Find minimum and maximum value of an array using ARM NEON instructions

Question

I have the following code which I would like to optimise using ARM NEON instructions. How can I implement it? Thanks for the answers

unsigned char someVector[] = {1, 2, 4, 1, 2, 0, 8, 100};
unsigned char maxVal = 0, minVal = 255;
for (int i = 0; i < sizeof(someVector); i++)
{
    if (someVector[i] < minVal)
    {
        minVal = someVector[i];
    }
    else if (someVector[i] > maxVal)
    {
        maxVal = someVector[i];
    }
}

Answer 1

Below is an highly optimized example how to find min and max in a large array. The function simply returns if size is smaller than 128 :

/*
 * minmax.S
 *
 *  Created on: 2014. 10. 29.
 *      Author: Jake Lee
 */


// unsigned int minmax(unsigned char *pSrc, unsigned int size);

    .text
    .arm
    .global minmax

    pSrc    .req    r0
    size    .req    r1

    qmin1   .req    q0
        dmina   .req    d0
        dminb   .req    d1

    qmax1   .req    q1
        dmaxa   .req    d2
        dmaxb   .req    d3

    qmin2   .req    q2
    qmax2   .req    q3

    .align 5
    .func
minmax:
    subs    size, size, #128
    bxmi    lr
    vmov.i8     qmin1, #0xff
    vmov.i8     qmax1, #0
    vmov.i8     qmin2, #0xff
    vmov.i8     qmax2, #0

    .align 5
1:
    vld1.8      {q8, q9}, [pSrc]!
    vld1.8      {q10, q11}, [pSrc]!
    vld1.8      {q12, q13}, [pSrc]!
    vld1.8      {q14, q15}, [pSrc]!
    subs    size, size, #128
    pld     [pSrc, #64*3]
    pld     [pSrc, #64*4]
    vmin.u8     qmin1, q8
    vmax.u8     qmax1, q8
    vmin.u8     qmin2, q9
    vmax.u8     qmax2, q9
    vmin.u8     qmin1, q10
    vmax.u8     qmax1, q10
    vmin.u8     qmin2, q11
    vmax.u8     qmax2, q11
    vmin.u8     qmin1, q12
    vmax.u8     qmax1, q12
    vmin.u8     qmin2, q13
    vmax.u8     qmax2, q13
    vmin.u8     qmin1, q14
    vmax.u8     qmax1, q14
    vmin.u8     qmin2, q15
    vmax.u8     qmax2, q15
    bpl     1b

// deal width residuals (size % 128)
    cmp     size, #-128
    addgt   pSrc, pSrc, size
    bgt     1b

// shrink to sixteen
    vmin.u8     qmin1, qmin2
    vmax.u8     qmax1, qmax2
// shrink to eight
    vpmin.u8    dmina, dmina, dminb
    vpmax.u8    dmaxa, dmaxa, dmaxb
// shrink to four
    vpmin.u8    dmina, dmina, dminb
    vpmax.u8    dmaxa, dmaxa, dmaxb
// shrink to two
    vpmin.u8    dmina, dmina, dminb
    vpmax.u8    dmaxa, dmaxa, dmaxb
// shrink to one
    vpmin.u8    dmina, dmina, dminb
    vpmax.u8    dmaxa, dmaxa, dmaxb

    vmov    r0, dmina[0]
    vmov    r1, dmaxa[0]

    and     r0, r0, #0xff
    and     r1, r1, #0xff
    orr     r0, r0, r1, lsl #16
    bx      lr
    .endfunc
    .end

The return value is an unsigned int. The lower 16 bits contain min and higher ones max :

result = minmax(pSrc, size);
min = result & 0xff;
max = result >> 16;