Method and system for testing the performance of at least one electro-optical test device

Claim 1

A method for testing the performance of at least one electro-optical test device (12, 13, 14, 15), characterised by the steps of: (a) coupling to said at least one electro-optical test device additional pre-calibrated devices as required so as to construct an electro-optical system (11) having a light source (15), a test target (14), a lens (13) and an imaging means (12), (b) storing a respective identity code of a plurality of pre-calibrated devices together with corresponding electro-optical performances, (c) aligning the imaging means to the test target so as to produce a focused image thereof, (d) specifying which devices, if any, in said electro-optical system are pre-calibrated, (e) digitizing and storing the focussed image so as to produce a digitized image, (f) analyzing the digitized image so as to determine [an electro-optical performance representative of the performance of the electro-optical system and being equal to the product of component electro-optical performances of each of said at least one electro-optical test device and each of said additional pre-calibrated devices, and (g) determining the product of component electro-optical performances of each of said at least one electro-optical test device.

Claim 4

The method according to any of Claims 1 to 3, wherein said electro-optical performance is representative of: (a) Modular Transfer Function, (b) Contrast Transfer Function, (c) Grey Level Linearity, (d) Illumination Uniformity, (e) Geometrical Distortion, (f) Signal to Noise Ratio, (g) Transient Response, (h) Blemishes, (i) Blooming, and (j) Chromaticity.

Claim 5

A system (10) for testing the performance of at least one electro-optical test device, the system comprising: an electro-optical system (11) including said at least one electro-optical test device coupled to additional pre-calibrated devices as required, said electro-optical system comprising a light source (15), a target (14), a lens (13) and an imaging means (12), a computer (17) coupled to the electro-optical system and including a memory for storing therein a database of pre-calibrated device identity codes and corresponding electro-optical performances thereof, optical alignment means coupled to the electro-optical system and to the computer for permitting alignment of the electro-optical system and producing an indication signal when the electro-optical system is correctly aligned, a setup means for specifying the identity codes of each of the pre-calibrated devices in said electro-optical system, a digitizing means (16) coupled to the electro-optical system for digitizing an image produced by the electro-optical system and being coupled to said memory for storing therein a corresponding digitized image, an analysis means coupled to the memory for determining an electro-optical performance representative of the performance of the electro-optical system and being equal to the product of component electro-optical performances of each of said at least one electro-optical test device and each of said additional pre-calibrated devices, said analysis means further for determining the product of component electro-optical performances of each of said at least one electro-optical test device.

Claim 8

The system according to any of Claims 5 to 7, wherein said electro-optical performance is representative of: (a) Modular Transfer Function, (b) Contrast Transfer Function, (c) Grey Level Linearity, (d) Illumination Uniformity, (e) Geometrical Distortion, (f) Signal to Noise Ratio, (g) Transient Response, (h) Blemishes, (i) Blooming, and (j) Chromaticity.

Claim 9

The system according to any of Claims 5 to 8, wherein: the target includes a high accuracy pre-calibrated reticle (20, 21, 22, 50, 53, 55) for forming an image by said at least one electro-optical test device, and the analysis unit analyzes said image so as to determine the combined optical performance of the at least one test device.