Csem Centre Suisse D'electronique Et De Microtechnique Sa&#x2014;recherche Et D&#xe9;veloppement

François Kaess

Pascal Heim

Eric Grenet

Pierre-Francois Ruedi

Pascal Nussbaum

Pierre-Yves Burgi

Pierre-François Ruedi

Eric Fragniere

Pierre François Ruedi

A system is provided in which the spatial values (Sto Sn) of the physical quantity are represented by measurement pulses (Ito In), the temporal ordering of which represents the values, which are processed by processing units (Uto Un) arranged in at least one row and each include an output (SORto SORn). During successive processing cycles, a measurement pulse processed therein can be delivered to form the output signal (SU) of the system. Each processing unit includes an inhibiting unit (BI) for, in other units and during a given processing cycle, inhibiting the passage to the outputs of the other units respective measurement pulses processed therein and hence preventing them from forming the output signal, if the measurement impulses are temporally ordered later in the given processing cycle than the one processed in the unit concerned.

System for spatial analysis of a physical quantity

The invention relates to a method of calculating the local contrast at each pixel (P) in a network (M) of photosensitive pixels which are arranged in at least one dimension (x, y). The inventive method consists in, during successive image acquisition cycles, producing a signal which is representative of the local luminance at each pixel, said luminance-representative signals being integrated values of luminance values sensed by the respective pixels (p, p, p, p, p). The inventive method consists in: sampling the integrated values of the signals representing the luminance values at the pixels adjacent (p, p, p, p) to a considered pixel (p), said sampling taking place at an instant in the cycle when the integrated value of the luminance at the considered pixel (p) is equal to a pre-determined reference value; and determining the local contrast at the considered pixel (p) on the basis of values thus sampled.

Method and sensor for determining the local contrast of an observed scene by detection of the luminance from said scene

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Eclepens, Switzerland

François Kaess