Automatic measurement apparatus

Claim 1

AUTOMATIC SCANNING AND CONTROL APPARATUS COMPRISING IN COMBINATION WITH AN ELECTRON BEAM SCANNING APPARATUS INCLUDING MEANS FOR CAUSING AN ELECTRON BEAM TO SCAN AN AREA OF AN IMAGE FIELD IN A SINGLE FRAME SWEEP ALONG A PREDETERMINED PATH IN SAID FIELD AND TO PRODUCE A VIDEO PICTURE SIGNAL OF SAID SCANNING ON AN OUTPUT OF SAID APPARATUS, AN ANALYZING MEANS FOR INSPECTING A PREDETERMINED AREA OF SAID IMAGE FIELD BY THE ANALYSIS OF THAT PORTION OF THE PICTURE SIGNAL GENERATED DURING THE SCANNING BY SAID ELECTRON BEAM OF SAID PREDETERMINED AREA OF SAID IMAGE FIELD, SAID ANALYZING MEANS INCLUDING AN ANALYZING CIRCUIT CONNECTED TO A GATING MEANS IN THE OUTPUT OF A CIRCUIT IN WHICH SAID PICTURE SIGNAL IS GENERATED, A VARIABLE PROGRAMMING MEANS FOR CONTROLLING SAID GATING MEANS WHEREBY TO PREVENT THE PASSAGE OF SAID PICTURE SIGNAL TO SAID ANALYZING CIRCUIT, SAID PROGRAMMING MEANS BEING SYNCHRONIZED IN ITS OPERATION FOR AUTOMATICALLY OPERATING SAID GATING MEANS IN PREDETERMINED TIME RELATION TO THE GENERATION OF SAID PICTURE SIGNAL WHEREBY TO SWITCH IN A MANNER TO PASS TO SAID ANALYZING CIRCUIT ONLY THAT PORTION OF SAID PICTURE SIGNAL WHICH IS GENERATED DURING THE SCANNING OF SAID PREDETERMINED AREA OF SAID IMAGE FIELD.