Low light level television imaging system for tracking, guidance, or reconnaissance applications

Claim 1

A LOW-LIGHT-LEVEL TELEVISION IMAGING SYSTEM WHICH CAN BE USED FROM A MOVING A PLATFORM AND WHICH PERMITS INTEGRATION OF THE SIGNAL FROM A SCENE OVER A SUBSTANTIALLY LONG PERIOD OF TIME, COMPRISING: (A) A TELEVISION CAMERA USING A LOW-LIGHT-LEVEL PICKUP TUBE HAVING AN ELECTRON BEAM FOR SCANNING AN IMAGE OF A SCENE VIEWED BY SAID TELEVISION CAMERA, (B) AUTOMATIC TRACKING MEANS INCLUDING AT LEAST ONE POINT-TRACKER BEING CONNECTED TO SAID TELEVISION CAMERA FOR POINT TRACKING OF AT LEAST ONE HIGH CONTRAST SPOT PRESENT IN THE SCENE VIEWED BY SAID TELEVISION CAMERA, EACH SAID AT LEAST ONE POINT-TRACKER PRODUCING AN ERROR SIGNAL CORRESPONDING TO TWO DIMENSIONAL MOTION OF THE HIGH CONTRAST SPOT TRACKED THEREBY, SAID AUTOMATIC TRACKING MEANS ALSO INCLUDING ANALOG ADDING MEANS FOR COMPUTING POSITION INFORMATION VALUES CORRESPONDING TO DEGREES OF FREEDOM OF MOTION OF THE TELEVISION CAMERA WITH RESPECT TO THE SCENE BEING VIEWED THEREBY FROM THE TWO DIMENSIONAL ERROR SIGNALS OF SAID AT LEAST ONE POINT-TRACKER, SAID POSITION INFORMATION BEING AVAILABLE AS SIGNALS AT THE OUTPUT OF SAID AUTOMATIC TRACKING MEANS, (C) INTEGRATION MEANS HAVING AN ADJUSTABLE ELECTRON BEAM ALSO BEING CONNECTED TO SAID TELEVISION CAMERA FOR INTEGRATING VIDEO SIGNALS OF THE SCENE BEING VIEWED BY SAID TELEVISION CAMERA, THE ELECTRON BEAM IN SAID INTEGRATION MEANS BEING ADJUSTED UNTIL A DESIRED INTEGRATED IMAGE RESULTS, (D) DEFLECTION MEANS INCLUDING LINE AND FIELD DEFLECTION GENERATORS FOR GENERATING A DEFLECTION SIGNAL BEING CONNECTED TO THE OUTPUT OF SAID AUTOMATIC TRACKING MEANS FOR RECEIVING POSITION INFORMATION SIGNALS THEREFROM AND ALSO BEING CONNECTED TO SAID INTEGRATION MEANS, THE AMPLITUDE AND PHASE OF THE DEFLECTION SIGNAL GENERATED BY SAID DEFLECTION MEANS BEING CONTROLLED IN RESPONSE TO POSITION INFORMATION SIGNALS FROM SAID AUTOMATIC TRACKING MEANS, SAID DEFLECTION SIGNAL BEING FED TO SAID INTEGRATION MEANS FOR ADJUSTING THE ELECTRON BEAM IN SAID INTEGRATION MEANS WITH RESPECT TO THE ELECTRON BEAM IN THE TELEVISION CAMERA AT ANY INSTANT SUCH THAT RESOLUTION ELEMENTS CORRESPONDING TO THE SAME SPOT ON THE SCENE ARE HIT BY THE RESPECTIVE ELECTRON BEAMS IN BOTH THE INTEGRATION MEANS AND TELEVISION CAMERA, WHEREBY WHEN THE IMAGE OF THE SCENE BEING VIEWED BY THE TELEVISION CAMERA SHIFTS, THE ELECTRON BEAM IN SAID INTEGRATION MEANS WILL SHIFT IN AN OPPOSITE DIRECTION TO CORRECT FOR IMAGE MOTION, RESULTS, (E) SAID INTEGRATED IMAGE BEING OBTAINED FROM AN INTEGRATED VIDEO SIGNAL AT THE OUTPUT OF SAID INTEGRATION MEANS FOR USE WHERE A VIDEO SIGNAL FROM AN INTEGRATED IMAGE IS REQUIRED.