The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 11, 1996
Filed:
Jun. 21, 1994
J Michael Lengyel, Ramona, CA (US);
Randy M Maner, Albuquerque, NM (US);
Larry A Nelson, Bellevue, WA (US);
Honeywell Inc., Minneapolis, MN (US);
Abstract
A photographic facsimile of a line image at a predetermined orientation is illuminated by a collimated monochromatic light source to produce a diffraction pattern. The Fourier distribution of the diffraction pattern is focussed by a converging lens to image on a spatial frequency plane of spatial signal and spatial noise components. The image in the spatial frequency plane is applied to a detector for selectively measuring the spatial power contribution of the signal and noise components, thereby to provide a measure of image quality relating to imaging system signal-to-noise ratio. A spatial filter (18) may be introduced into the optical path to block the spatial signal components, while allowing the noise components to impinge on the detector. The line image is then reoriented in the image plane, and successive measurements of spatial signal and noise contributions repeated. The ratio of signal-to-noise power is then computed for each orientation of the line image. By simulating selected imaging components and generating a resultant line image, the effect of such components on noise may be determined.