A hardware configurable self-organizing map for real-time color quantization

Real-time color quantization requires high performances and high configurability. Self-organizing maps (SOMs) are very suited as color quantizers. However, widely used software SOM quantizers are flexible with limited performances, whereas the hardware counterparts lack in flexibility. In this work, we propose a flexible and adaptable real-time hardware implementation of a SOM map applied to color quantization. The proposed architecture allows to find iteratively, for each processed image, the adequate SOM structure providing optimal quality and performances. It is validated on a 16×16 map using 128×128 RGB images. The proposed reconfiguration allows to improve dynamically the PSNR of processed images by changing the structure of the SOM and its time is estimated to 38 clock cycles.