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Main Authors: Naruko, Takahiro, Akutsu, Hiroaki
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.01519
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author Naruko, Takahiro
Akutsu, Hiroaki
author_facet Naruko, Takahiro
Akutsu, Hiroaki
contents Vision Transformer (ViT) models have made breakthroughs in image embedding extraction, which provide state-of-the-art performance in tasks such as zero-shot image classification. However, the models suffer from a high computational burden. In this paper, we propose a novel speed-up method for ViT models called Attention-aware Token Filtering (ATF). ATF consists of two main ideas: a novel token filtering module and a filtering strategy. The token filtering module is introduced between a tokenizer and a transformer encoder of the ViT model, without modifying or fine-tuning of the transformer encoder. The module filters out tokens inputted to the encoder so that it keeps tokens in regions of specific object types dynamically and keeps tokens in regions that statically receive high attention in the transformer encoder. This filtering strategy maintains task accuracy while filtering out tokens inputted to the transformer encoder. Evaluation results on retrieval tasks show that ATF provides $2.8\times$ speed-up to a ViT model, SigLIP, while maintaining the retrieval recall rate.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_01519
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Speed-up of Vision Transformer Models by Attention-aware Token Filtering
Naruko, Takahiro
Akutsu, Hiroaki
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Vision Transformer (ViT) models have made breakthroughs in image embedding extraction, which provide state-of-the-art performance in tasks such as zero-shot image classification. However, the models suffer from a high computational burden. In this paper, we propose a novel speed-up method for ViT models called Attention-aware Token Filtering (ATF). ATF consists of two main ideas: a novel token filtering module and a filtering strategy. The token filtering module is introduced between a tokenizer and a transformer encoder of the ViT model, without modifying or fine-tuning of the transformer encoder. The module filters out tokens inputted to the encoder so that it keeps tokens in regions of specific object types dynamically and keeps tokens in regions that statically receive high attention in the transformer encoder. This filtering strategy maintains task accuracy while filtering out tokens inputted to the transformer encoder. Evaluation results on retrieval tasks show that ATF provides $2.8\times$ speed-up to a ViT model, SigLIP, while maintaining the retrieval recall rate.
title Speed-up of Vision Transformer Models by Attention-aware Token Filtering
topic Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.01519