Evolvable hardware chip for high precision printer image compression

Abstract

This paper describes a data compression chip for the high-precision electrophotographic printer using Evolvable Hardware (EHW). EHW is a new hardware paradigm which combines Genetic Algorithm (GA) and reconfigurable hardware technology such as FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array). In EHW, GA is used to search for the most desirable hardware structure to a given task. If the task requirement changes, GA is invoked to get a better hardware structure and EHW is reconfigured that way. In data compression, EHW is used to implement the most adequate compression method directly in hardware according to the characteristics of the target image. The EHW-based compression chip attains approximately twice the compression compared with the international standard called JBIG. This chip is the first EHW-chip to lead to a commercial product.