Image adapter with tilewise image processing, and method using such an adapter

A method for processing an image defined by numerical values associated with points distributed as a matrix and divided into a plurality of rectangular tiles of like dimensions, comprising:

• storing values associated with the points of the input image belonging to a tile currently being processed in a plurality of row memories each having a depth equal to a number of points of a tile row;
• storing values associated with the points of the input image belonging to a tile previous to the tile currently being processed in a plurality of column memories each having a depth equal to the number of points of a tile column;
• generating from the values stored in the row and column memories a first sequence of weighted average values which correspond to values from the column memories corresponding to a portion of the previous tile and a second sequence of weighted average values which correspond to values from the row memories corresponding to the tile currently being processed, wherein the portion of the previous tile is situated in the input image alongside the tile currently being processed;
• and
• generating from the first and second sequences of values associated with the points of the output image according to a sampling rate determined for a direction parallel to the tile rows;
• wherein values for each row of the previous tile stored in the column memories are processed in generating the weighted average values before values for each corresponding row of the tile currently being processed and stored in the row memories.

A method for transforming an input image into an output image by successively processing rectangular tiles of like dimensions, the image defined by numerical values associated with points distributed as a matrix, the method comprising:

• storing, in a plurality of first queue memories each having a depth equal to a number of points of a tile row, values associated with the points of the input image belonging to a tile currently being processed;
• storing, in a plurality of second queue memories each having a depth equal to the number of points of a tile column, and successively for each tile row, values associated with the points of the input image belonging to a tile previously processed and situated alongside the tile currently being processed in the direction parallel to the rows;
• calculating a weighted average of the values from the first and second queue memories to produce as an output sequences of values sampled in a direction parallel to tile columns and corresponding to the values associated with successive points of the input image, each sequence comprising a number of values that is equal to the number of points of the tile row, with a continuous progression between the current and previous tiles for each row of input image common to the current and earlier tiles;
• and
• performing a sampling rate conversion on the output sequences of values, according to a sampling rate determined for a direction parallel to the tile rows, to produce values associated with the points of the output image.