Two dimensional moving average filter

A method of filtering a two dimensional array comprising the steps of:

• providing a electronic version of a two dimensional array of values comprising N rows and M columns that is operatively coupled to a temporary memory buffer having “R+1” rows by M columns;
• duplicating a first set of R rows into the temporary memory buffer;
• calculating a first summation of R rows for each of the M columns within the temporary memory buffer and placing the first summation into the “R+1” row of the temporary memory buffer;
• creating a neighborhood filter that is a second summation of “C” elements within the temporary memory buffer, the second summation of the neighborhood filter, thereby, containing the summated values of C columns by R rows of the array;
• averaging the second summation by dividing by the number of elements within the neighborhood filter (R×C) to create an averaged center;
• placing the averaged center into its representative position within the electronic version of the two dimensional array;
• and
• moving the neighborhood filter to a next position by adding a new summated column value from the “R+1” row of the temporary memory buffer to the neighborhood filter and subtracting an oldest summated column value within the R+1 row from the neighborhood filter and repeating the averaging and placing step until all M columns have been processed.

A method of filtering a two dimensional array comprising the steps of:

• providing an electronic version of a two dimensional array of N rows by M columns that is operatively coupled to computational element, the computational element being coupled to a temporary memory buffer having M columns and “R+1” rows, where “R+1” is a value less than N;
• selecting a subset of R row from the two dimensional array that is representative of a current row being filtered and duplicating a subset of R rows from the two dimensional array into the temporary memory buffer leaving a single row unfilled within the temporary memory buffer;
• creating a first summation of all R rows for each of the M columns within the temporary memory buffer and placing the first summation into the single row of the temporary memory buffer;
• generating a neighborhood filter that is a second summation of “C” elements of the single row within the temporary memory buffer;
• averaging the second summation by dividing by a value R×C to create an averaged center;
• placing the averaged center into its representative position within the electronic version of the two dimensional array;
• and
• repeating the creating, generating, averaging and placing steps for each desired value in the current row being processed.