For the processing of color images, multivariable 3-input, 3-output 2-D digital filters are
used, considering decomposition in the R, G and B components. Assuming that the three
image components are decorrelated, three independent single-input, single-output (SISO)
two-dimensional (2-D) digital filters are needed for the processing of each monochromatic
image. Additional processing is needed for the correlated noise components in each chan-
nel. The requirement of very fast processing dictates the use of special purpose hardware
implementations. The VLSI array processors, which are special purpose, locally intercon-
nected computing networks, are ideally suited for the fast implementation of digital filters,
since they maximize concurrency by exploiting both parallelism and pipelining. In this
paper fast implementation architectures of 3-input, 3-output 2-D multi-input digital filters
for color image processing that are based on matrix decompositions are presented. The
resulting structures are modular, regular, have high inherent parallelism and are easily
pipelined, so that they may be implemented via VLSI array processors
