Efficient implementation of a noise removal filter

1. A method for noise removal filtering comprising:

selecting a characteristic of a test pixel;

comparing the characteristic of the test pixel to a characteristic of a first adjacent pixel;

comparing the characteristic of the test pixel to a characteristic of a second adjacent pixel;

generating a flag if the characteristic of the first adjacent pixel and the characteristic of the second adjacent pixel are both different than the characteristic of the test pixel; and

terminating the noise removal filtering if the flag is not generated and thereby indicating that the characteristic of the test pixel is not different than the characteristics of the adjacent pixels.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the flag is generated if the first adjacent pixel characteristic and the second adjacent pixel characteristic are both greater than the test pixel characteristic.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the flag is generated if the characteristic of the first adjacent pixel and the characteristic of the second adjacent pixel are both less than the characteristic of the test pixel.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

comparing the characteristic of the test pixel to a characteristic of a third adjacent pixel; and

wherein the generating generates the flag if the characteristic of the first adjacent pixel, the characteristic of the second adjacent pixel and the characteristic of the third adjacent pixel are all different than the characteristic of the test pixel.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

comparing the characteristic of the test pixel to a characteristic of a third adjacent pixel;

comparing the characteristic of the test pixel to a characteristic of a fourth adjacent pixel; and

wherein the generating generates the flag if the characteristic of the first adjacent pixel, the characteristic of the second adjacent pixel, the characteristic of the third adjacent pixel and the characteristic of the fourth adjacent pixel are all different than the characteristic of the test pixel.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the characteristics of the first adjacent pixel, the second adjacent pixel, the third adjacent pixel, and the fourth adjacent pixel are each greater than the test pixel characteristic.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the characteristics of the first adjacent pixel, the second adjacent pixel, the third adjacent pixel, and the fourth adjacent pixel are each less than the test pixel characteristic.

8. A system for noise removal filtering comprising:

a pixel data input receiving a test pixel characteristic and a first adjacent pixel characteristic;

a filter comparing the test pixel characteristic to the first adjacent pixel characteristic and comparing the test pixel characteristic to a second adjacent pixel characteristic;

a stage output providing flag output data of a first value if the test pixel characteristic is different than both the first adjacent pixel characteristic and the second adjacent pixel characteristic;

a noise filter testing stop output providing noise filter testing stop data if the stage output does not provide the flag output data of the first value and thereby indicating that the test pixel characteristic is not different than the adjacent pixel characteristics.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the filter is a horizontal filter and the first adjacent pixel characteristic is for a pixel that is horizontally adjacent to a test pixel.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the second adjacent pixel characteristic is for a pixel that is vertically adjacent to the test pixel, and wherein the system further comprising: a vertical filter comparing the test pixel characteristic to the vertically adjacent pixel characteristic.

11. The system of claim 9 wherein the second adjacent pixel characteristic is for a pixel that is diagonally adjacent to the test pixel, and wherein the system further comprising: a diagonal filter comparing the test pixel characteristic to the diagonally adjacent pixel characteristic.

12. The system of claim 8 wherein the stage outputs provides the flag output data of the first value if the test pixel characteristic is less than both the adjacent pixel characteristic and the second adjacent pixel characteristic.

13. A system for noise removal filtering comprising:

a first adjacent pixel system providing first adjacent pixel data; and

a test pixel compare system coupled to the first adjacent pixel system and comparing the first adjacent pixel data to test pixel data;

wherein the test pixel compare system further comprises a flag output that includes flag data and the test pixel compare system generates the flag data if the test pixel data is not equal to the first adjacent pixel data, and wherein the test pixel compare system generates a first output that includes noise removal filtering stop data.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the test pixel compare system generates the first output that includes the noise removal filtering stop data if the first adjacent pixel data is equal to the test pixel data.

15. The system of claim 13 further comprising:

a second adjacent pixel system providing second adjacent pixel data; and

wherein the test pixel compare system generates a second output that includes noise removal filtering stop data if the second adjacent pixel data is equal to the test pixel data.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the test pixel compare system generates second flag data if the test pixel data is not equal to the second adjacent pixel data.

17. The system of claim 16 further comprising an adjacent compare system receiving the flag data and the second flag data and generating noise removal filtering output data if the flag data equals the second flag data.