CORRELATION DEGREE ARITHMETIC UNIT, PARALLEL CORRELATION DEGREE ARITHMETIC UNIT AND CORRELATION DEGREE CALCULATING METHOD

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a correlation degree arithmetic unit capable of easily extending a retrieval area, performing high speed processing even for an extended retrieval area with simple constitution. SOLUTION: The picture element data of the retrieval area including ((m×M)×L) candidate blocks are stored in retrieval area memory 10. A correlation degree arithmetic part 30 performs the arithmetic operation of the correlation degree between the reference image blocks of (M×N) picture elements and each candidate block by applying pipeline processing for each candidate block group consisting of (M×N) candidate blocks by using image element data read out from the retrieval area memory 10. Since the retrieval area memory 10 is provided with a function to output four pieces of picture element data simultaneously, the correlation arithmetic part 30 performs the pipeline processing for each candidate block group successively. In this way, it is possible to calculate the correlation degree of ((m×M)×L) candidate blocks successively for (M×N) picture element reference image blocks.