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. 23, 1998
Filed:
May. 17, 1996
David DiFrancesco, Englewood, CA (US);
Pixar, Richmond, CA (US);
Abstract
The present invention is a method and apparatus for digitizing film frames. The invention utilizes different colored strobe lights housed in an integrating sphere, instead of the prior art filter and shutter mechanism. The invention's control system flashes each strobe light in sequence for a predetermined time to expose a film frame to various color components. The various color components of the film frame are projected onto a CCD array with the aid of a lens. Each strobe light is flashed at a desired frequency and for the predetermined time in order to saturate the CCD array with the component of light corresponding to that strobe light. The color data corresponding to each color component are passed to digital signal processors for processing and storage. In one embodiment of the invention, the strobe lights are red, green, and blue strobe lights.