Apparatus for elimination of noise and faint objects from a video signal

Claim 1

IN AN APPARATUS FOR ELECTRONIC REJECTION OF BOTH ELECTRICAL NOISE AND ELIMINATION OF UNDESIRED FAINT OBJECTS SUCH AS FAINT STARS COMPRISING A VIDEO INPUT SIGNAL FROM WHICH SAID ELECTRICAL NOISE IS TO BE ELIMINATED, AN OSCILLATOR GENERATING A SINE WAVE SIGNAL OF PRESELECTED FREQUENCY, MEANS TO GENERATE TWO SETS OF PULSES, THE FIRST SET OF PULSES BEING REPRESENTATIVE OF POSITIVE CROSSINGS FROM ZERO, ONE CROSSING BEING OF SAID SINE WAVE SIGNAL AND THE SECOND SET OF NEGATIVE CROSSINGS, FIRST AND SECOND AND GATES, EACH HAVING TWO INPUTS, SAID FIRST AND GATE RECEIVING SAID VIDEO SIGNAL AND SAID FIRST SET OF PULSES TO PROVIDE FIRST COINCIDENT OUTPUT PULSES AND SAID SECOND AND GATE RECEIVING SAID VIDEO SIGNAL AND SAID SECOND SET OF PULSES TO PROVIDE SECOND COINCIDENT OUTPUT PULSES, FIRST AND SECOND FLIP-FLOP CIRCUITS, EACH HAVING TWO INPUTS AND TWO OUTPUTS, SAID FIRST FLIP-FLOP CIRCUIT RECEIVING SAID FIRST COINCIDENT PULSES AND SAID SECOND SET OF PULSES TO PROVIDE AT ONE OF SAID OUTPUTS CONTROLLED WIDTH ELEMENT SIGNALS AND AT THE OTHER OF SAID OUTPUTS A PULSE SIGNAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE "OFF" POSITION OF EACH OF SAID CONTROLLED WIDTH ELEMENT SIGNALS, SAID SECOND FLIPFOP CIRCUIT RECEIVING SAID SECOND COINCIDENT PULSES AND SAID FIRST SET OF PULSES TO PROVIDE AT ONE OF SAID OUTPUTS ALTERNATE CONTROLLED WIDTH ELEMENT SIGNALS AND AT THE OTHER OF SAID OUTPUT PULSES REPRESENTATIVE OF THE "OFF" POSITION OF SAID ALTERNATE CONTROLLED WIDTH ELEMENT SIGNALS, THIRD AND FOURTH FLIP-FLOP CIRCUITS, EACH HAVING TWO INPUTS AND ONE OUTPUT, SAID THIRD FLIP-FLOP CIRCUIT RECEIVING SAID FIRST SET OF PULSES AND SAID PULSES REPRESENTATIVE OF THE "OFF" POSITION OF SAID CONTROLLED WIDTH ELEMENT SIGNALS TO PROVIDE AN OUTPUT SIGNAL IDENTICAL TO SAID CONTROLLED WIDTH ELEMENT SIGNALS HOWEVER BEING DELAYED ONE ELEMENT, SAID FOURTH FLIP-FLOP CIRCUIT RECEIVING SAID SECOND SET OF PULSES AND SAID PULSES REPRESENTATIVE OF THE "OFF" POSITION OF SAID ALTERNATE CONTROLLED WIDTH ELEMENT SIGNALS TO PROVIDE AN OUTPUT SIGNAL IDENTICAL TO SAID ALTERNATE CONTROLLED WIDTH ELEMENT SIGNAL HOWEVER BEING DELAYED ONE ELEMENT, THIRD AND FOURTH AND GATES, EACH HAVING TWO INPUTS AND ONE OUTPUT, SAID THIRD AND GATE RECEIVING SAID CONTROLLED WIDTH ELEMENT SIGNAL AND SAID OUTPUT SIGNAL FROM SAID FOURTH FLIP-FLOP CIRCUIT, SAID FOURTH AND GATE RECEIVING SAID ALTERNATE CONTROLLED WIDTH ELEMENT SIGNAL AND SAID OUTPUT SIGNAL FROM SAID THIRD FLIP-FLOP CIRCUIT, AND AN OR CIRCUIT RECEIVING SIMULTANEOUSLY THE OUTPUT SIGNALS FROM SAID THIRD AND FOURTH AND GATES TO PROVIDE AN OUTPUT VIDEO SIGNAL FREE OF ELECTRICAL NOISE.