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:
Sep. 29, 1998
Filed:
Dec. 18, 1996
Gary J Buttner, Napean, CA;
Rodney Norman, Napean, CA;
CAL Corporation, Ottawa, CA;
Abstract
A method of determining the existence of a target light source comprising progressively receiving successive pixel intensity values row by row and column by column of a scanned array of a light detector, comparing each pixel intensity value as it is received with upper and lower thresholds, declaring successive rows of pixels as dark, bright, edge or null depending on whether each row of the intensity values above, between and below the thresholds meets predetermined criteria, declaring a light source as detected in the event an array of pixels exceeding the lower threshold are completely surrounded by pixels which are of lower intensity than the lower threshold, and storing a signal indicating detection of a light source in a memory with a location identifying an address of the array in which the light source was declared as detected.