype as standard. The processor computes the coefficients that allow to determine the estimated values of the output pattern, these coefficients are the components of a so-called intermediate pattern (24). Assuming the ANN has already learned a number of input patterns, when an new input pattern is presented to the ANN in the recognition phase, the category of the closest prototype is output therefrom and is used as a pointer to the memory. In turn, the memory outputs the corresponding intermediate pattern. The input pattern and the intermediate pattern are applied to the processor that constructs the output pattern (25) using said coefficients. Typically, the input pattern is a block of pixels in the field of scaling images.