Invited paper Picture processing using multiple-valued logic

摘要

One of the goals of current VLSI design is to represent very complex systems on a chip. However, certain physical limitations sometimes exist, such as the number of wires and pins that can be used on IC packages. Yet it is known that fewer wires are needed to carry multiple-valued logic signals, and fewer wires means fewer pins per package. And, secondly, using multiple-valued logic, bit density of stored data in memory can be significantly raised by increasing the number of bits per memory cell. Target applications of particular interest for VLSI implementations are those whose complexity is great, either (a) in terms of the number of labour-intensive operations that must be performed per unit time or (b) in terms of the amount of data that must be stored or communicated to accommodate such operations. Some examples of applications which could easily fall into this target area are computer graphics, robotics, and picture processing. Multiple-valued logic can be introduced when it comes time to implement these applications. This paper describes how common picture processing functions can be designed to advantage by using multiple-valued logic.