Computer vision system based upon solid state image sensor

Claim 1

A system for computer vision based upon a solid state image sensor used in association with a host computer comprising: (a) a solid state image sensor analogous to a memory device, said sensor comprising a two-dimensional array of light sensitive memory cells arranged in a plurality of rows and columns, each cell being accessible for reading, refreshing, and writing to set each cell to an initial signal value, the signals on said cells decaying at a rate related to light intensity thereupon, the output upon reading any cell being a signal indicative of darker if the signal on the cell has not decayed to a preset threshold or a signal indicative of lighter if the signal at said cell has decayed to said threshold, (b) a lens for focussing a light image on said image sensor, (c) clock means for continuously generating column address signals and row address signal for each cell during sequential accessing of each cell, said clock means having row address and column address buffers that can be read to a computer data bus, and (d) edge detecting means for processing an output bit stream from said image sensor when each cell is being sequentially accessed for detecting a change in the value of the bits indicative of an edge between lighter and darker areas of the light image focussed on said array, said edge detecting means including means for generating an interrupt signal for application to the computer whereby the computer can read the column and row address of the edge by reading the column and row buffers.

Claim 2

A system for computer vision based upon a solid state image sensor used in association with a host computer comprising: (a) a solid state image sensor analogous to a memory device, said sensor comprising a two-dimensional array of light sensitive memory cells arranged in a plurality of rows and columns, each cell being accessible for reading, refreshing, and writing to set each cell to an initial signal value, the signals on said cells decaying at a rate related to light intensity thereupon, the output upon reading any cell being a signal indicative of darker if the signal on the cell has not decayed to a preset threshold or a signal indicative of lighter if the signal at said cell has decayed to said threshold, (b) a lens for focussing a light image on said image sensor, (c) clock means for continuously generating column address signals and row address signal for each cell during sequential accessing of each cell, said clock means having row address and column address buffers that can be read to a computer data bus, and (d) edge detecting means for processing an output bit stream from said image sensor when each cell is being sequentially accessed for detecting a change in the value of the bits indicative of an edge between lighter and darker areas of the light image focussed on said array, said edge detecting means including means for generating an interrupt signal for application to the computer whereby the computer can read the column and row address of the edge by reading the column and row buffers.

Claim 7

A system as in any of claims 1 to 5 wherein the edge detecting means includes means for outputting a signal indicative of whether the last bit in the bit stream was indicative of a darker or lighter condition of the bit stream just after each edge detection.

Claim 12

A system for computer vision based upon a solid state image sensor used in association with a host computer comprising: (a) a solid state image sensor analogous to a memory device, said sensor comprising a two-dimensional array of light sensitive memory cells arranged in a plurality of rows and columns, each cell being accessible for reading, refreshing, and writing to set each cell to an initial signal value, the signals on said cells decaying during soak times at a rate related to light intensity thereupon, the output upon reading any cell being a signal indicative of darker if the signal on the cell has not decayed to a present threshold or a signal indicative of lighter if the signal at said cell has decayed to said threshold, (b) a lens for focussing the light image on said image sensor, (c) clock means for continuously generating column address signals and row address signals for each cell during sequential accessing of each cell in each row, said clock means having row address and column address buffers that can be read to a computer data bus, (d) edge detecting means for processing an output bit stream from said image sensor when each cell is being sequentially accessed for detecting a change in the value of the bits indicative of an edge between lighter and darker areas of the light image focussed on said array, said edge detecting means including means for generating an interrupt signal for application to the clock means to stop the clock and for application to the computer whereby the computer can read the column and row address of the edge by reading the column and row buffers, and (e) a control means for causing each row of said image sensor to be at one time in at least one of three modes comprising a "refresh mode" wherein the signal on each cell is continually refreshed, a "read" mode wherein each cell is read by accessing in a substantially sequential manner with the output bit stream being passed to the edge detecting means and a "soak" mode wherein the signals on the cells are allowed to decay, the "read" mode being selected for detecting edges and transferring row and column address signals to the computer, the "refresh" mode being selected for maintaining the signals on said cells, and the "soak" mode being selected for transferring the light image to the image sensor, and said host computer having a data and address bus, said computer being in communication with said clock means and control means at least via its data and address buses for programming the soak times and controlling the accessing of date in said row address and column address buffers and said host computer further having an associated main memory with a stored task for interactively controlling the clock and control means to enable the computer to read the data in said buffers and to build edge address tables in said memory and to interpret the data in said tables.

Claim 13

A system for computer vision based upon a solid state image sensor used in association with a host computer comprising: (a) a solid state image sensor analogous to a memory device, said sensor comprising a two-dimensional array of light sensitive memory cells arranged in a plurality of rows and columns, each cell being accessible for reading, refreshing, and writing to set each cell to an initial signal value, the signals on said cells decaying during soak times at a rate related to light intensity thereupon, the output upon reading any cell being a signal indicative of darker if the signal on the cell has not decayed to a present threshold or a signal indicative of lighter if the signal at said cell has decayed to said threshold, (b) a lens for focussing the light image on said image sensor, (c) clock means for continuously generating column address signals and row address signals for each cell during sequential accessing of each cell in each row, said clock means having row address and column address buffers that can be read to a computer data bus, (d) edge detecting means for processing an output bit stream from said image sensor when each cell is being sequentially accessed for detecting a change in the value of the bits indicative of an edge between lighter and darker areas of the light image focussed on said array, said edge detecting means including means for generating an interrupt signal for application to the clock means to stop the clock and for application to the computer whereby the computer can read the column and row address of the edge by reading the column and row buffers, and (e) a control means for causing each row of said image sensor to be at one time in at least one of three modes comprising a "refresh mode" wherein the signal on each cell is continually refreshed, a "read" mode wherein each cell is read by accessing in a substantially sequential manner with the output bit stream being passed to the edge detecting means and a "soak" mode wherein the signals on the cells are allowed to decay, the "read" mode being selected for detecting edges and transferring row and column address signals to the computer, the "refresh" mode being selected for maintaining the signals on said cells, and the "soak" mode being selected for transferring the light image to the image sensor, and said host computer having a data and address bus, said computer being in communication with said clock means and control means at least via its data and address buses for programming the soak times and controlling the accessing of date in said row address and column address buffers and said host computer further having an associated main memory with a stored task for interactively controlling the clock and control means to enable the computer to read the data in said buffers and to build edge address tables in said memory and to interpret the data in said tables.

Claim 27

A system for computer vision based upon a solid state image sensor used in association with a host computer comprising: (a) a solid state image sensor analogous to a memory device, said sensor comprising a two-dimensional array of light sensitive memory cells arranged in a plurality of rows and columns, each cell being accessible for reading and writing to set each cell to an initial signal value, the signals on said cells decaying at a rate related to light intensity thereupon, the output upon reading any cell being a signal indicative of darker if the signal on the cell has not decayed to a preset threshold or a signal indicative of lighter if the signals at said cell has decayed to said threshold, (b) a lens for focussing a light image on said image sensor, (c) clock means for continuously generating column address signals and row address signals for each cell during sequential accessing of each, said clock means having row address and column address buffers that can be read to a computer data bus, (d) edge detecting means for processing an output bit stream from said image sensor when each cell is being sequentially accessed for detecting a change in the value of the bits indicative of an edge between lighter and darker areas of the light image focussed on said array, said edge detecting means including means for generating an interrupt signal for application to the computer whereby the computer can read the column and row address of the edge by reading the column and row buffers, and (e) a control means for causing said image sensor to be in a "read" mode wherein each cell is being accessed in a substantially sequential manner with the output bit stream being passed to the edge detecting means or a "soak" mode wherein the signals on the cells are allowed to decay, the "read" mode being selected for transferring data to the computer and the "soak" mode being selected for transferring the light image to the image sensor.

Claim 28

A system for computer vision based upon a solid state image sensor used in association with a host computer comprising: (a) a solid state image sensor analogous to a memory device, said sensor comprising a two-dimensional array of light sensitive memory cells arranged in a plurality of rows and columns, each cell being accessible for reading and writing to set each cell to an initial signal value, the signals on said cells decaying at a rate related to light intensity thereupon, the output upon reading any cell being a signal indicative of darker if the signal on the cell has not decayed to a preset threshold or a signal indicative of lighter if the signals at said cell has decayed to said threshold, (b) a lens for focussing a light image on said image sensor, (c) clock means for continuously generating column address signals and row address signals for each cell during sequential accessing of each, said clock means having row address and column address buffers that can be read to a computer data bus, (d) edge detecting means for processing an output bit stream from said image sensor when each cell is being sequentially accessed for detecting a change in the value of the bits indicative of an edge between lighter and darker areas of the light image focussed on said array, said edge detecting means including means for generating an interrupt signal for application to the computer whereby the computer can read the column and row address of the edge by reading the column and row buffers, and (e) a control means for causing said image sensor to be in a "read" mode wherein each cell is being accessed in a substantially sequential manner with the output bit stream being passed to the edge detecting means or a "soak" mode wherein the signals on the cells are allowed to decay, the "read" mode being selected for transferring data to the computer and the "soak" mode being selected for transferring the light image to the image sensor.