Device for the logical analysis of textures

Claim 1

A logical device for analyzing the texture of a heterogeneous medium of which an electrical image is formed by displacing within said medium by suitable electronic scanning means, a zone in which a predetermined characteristic is to be detected and converted to a first electric signal which constitutes said electrical image and consists of a series of binary signals which can assume only one of two values, e0 and e1, wherein said device comprises in combination: a first logical processing system for forming a first converted electrical image comprising comparison means for receiving p values representative of p zones which are geometrically contiguous in the medium to be analyzed and for comparing said values one by one with a set of p identical values which are equal to e1 so as to form a structuring pattern and means for producing a second electric signal having a value e0 when the aforesaid p values are all equal simultaneously to E1 and having a value e1 when this is not the case, the series of binary signals which are thus constituted being such as to form the first converted image; and a counting system comprising a second logical processing system which is identical in every respect with said first logical processing system and supplies a second converted image in accordance with the same logical law and counting means which summate the numbers of binary signals of the second converted image, said counting system disposed to receive said series of binary signals.

Claim 8

An apparatus for analyzing the texture of a heterogeneous medium by counting the number of occurrences of at least one kind of textural characteristic in an electrical image of said medium, which electrical image is formed by detecting over a scanning path the presence or the absence of a predetermined characteristic in said medium and by converting said predetermined characteristic into an electrical signal representing said electrical image; said apparatus comprising a first logical processing system which includes a plurality of storage means, each storing at each instant a part of said signal during the time necessary to scan pairs of points which are distributed according to a given geometrical configuration forming a standard structuring pattern, and logical comparison means for comparing at each instant said signal and the stored values of this signal, which comparison means produce a second electrical signal having different values depending on whether there is either concordance or discordance of said signal with the stored values and constituting an information sequence which forms a first converted electrical image, the latter corresponding to an erosion of the electrical image through the standard structuring pattern; a first inversion device receiving said second electrical signal from said comparison means and forming a second information sequence which forms a first converted electrical complementary image; a second logical processing system identical with said first logical processing system receiving said first converted electrical complementary image, and followed by a second inversion device identical with said first inversion device and forming a further electrical signal which corresponds to an electrical image of only the areas of the medium in which said presence or absence of said characteristic is detected over a surface equal or larger than said standard structuring pattern; and electrical counting means which are connected to the output of either one of the inversion means.

Claim 9

An apparatus for analyzing the texture of a heterogeneous medium by counting the number of occurrences of at least one kind of textural characteristic in an electrical image of said medium, which electrical image is formed by detecting over a scanning path the presence or the absence of a predetermined characteristic in said medium and by converting said predetermined characteristic into an electrical signal representing said electrical image; said apparatus comprising a first logical processing system which includes a plurality of storage means, each storing at each instant a part of said signal during the time necessary to scan pairs of points which are distributed according to a given geometrical configuration forming a standard structuring pattern, and logical comparison means for comparing at each instant said signal and the stored values of this signal, which comparison means produce a second electrical signal having different values depending on whether there is either concordance or discordance of said signal with the stored values and constituting an information sequence which forms a first converted electrical image, the latter corresponding to an erosion of the electrical image through the standard structuring pattern; a first inversion device receiving said second electrical signal from said comparison means and forming a second information sequence which forms a first converted electrical complementary image; a second logical processing system identical with said first logical processing system receiving said first converted electrical complementary image, and followed by a second inversion device identical with said first inversion device and forming a further electrical signal which corresponds to an electrical image of only the areas of the medium in which said presence or absence of said characteristic is detected over a surface equal or larger than said standard structuring pattern; and electrical counting means which are connected to the output of either one of the inversion means.