Predetection processing of optical information

Claim 2

An optical data processor for preprocessing optical information from a scene being viewed by a sensor comprising: a thermoptic modulator positioned in the image plane of the sensor, said modulator having an optical structure disposed at the faceplate thereof, said optical structure being substantially nonreflecting of optical energy, but capable of having reflecting spots written at selected coordinates thereon for reflecting optical energy incident at said spots, said modulator including writing means capable of selectively writing spots at any location on said optical structure; control means connected to said writing means for causing a spot to be written at selected coordinates on said modulator; and detector means positioned to view said modulator for detecting optical energy reflected from said modulator, said detector means providing an output signal representing the radiance of the scene element reflected from said modulator.

Claim 3

The optical processor of claim 1 wherein said optical structure is designed to modulate light in the visible band.

Claim 4

The optical data processor of claim 1 wherein said optical structure is designed to modulate light in the infrared band.

Claim 5

The optical data processor of claim 1 wherein said writing means is a laser beam.

Claim 6

The optical data processor of claim 1 wherein said writing means is an electron beam.

Claim 7

The optical data processor of claim 1 wherein said control means selectively controls the size of said reflecting spot written on said modulator.

Claim 8

The optical data processor of claim 1 wherein said control means selectively controls the shape of said reflecting spot written on said modulator.

Claim 9

The optical data processor of claim 1 wherein said control means selectively switches said writing means on and off.

Claim 10

The optical data processor of claim 8 wherein said optical structure is maintained at a temperature sufficient to cause reflecting spots written on said modulator to vanish when said writing means is switched off.

Claim 11

The optical data processor of claim 6 further comprising: means connected to said control means, responsive to changes in position and attitude of said sensor, for selectively changing the size and location of said reflecting spots subsequently written on said modulator to maintain a constant resolution of said scene element being viewed despite relative motion between said sensor and the scene.

Claim 12

The optical data processor of claim 10 wherein said spot size and spacing are varied to effectively control resolution.

Claim 13

An optical processor for processing optical information from a scene being viewed by a sensor prior to detection comprising: a thermoptic modulator positioned in the image plane of the sensor, said modulator having an optical structure disposed at the faceplate thereof, said optical structure being substantially nonreflecting of optical energy, but capable of having reflecting spots written at selected coordinates thereon for reflecting optical energy incident at said spots, said modulator including writing means capable of selectively writing reflecting spots at selected coordinates on said optical structure; control means connected to said writing means for causing a series of reflecting spots to be written at selected coordinates on said modulator, said control means capable of selectively controlling the size and shape of each of said spots and capable of switching said writing means on and off; and detector means positioned to view said modulator for detecting optical energy reflected from said modulator, said detector means providing a series of output signals representing the radiance of the scene elements reflected from each of said reflective spots written on said modulator.

Claim 14

An optical processor for processing optical information from a scene being viewed by a sensor prior to detection comprising: a thermoptic modulator positioned in the image plane of the sensor, said modulator having an optical structure disposed at the faceplate thereof, said optical structure being substantially nonreflecting of optical energy, but capable of having reflecting spots written at selected coordinates thereon for reflecting optical energy incident at said spots, said modulator including writing means capable of selectively writing reflecting spots at selected coordinates on said optical structure; control means connected to said writing means for causing a series of reflecting spots to be written at selected coordinates on said modulator, said control means capable of selectively controlling the size and shape of each of said spots and capable of switching said writing means on and off; and detector means positioned to view said modulator for detecting optical energy reflected from said modulator, said detector means providing a series of output signals representing the radiance of the scene elements reflected from each of said reflective spots written on said modulator.

Claim 15

The optical data processor of claim 12 wherein first and second reflective spots of predetermined size are successively written at the same coordinates on said modulator, said second spot being larger than said first spot, to produce first and second output signals from said detector means representing the radiance of the scene elements reflected from each of said first and said second reflecting spots.

Claim 16

The optical data processor of claim 13 further comprising: signal processing means connecting to said detector means for subtracting said second output signal from said first output signal to obtain a spatial band pass filtered signal.

Claim 17

The optical data processor of claim 14 further comprising: video display means connected to said signal processing means and responsive to said filtered signal for displaying said signal at coordinates on said display corresponding to locations in the scene.

Claim 18

The optical data processor of claim 13 wherein said first and said second spots are geometrically symmetric.

Claim 19

The optical data processor of claim 13 wherein said first and said second spots are geometrically asymmetrical.

Claim 20

The optical data processor of claim 14 wherein said signal processing means includes means for scaling said second output signal prior to subtraction from said first output signal.

Claim 21

The optical data processor of claim 18 wherein selected areas of said scene are subsequently rescanned by writing relatively smaller reflecting spots at selected coordinates on said modulator.

Claim 22

The optical data processor of claim 12 wherein the entire scene in the field of view of the sensor is scanned by successively writing a series of reflecting spots on said modulator at coordinates spaced a predetermined distance apart.

Claim 23

The optical data processor of claim 20 wherein said scan is a raster scan.

Claim 24

The optical data processor of claim 20 wherein said scan is a random scan.

Claim 25

The optical data processor of claim 12 wherein said detector means includes a plurality of detector assemblies for subdividing the total field of view of the sensor into a plurality of independent subfields.

Claim 26

The optical processor of claim 23 wherein said control means causes a plurality of reflecting spots to be written on said optical structure such that different processing functions may be simultaneously employed in each of said subfields.

Claim 27

An optical data processor for preprocessing infrared information from a scene being viewed by an infrared sensor comprising: a thermoptic modulator positioned in the image plane of the sensor, said modulator having an optical structure disposed at the faceplate thereof, said optical structure being substantially nonreflective of infrared energy, but capable of having reflecting spots written at selected coordinates thereon for reflecting infrared energy incident thereon, said modulator including writing means capable of writing reflecting spots at selected coordinates on said optical structure; control means connected to said writing means for causing a series of reflecting spots to be written at selected coordinates on said modulator, said control means capable of controlling the size and shape of said reflecting spots and switching said writing means on and off; detector means positioned to view said modulator for detecting infrared energy reflected therefrom, said detector means providing a series of output signals representing the radiance of the infrared scene element reflected from each of said reflecting spots written on said modulator; signal processing means connected to said detector means for processing first and second output signals corresponding to first and second reflecting spots written at the same coordinates on said modulator, said first spot being smaller than said second spot, said processor subtracting said second spot from said first spot to obtain a band pass filtered signal; and video display means connected to said signal processing means and responsive to said filtered signal for visually displaying said filtered signal at coordinates on said display corresponding to coordinates in the scene.

Claim 28

An optical data processor for preprocessing infrared information from a scene being viewed by an infrared sensor comprising: a thermoptic modulator positioned in the image plane of the sensor, said modulator having an optical structure disposed at the faceplate thereof, said optical structure being substantially nonreflective of infrared energy, but capable of having reflecting spots written at selected coordinates thereon for reflecting infrared energy incident thereon, said modulator including writing means capable of writing reflecting spots at selected coordinates on said optical structure; control means connected to said writing means for causing a series of reflecting spots to be written at selected coordinates on said modulator, said control means capable of controlling the size and shape of said reflecting spots and switching said writing means on and off; detector means positioned to view said modulator for detecting infrared energy reflected therefrom, said detector means providing a series of output signals representing the radiance of the infrared scene element reflected from each of said reflecting spots written on said modulator; signal processing means connected to said detector means for processing first and second output signals corresponding to first and second reflecting spots written at the same coordinates on said modulator, said first spot being smaller than said second spot, said processor subtracting said second spot from said first spot to obtain a band pass filtered signal; and video display means connected to said signal processing means and responsive to said filtered signal for visually displaying said filtered signal at coordinates on said display corresponding to coordinates in the scene.

Claim 31

The method of claim 26 wherein the reflecting spots in step (a) are sequentially written at selected coordinates on said modulator to view every scene element making up the scene to view the total field of view of the sensor.

Claim 32

The method of claim 26 wherein the size of said reflecting spots in step (a) are decreased and the spacing between modulator coordinates at which said spots are written is decreased to increase resolution and to produce magnification.

Claim 33

The method of claim 26 wherein some of said reflecting spots in step (a) are written at coordinates on said modulator sufficiently close together to define a window for viewing the scene.

Claim 34

The method of claim 29 wherein a plurality of windows are defined.

Claim 35

The method of claim 29 wherein a plurality of windows exist on said optical structure at the same time.

Claim 36

The method of claim 29 wherein each one of said windows moves independently of each of said other windows over time.

Claim 37

The method of claim 26 wherein at least some of said reflecting spots overlap.

Claim 40

The method of claim 34 wherein the portion of said reflective spots defining said window are written such that said window moves around on said modulator.

Claim 41

The method of claim 34 wherein other reflecting spots are written on said modulator to simultaneously scan the scene while at least one of said windows exists on said modulator.

Claim 42

The method of claim 34 further comprising the step of: (e) separately processing the series of output signals generated in step (d).

Claim 43

The method of claim 37 wherein at least some of said output signals processed in step (e) are processed differently.

Claim 46

The method of claim 39 further comprising: (f) repeating steps (a)-(e) at different coordinates on said modulator.

Claim 47

The method of claim 40 further comprising the step of: (g) subtracting spatially filtered signals obtained at different times to detect motion in the scene.

Claim 48

The method of claim 40 further comprising the step of: (h) subtracting spatially filtered signals obtained at different times to detect changes in radiance at a given coordinate in the scene.

Claim 49

The method of claim 39 wherein at least one of said reflecting spots is asymmetrical.

Claim 50

The method of claim 39 wherein at least one of said reflecting spots is asymmetrical in a predetermined direction.

Claim 51

The method of claim 39 wherein at least one of said reflecting spots is symmetrical.

Claim 52

The method of claim 39 further comprising the step of: (i) clipping a portion of said filtered signal below a predetermined threshold.

Claim 53

The method of claim 46 further comprising the step of: (g) displaying said clipped signal at coordinates on a visual display corresponding to coordinates in the scene.

Claim 54

The method of claim 39 wherein said second signal is scaled by a predetermined factor prior to being subtracted in step (e) from said first signal.

Claim 55

The method of claim 39 wherein the entire infrared scene in the total field of view of the sensor is scanned by writing a sufficient number of first and second spots sufficiently close and at equally spaced coordinates on said modulator.

Claim 56

The method of claim 49 wherein at least one region of the scene is subsequently rescanned by writing additional reflecting spots at said region of the modulator with said spots being smaller than the spots in the original scan and said sampling coordinates being closer together than in said original scan.

Claim 57

The method of claim 49 further comprising the step of: (k) storing each of the filtered signals obtained from each sampling coordinate on the modulator to obtain a picture of the entire scene.

Claim 58

The method of claim 39 wherein said first and said second spots are asymmetrically displaced.