Pattern classification using a linear associative memory

Abstract

Pattern classification is a very important image processing task. A typical pattern classification algorithm can be broken into two parts; first, the pattern features are extracted and, second, these features are compared with a stored set of reference features until a match is found. In the second part, usually one of the several clustering algorithms or similarity measures is applied. In this paper, a new application of linear associative memory (LAM) to pattern classification problems is introduced. Here, the clustering algorithms or similarity measures are replaced by a LAM matrix multiplication. With a LAM, the reference features need not be separately stored. Since the second part of most classification algorithms is similar, a LAM standardizes the many clustering algorithms and also allows for a standard digital hardware implementation. Computer simulations on regular textures using a feature extraction algorithm achieved a high percentage of successful classification. In addition, this classification is independent of topological transformations.