When evaluating a pixel for membership in a cluster, one must first determine if the west and north neighbors have already been assigned a temporary cluster label and, if so, determine their minimum cluster label. This requires at least two comparison operations: (1) is the west neighbor's pixel value equal to 0, and (2) is the north neighbor's pixel value equal to zero. Once the cluster membership has been determined, the appropriate csize array values must be adjusted to reflect the changes in the status (the pixel label value) of the west and north neighbors. In the FSM implementation, the value of the west neighbor's pixel is stored in a local variable and the west neighbor's cluster membership status is encapsulated in a state of the FSM.