Other

Pulnix America, Inc.

Toshikazu Hori

Michael P Buchin

Guy Paillet

Chik Bor (Paul) Cheng

Jeffrey M Woo

Hai (Jonathan) Lin

A camera comprises a multitap imager, separate digitizing channels for each imager tap, adjustments for channel gain and black level, a pattern generator, and a channel balancer. The channel balancer compares adjacent pixels and sums the differences in levels over many frames. Any accumulated difference is used as a feedback signal to drive the summing to a minimum. If the imager is temporarily hooded, the feedback is used to balance black levels between the channels. If the imager is operating, the feedback is used to dynamically adjust the channel gain of one channel to match the other. A pattern generator is used once during calibration to generate a test pattern in the digitizing channels that makes it obvious to a framegrabber how exactly to restitching the various lanes or zones of the whole image frame back together.

Multi-tap camera

A fast frame-rate imaging device is produced by a attaching a fiberoptic block to an otherwise ordinary and inexpensive CCD. A part of the fiberoptic block is occluded so as to darken a majority of the active imaging photocells. The CCD imaging device is operated at near its maximum horizontal and vertical clock rates, but multiple image frames are defined within the one previous active photocell array field. The added dark areas in the optical field protect the recent frames still in transit within the active array area from being double exposed and thus corrupted. The serial output of the thus-modified CCD imaging device is reinterpreted to include more frames than originally at a multiple equal to the original array dimension divided by the new array dimension (m&middot;n/m&prime;&middot;n&prime;). Such a modified CCD array uses only one-fourth of the original active area, and is operable at a multiple of the original frame rate.

High-frame-rate CCD imaging devices made in low-production runs from otherwise ordinary and inexpensive CCD devices

A recognition system comprises at least two field-programmable logic array devices connected to a common vector-input port of an array of a zero-instruction-set computers. Each field-programmable logic array device is configured to preprocess data from different respective media inputs and provide feature extraction vectors to the common vector-input port. Neural networks within the zero-instruction-set computer recognize the input patterns by comparing in parallel their vectors with those stored in each neural network cell. A variety of recognition jobs are made possible by changing the programming on-the-fly of the field-programmable logic array devices to suit each new job.

Parallel associative learning memory for a standalone hardwired recognition system

An electronic shutter camera with full frame resolution employs a progressively scanned interline transfer charge coupled device for generating full frame images of objects moving past an observation point either asynchronously in response to an external trigger signal or synchronously with internal timing. The image charges accumulated on the pixel regions of the CCD are discharged once per frame time, and the pixel regions are also initially discharged prior to the beginning of an image charge integration period to remove noise. A special double pulse mode enables the shutter speed to be specified by externally generated double trigger pulses, with the spacing between pulses specifying the desired shutter time. Manual selection of a wide range of shutter speeds is also provided. Each image frame is stored in a digital memory and is output as either interlaced or non-interlaced analog or digital video.

Full frame electronic shutter camera

A fast frame-rate CCD imaging device is produced by modifying the optical mask of an otherwise ordinary and inexpensive CCD integrated circuit to darken a majority of the active imaging photocells. The modified CCD integrated circuit is operated at near its maximum horizontal and vertical clock rates, but multiple image frames are newly defined within the one previous active photocell array field. The added dark areas in the optical mask act to protect all recent frames still in transit within the active array area from being double exposed and thus corrupted. The serial output of the thus-modified CCD device is reinterpreted to include more frames than originally at a multiple equal to the original array dimension divided by the new array dimension (m&middot;n/m&prime;&middot;n&prime;)

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Milpitas, CA, United States of America

Toshikazu Hori