A computer for implementing an algorithmic method for extracting iconic/symbolic information from image data in a parallel processing environment is disclosed. A register (110) is associated with each of a plurality of processing elements (PE) in a lower level processing, and the iconic/symbolic image data is transferred to a higher level processing, over data buses (F1, F2) linking the two levels of the processing, based on the condition of the register (110). <IMAGE>
Computer architecture for the efficient extraction and transfer of iconic/symbolic information between processing element levels in an image understanding machine.