Apparatus for processing optically received electromagnetic radiation

Claim 1

APPARATUS FOR RESPONDING TO RADIANT ENERGY FROM A SOURCE OF A PREDETERMINED SIZE COMPRISING: A RADIATION DETECTOR, OPTICAL MEANS FOR FOCUSING RADIANT ENERGY ONTO SAID DETECTOR, A ROTATING RETICLE INTERPOSED BETWEEN SAID OPTICAL MEANS AND SAID DETECTOR AND HAVING A PLURALITY OF ALTERNATELY OPAQUE AND TRANSPARENT SECTIONS EACH OF A PREDTERMINED SIZE FOR INTERRUPTING SAID RADIANT ENERGY, SAID SECTIONS BEING ARRANGED SO THAT THE FREQUENCY OF INTERRUPTION OF SAID RADIANT ENERGY IS PROPORTIONAL TO THE RADIAL DISTANCE OF THE PATH OF SAID RADIANT ENERGY FROM THE CENTER OF SAID RETICLE, A FREQUENCY CONVERTER HAVING A FIRST INPUT CIRCUIT COUPLED TO THE OUTPUT TERMINALS OF SAID DETECTOR, A VOLTAGE-CONTROLLED OSCILLATOR HAVING ITS OUTPUT CIRCUIT COUPLED TO A SECOND INPUT CIRCUIT OF SAID FREQUENCY CONVERTER, FREQUENCY-SELECTIVE MEANS HAVING ITS INPUT CIRCUIT COUPLED TO THE OUTPUT CIRCUIT OF SAID FREQUENCY CONVERTER FOR PASSING SIGNALS HAVING AN INTERRUPTION FREQUENCY WITHIN A NARROW BAND, MEANS HAVING AN OUTPUT CIRCUIT COUPLED TO SAID OSCILLATOR AND AN INPUT CIRCUIT COUPLED TO THE OUTPUT CIRCUIT OF SAID FREQUENCY-SELECTIVE MEANS FOR SWEEPING THE FREQUENCY OF SAID OSCILLATOR UNTIL THE OCCURRENCE OF A SIGNAL AT THE OUTPUT CIRCUIT OF SAID FREQUENCY-SELECTIVE MEANS HAVING A PREDETERMINED TIME DURATION AND THEREAFTER CONTROLLING THE FREQUENCY OF SAID OSCILLATOR TO MAINTAIN THE SIGNAL AT THE OUTPUT CIRCUIT OF SAID FREQUENCY-SELECTIVE MEANS WITHIN SAID NARROW FREQUENCY BAND, AND UTILIZATION APPARATUS COUPLED TO THE OUTPUT CIRCUIT OF SAID FREQUENCYSELECTIVE MEANS.