A special-purpose content addressable memory chip for real-time image processing

An application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) using a special-purpose content addressable memory that performs parallel search and multiple update (PSMU) operation is presented. This chip, referred to as multiple update content addressable memory (MUCAM), can search 256, 8-b-wide locations in parallel for target data and update all such locations with new data within 50 ns. MUCAM has been developed for image component labeling and merging operation in a connected component analyzer. It was fabricated using 0.9- mu m CMOS technology.>