System.AccessViolationException

You cannot pass a C++ std::string across an interop boundary. You cannot create one of those in your C# code. So your code can never work.

You need to use interop friendly types at the interop boundary. For instance, null-terminated arrays of characters. That works well when you allocate and deallocate the memory in the same module. So, it's simple enough when passing data from C# to C++.

C++

void foo(const char *str)
{
    // do something with str
}

C#

[DllImport("...", CallingConvention = CallingConvention.Cdecl)
static extern void foo(string str);

....

foo("bar");

In the other direction you would typically expect the caller to allocate the buffer, into which the callee can write:

C++

void foo(char *str, int len)
{
    // write no more than len characters into str
}

C#

[DllImport("...", CallingConvention = CallingConvention.Cdecl)
static extern void foo(StringBuilder str, int len);

....

StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(10);
foo(sb, sb.Capacity);

I'm fairly certain you're being blocked by DEP. The x_CPUIDy_INSNS byte arrays are in a segment of memory marked as data and non-executable.

EDIT:

That being said, I've gotten a version that compiles and runs, but I don't think gets the right values. Perhaps this will get you along your way.

EDIT 2:

I think I have the right values coming back now. Feel free to validate.

namespace CPUID
{
    using System;
    using System.Globalization;
    using System.Linq;
    using System.Reflection;
    using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
    using System.Text;

    internal static class Program
    {
        [Flags]
        private enum AllocationTypes : uint
        {
            Commit = 0x1000,
            Reserve = 0x2000,
            Reset = 0x80000,
            LargePages = 0x20000000,
            Physical = 0x400000,
            TopDown = 0x100000,
            WriteWatch = 0x200000
        }

        [Flags]
        private enum MemoryProtections : uint
        {
            Execute = 0x10,
            ExecuteRead = 0x20,
            ExecuteReadWrite = 0x40,
            ExecuteWriteCopy = 0x80,
            NoAccess = 0x01,
            ReadOnly = 0x02,
            ReadWrite = 0x04,
            WriteCopy = 0x08,
            GuartModifierflag = 0x100,
            NoCacheModifierflag = 0x200,
            WriteCombineModifierflag = 0x400
        }

        [Flags]
        private enum FreeTypes : uint
        {
            Decommit = 0x4000,
            Release = 0x8000
        }

        [UnmanagedFunctionPointerAttribute(CallingConvention.Cdecl)]
        private unsafe delegate void CPUID0Delegate(byte* buffer);

        [UnmanagedFunctionPointerAttribute(CallingConvention.Cdecl)]
        private unsafe delegate void CPUID1Delegate(byte* buffer);

        private static void Main()
        {
            Console.WriteLine("CPUID0: {0}", string.Join(", ", CPUID0().Select(x => x.ToString("X2", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture))));
            Console.WriteLine("CPUID0: {0}", new string(ASCIIEncoding.ASCII.GetChars(CPUID0())));
            Console.WriteLine("CPUID1: {0}", string.Join(", ", CPUID1().Select(x => x.ToString("X2", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture))));
            Console.ReadLine();
        }

        private static unsafe byte[] CPUID0()
        {
            byte[] buffer = new byte[12];

            if (IntPtr.Size == 4)
            {
                IntPtr p = NativeMethods.VirtualAlloc(
                    IntPtr.Zero,
                    new UIntPtr((uint)x86_CPUID0_INSNS.Length),
                    AllocationTypes.Commit | AllocationTypes.Reserve,
                    MemoryProtections.ExecuteReadWrite);
                try
                {
                    Marshal.Copy(x86_CPUID0_INSNS, 0, p, x86_CPUID0_INSNS.Length);

                    CPUID0Delegate del = (CPUID0Delegate)Marshal.GetDelegateForFunctionPointer(p, typeof(CPUID0Delegate));

                    fixed (byte* newBuffer = &buffer[0])
                    {
                        del(newBuffer);
                    }
                }
                finally
                {
                    NativeMethods.VirtualFree(p, 0, FreeTypes.Release);
                }
            }
            else if (IntPtr.Size == 8)
            {
                IntPtr p = NativeMethods.VirtualAlloc(
                    IntPtr.Zero,
                    new UIntPtr((uint)x64_CPUID0_INSNS.Length),
                    AllocationTypes.Commit | AllocationTypes.Reserve,
                    MemoryProtections.ExecuteReadWrite);
                try
                {
                    Marshal.Copy(x64_CPUID0_INSNS, 0, p, x64_CPUID0_INSNS.Length);

                    CPUID0Delegate del = (CPUID0Delegate)Marshal.GetDelegateForFunctionPointer(p, typeof(CPUID0Delegate));

                    fixed (byte* newBuffer = &buffer[0])
                    {
                        del(newBuffer);
                    }
                }
                finally
                {
                    NativeMethods.VirtualFree(p, 0, FreeTypes.Release);
                }
            }

            return buffer;
        }

        private static unsafe byte[] CPUID1()
        {
            byte[] buffer = new byte[12];

            if (IntPtr.Size == 4)
            {
                IntPtr p = NativeMethods.VirtualAlloc(
                    IntPtr.Zero,
                    new UIntPtr((uint)x86_CPUID1_INSNS.Length),
                    AllocationTypes.Commit | AllocationTypes.Reserve,
                    MemoryProtections.ExecuteReadWrite);
                try
                {
                    Marshal.Copy(x86_CPUID1_INSNS, 0, p, x86_CPUID1_INSNS.Length);

                    CPUID1Delegate del = (CPUID1Delegate)Marshal.GetDelegateForFunctionPointer(p, typeof(CPUID1Delegate));

                    fixed (byte* newBuffer = &buffer[0])
                    {
                        del(newBuffer);
                    }
                }
                finally
                {
                    NativeMethods.VirtualFree(p, 0, FreeTypes.Release);
                }
            }
            else if (IntPtr.Size == 8)
            {
                IntPtr p = NativeMethods.VirtualAlloc(
                    IntPtr.Zero,
                    new UIntPtr((uint)x64_CPUID1_INSNS.Length),
                    AllocationTypes.Commit | AllocationTypes.Reserve,
                    MemoryProtections.ExecuteReadWrite);
                try
                {
                    Marshal.Copy(x64_CPUID1_INSNS, 0, p, x64_CPUID1_INSNS.Length);

                    CPUID1Delegate del = (CPUID1Delegate)Marshal.GetDelegateForFunctionPointer(p, typeof(CPUID1Delegate));

                    fixed (byte* newBuffer = &buffer[0])
                    {
                        del(newBuffer);
                    }
                }
                finally
                {
                    NativeMethods.VirtualFree(p, 0, FreeTypes.Release);
                }
            }

            return buffer;
        }

        private static class NativeMethods
        {
            [DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
            internal static extern IntPtr VirtualAlloc(
                IntPtr lpAddress,
                UIntPtr dwSize,
                AllocationTypes flAllocationType,
                MemoryProtections flProtect);

            [DllImport("kernel32")]
            [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
            internal static extern bool VirtualFree(
                IntPtr lpAddress,
                uint dwSize,
                FreeTypes flFreeType);
        }

        #region ASM
        private static readonly byte[] x86_CPUID0_INSNS = new byte[]
            {
                0x53,                      // push   %ebx
                0x31, 0xc0,                // xor    %eax,%eax
                0x0f, 0xa2,                // cpuid
                0x8b, 0x44, 0x24, 0x08,    // mov    0x8(%esp),%eax
                0x89, 0x18,                // mov    %ebx,0x0(%eax)
                0x89, 0x50, 0x04,          // mov    %edx,0x4(%eax)
                0x89, 0x48, 0x08,          // mov    %ecx,0x8(%eax)
                0x5b,                      // pop    %ebx
                0xc3                       // ret
            };

        private static readonly byte[] x86_CPUID1_INSNS = new byte[]
            {
                0x53,                   // push   %ebx
                0x31, 0xc0,             // xor    %eax,%eax
                0x40,                   // inc    %eax
                0x0f, 0xa2,             // cpuid
                0x5b,                   // pop    %ebx
                0xc3                    // ret
            };

        private static readonly byte[] x64_CPUID0_INSNS = new byte[]
            {
                0x49, 0x89, 0xd8,       // mov    %rbx,%r8
                0x49, 0x89, 0xc9,       // mov    %rcx,%r9
                0x48, 0x31, 0xc0,       // xor    %rax,%rax
                0x0f, 0xa2,             // cpuid
                0x4c, 0x89, 0xc8,       // mov    %r9,%rax
                0x89, 0x18,             // mov    %ebx,0x0(%rax)
                0x89, 0x50, 0x04,       // mov    %edx,0x4(%rax)
                0x89, 0x48, 0x08,       // mov    %ecx,0x8(%rax)
                0x4c, 0x89, 0xc3,       // mov    %r8,%rbx
                0xc3                    // retq
            };

        private static readonly byte[] x64_CPUID1_INSNS = new byte[]
            {
                0x53,                     // push   %rbx
                0x48, 0x31, 0xc0,         // xor    %rax,%rax
                0x48, 0xff, 0xc0,         // inc    %rax
                0x0f, 0xa2,               // cpuid
                0x5b,                     // pop    %rbx
                0xc3                      // retq
            };
        #endregion
    }
}

Your example doesn't keep a reference to the result image from Image.SmoothBilatral. The input images are rooted in a static array so are fine.

An Emgu.CV Image's data array is pinned to a GCHandle inside the actual image, this is no different from the fact that image contains the array and doesn't prevent collection while the GCHandle's pointer is in use by unmanaged code (in the abscence of a managed root to the image).

Because the Image.SmoothBilatral method doesn't do anything with its temporary result image other than pass its pointer and return it, I think it gets optimised away to the extent that the result image can be collected while the smooth is processing.

Because there's no finalizer for this class, opencv will not get called upon to release it's unmanaged image header (which has a pointer to the managed image data) so opencv still thinks it has a usable image structure.

You can fix it by taking a reference to the result of SmoothBilatral and doing something with it (like disposing it).

This extension method would also work (i.e. allow it to be called successfuly for benchmarking without the result being used):

public static class BilateralExtensionFix
{
    public static Emgu.CV.Image<testchannels, testtype> SmoothBilateral(this Emgu.CV.Image<testchannels, testtype> image, int p1, int p2 , int p3)
    {
        var result = image.CopyBlank();
        var handle = GCHandle.Alloc(result);
        Emgu.CV.CvInvoke.cvSmooth(image.Ptr, result.Ptr, Emgu.CV.CvEnum.SMOOTH_TYPE.CV_BILATERAL, p1, p1, p2, p3);
        handle.Free();
        return result;
    }
}

I think what EmguCV should be doing is only pinning pointers to pass to opencv while making an interop call.

p.s The OpenCv bilateral filter crashes (producing a very similar error to your problem) on any kind of float image passed with zero variation (min() = max()) across all channels. I think because of how it builds it's binned exp() lookup table.

This can be reproduced with:

    // create new blank image
    var zeroesF1 = new Emgu.CV.Image<Rgb, float>(75, 75);
    // uncomment next line for failure
    zeroesF1.Data[0, 0, 0] += 1.2037063600E-035f;
    zeroesF1.SmoothBilatral(15, 50, 50);

This was confusing me as I was actually sometimes getting this error due to a bug in my test code...

I had the same problem after upgrading from .NET 4.5 to .NET 4.5.1. What fixed it for me was running this command:

netsh winsock reset