Apparatus for and method of hough-converting coordinate data

Claim 1

An apparatus for performing Hough conversion of coordinate data in a rectangular coordinate system, comprising: first register means for receiving and storing first Hough conversion data therein; first adding means connected to said first register means for successively adding prescribed numbers to said first Hough conversion data and outputting the result of addition therefrom, wherein an output of said first register means is connected to one input of said first adding means; first circulating means comprising a first flip-flop connected to said adding means for circulating said first Hough conversion data through said first adding means as said prescribed numbers are successively added to said first Hough conversion data, wherein an output of said first flip-flop is connected to another input of said first adding means; second register means for receiving and storing second Hough conversion data therein; second adding means connected to said register means for successively adding prescribed numbers to said second Hough conversion data and outputting the result of addition therefrom, wherein an output of said second register means is connected to one input of said second adding means; and second circulating means comprising a second flip-flop connected to said second adding means for circulating said second Hough conversion data through said second adding means as said prescribed numbers are successively added to said second Hough conversion data, wherein an output of said second flip-flop is connected to another input of said second adding means.

Claim 2

An apparatus for performing Hough conversion of coordinate data in a rectangular coordinate system, comprising: first register means for receiving and storing first Hough conversion data therein; first adding means connected to said first register means for successively adding prescribed numbers to said first Hough conversion data and outputting the result of addition therefrom, wherein an output of said first register means is connected to one input of said first adding means; first circulating means comprising a first flip-flop connected to said adding means for circulating said first Hough conversion data through said first adding means as said prescribed numbers are successively added to said first Hough conversion data, wherein an output of said first flip-flop is connected to another input of said first adding means; second register means for receiving and storing second Hough conversion data therein; second adding means connected to said register means for successively adding prescribed numbers to said second Hough conversion data and outputting the result of addition therefrom, wherein an output of said second register means is connected to one input of said second adding means; and second circulating means comprising a second flip-flop connected to said second adding means for circulating said second Hough conversion data through said second adding means as said prescribed numbers are successively added to said second Hough conversion data, wherein an output of said second flip-flop is connected to another input of said second adding means.

Claim 3

An apparatus for performing Hough conversion of coordinate data in a rectangular coordinate system, comprising: first register means for receiving and storing first Hough conversion data therein; first adding means connected to said first register means for receiving therein said first Hough conversion data corresponding to a first coordinate and successively adding prescribed numbers to said first Hough conversion data and outputting the result of addition therefrom; first circulating means comprising a first flip-flop connected to said first adding means for circulating said first Hough conversion data through said first adding means as said prescribed numbers are successively added to said first Hough conversion data, wherein an output of said first circulating means is connected to an input of said first adding means; second register means for receiving and storing second Hough conversion data therein; second adding means connected to said second register means for receiving therein said second Hough conversion data corresponding to a second coordinate and successively adding prescribed numbers to said second Hough conversion data and outputting the result of addition therefrom; and second circulating means comprising a second flip-flop connected to said second adding means for circulating said second Hough conversion data through said second adding means as said prescribed numbers are successively added to said second Hough conversion data; wherein an output of said second circulating means is connected to an input of said second adding means; wherein an output of said first circulating means is accumulatively added to the output of said second circulating means each time said second Hough conversion data is circulated a predetermined umber of times by said second circulating means.

Claim 4

An apparatus for performing Hough conversion of coordinate data in a rectangular coordinate system, comprising: first register means for receiving and storing first Hough conversion data therein; first adding means connected to said first register means for receiving therein said first Hough conversion data corresponding to a first coordinate and successively adding prescribed numbers to said first Hough conversion data and outputting the result of addition therefrom; first circulating means comprising a first flip-flop connected to said first adding means for circulating said first Hough conversion data through said first adding means as said prescribed numbers are successively added to said first Hough conversion data, wherein an output of said first circulating means is connected to an input of said first adding means; second register means for receiving and storing second Hough conversion data therein; second adding means connected to said second register means for receiving therein said second Hough conversion data corresponding to a second coordinate and successively adding prescribed numbers to said second Hough conversion data and outputting the result of addition therefrom; and second circulating means comprising a second flip-flop connected to said second adding means for circulating said second Hough conversion data through said second adding means as said prescribed numbers are successively added to said second Hough conversion data; wherein an output of said second circulating means is connected to an input of said second adding means; wherein an output of said first circulating means is accumulatively added to the output of said second circulating means each time said second Hough conversion data is circulated a predetermined umber of times by said second circulating means.

Claim 10

An apparatus for consecutively reading Hough conversion data in a x-axis direction from a two-dimensional (x,y) coordinate system in which coordinate values (x,y) of said two-dimensional coordinate system are varied at prescribed intervals (g,h) continuously while scanning said data in an x-axis direction, wherein said x-axis direction comprises a main scanning direction and said y-axis direction comprises a sub-scanning direction, thereby performing Hough conversion of said coordinates in accordance with the following equation: ρ(x, y, θ.sub.n)=x·cosθ.sub.n +y·sinθ.sub.n wherein θ n is an angle between the x-axis and a straight line segment defined by said Hough conversion data, said apparatus comprising: first register means for receiving and storing first Hough conversion data therein having a value h·sinθ n , wherein h has a predetermined value; first adding means connected to said first register means for receiving therein said first Hough conversion data and adding a multiple of said value h·sinθ n to said first Hough conversion data each time said y-coordinate is successively incremented by said prescribed interval h, thereby outputting y-coordinate data corresponding to y·sinθ n ; first circulating means comprising a first flip-flop connected to said first adding means for circulating the y-coordinate data through said first adding means as said y-coordinate is successively incremented by said prescribed internal h, wherein an output of said first circulating means is connected to an input of said first adding means; second register means for receiving and storing second Hough conversion data therein having a value g·cosθ n , wherein g has a predetermined value; second circulating means comprising a second flip-flop connected to said second adding means for circulating the x-coordinate data through said second adding means as said x-coordinate is successively incremented by said prescribed interval g, wherein an output of said second circulating means is connected to an input of said second adding means; and output means for selectively outputting the outputs of said first and second circulating means, wherein the output of said first circulating means is selected each time said x-coordinate data is circulated a predetermined number of times by said second circulating means, thereby outputting data corresponding to x·cosθ n +y·sinθ n .

Claim 11

An apparatus for consecutively reading Hough conversion data in a x-axis direction from a two-dimensional (x,y) coordinate system in which coordinate values (x,y) of said two-dimensional coordinate system are varied at prescribed intervals (g,h) continuously while scanning said data in an x-axis direction, wherein said x-axis direction comprises a main scanning direction and said y-axis direction comprises a sub-scanning direction, thereby performing Hough conversion of said coordinates in accordance with the following equation: ρ(x, y, θ.sub.n)=x·cosθ.sub.n +y·sinθ.sub.n wherein θ n is an angle between the x-axis and a straight line segment defined by said Hough conversion data, said apparatus comprising: first register means for receiving and storing first Hough conversion data therein having a value h·sinθ n , wherein h has a predetermined value; first adding means connected to said first register means for receiving therein said first Hough conversion data and adding a multiple of said value h·sinθ n to said first Hough conversion data each time said y-coordinate is successively incremented by said prescribed interval h, thereby outputting y-coordinate data corresponding to y·sinθ n ; first circulating means comprising a first flip-flop connected to said first adding means for circulating the y-coordinate data through said first adding means as said y-coordinate is successively incremented by said prescribed internal h, wherein an output of said first circulating means is connected to an input of said first adding means; second register means for receiving and storing second Hough conversion data therein having a value g·cosθ n , wherein g has a predetermined value; second circulating means comprising a second flip-flop connected to said second adding means for circulating the x-coordinate data through said second adding means as said x-coordinate is successively incremented by said prescribed interval g, wherein an output of said second circulating means is connected to an input of said second adding means; and output means for selectively outputting the outputs of said first and second circulating means, wherein the output of said first circulating means is selected each time said x-coordinate data is circulated a predetermined number of times by said second circulating means, thereby outputting data corresponding to x·cosθ n +y·sinθ n .

Claim 18

An apparatus for consecutively reading Hough conversion data in a y-axis direction from a two-dimensional (x, y) coordinate system in which coordinate values (x, y) of said two-dimensional coordinate system are varied at prescribed intervals (g,h) continuously while scanning said data in an x-axis direction, wherein said x-axis direction comprises a main scanning direction and said y-axis direction comprises a sub-scanning direction, thereby performing Hough conversion of said coordinates in accordance with the following equation: ρ(x, y, θ.sub.n)=x·cosθ.sub.n +y·sinθ.sub.n wherein θ n is and angle between the x-axis and a straight line segment defined by said Hough conversion, data, said apparatus comprising: a plurality of processing elements connected in series, wherein in each of said processing elements performs processing with respect to a variable θ n , wherein θ n is different in each of said processing elements, each of said processing elements comprising: first register means for receiving and storing first Hough conversion data therein having a value h·sinθ n , wherein h has a predetermined value; first adding means connected to said first register means for receiving therein said first Hough conversion data and adding a multiple of said value h·sinθ n to said first Hough conversion data each time said y-coordinate is successively incremented by said prescribed interval h, thereby outputting y-coordinate data corresponding to y·sinθ n ; first circulating means comprising a first flip-flop connected to said first adding means for circulating the y-coordinate data through said first adding means as said y-coordinate is successively incremented by said prescribed interval h, wherein an output of said first circulating means is connected to an input of said first adding means; second register means for receiving and storing second Hough conversion data therein having a value g·cosθ n , wherein g has a predetermined value; second adding means for receiving therein said second Hough conversion data and adding a multiple of said value g·cosθ n , to said second Hough conversion data each time said x-coordinate is successively incremented by said prescribed interval g, thereby outputting x-coordinate data corresponding to x·cosθ n ; and second circulating means comprising a second flip-flop connected to said second adding means for circulating the x-coordinate data through said second adding means as said x-coordinate is successively incremented by said prescribed interval g, wherein an output of said second circulating means is connected to an input of said second adding means; output means for selectively outputting the outputs of said first and second circulating means, wherein the output of said first circulating means is selected each time said x-coordinate data is circulated a predetermined number of times by said second circulating means, thereby outputting data corresponding to x·cosθ n +y·sinθ n .

Claim 19

An apparatus for consecutively reading Hough conversion data in a y-axis direction from a two-dimensional (x, y) coordinate system in which coordinate values (x, y) of said two-dimensional coordinate system are varied at prescribed intervals (g,h) continuously while scanning said data in an x-axis direction, wherein said x-axis direction comprises a main scanning direction and said y-axis direction comprises a sub-scanning direction, thereby performing Hough conversion of said coordinates in accordance with the following equation: ρ(x, y, θ.sub.n)=x·cosθ.sub.n +y·sinθ.sub.n wherein θ n is and angle between the x-axis and a straight line segment defined by said Hough conversion, data, said apparatus comprising: a plurality of processing elements connected in series, wherein in each of said processing elements performs processing with respect to a variable θ n , wherein θ n is different in each of said processing elements, each of said processing elements comprising: first register means for receiving and storing first Hough conversion data therein having a value h·sinθ n , wherein h has a predetermined value; first adding means connected to said first register means for receiving therein said first Hough conversion data and adding a multiple of said value h·sinθ n to said first Hough conversion data each time said y-coordinate is successively incremented by said prescribed interval h, thereby outputting y-coordinate data corresponding to y·sinθ n ; first circulating means comprising a first flip-flop connected to said first adding means for circulating the y-coordinate data through said first adding means as said y-coordinate is successively incremented by said prescribed interval h, wherein an output of said first circulating means is connected to an input of said first adding means; second register means for receiving and storing second Hough conversion data therein having a value g·cosθ n , wherein g has a predetermined value; second adding means for receiving therein said second Hough conversion data and adding a multiple of said value g·cosθ n , to said second Hough conversion data each time said x-coordinate is successively incremented by said prescribed interval g, thereby outputting x-coordinate data corresponding to x·cosθ n ; and second circulating means comprising a second flip-flop connected to said second adding means for circulating the x-coordinate data through said second adding means as said x-coordinate is successively incremented by said prescribed interval g, wherein an output of said second circulating means is connected to an input of said second adding means; output means for selectively outputting the outputs of said first and second circulating means, wherein the output of said first circulating means is selected each time said x-coordinate data is circulated a predetermined number of times by said second circulating means, thereby outputting data corresponding to x·cosθ n +y·sinθ n .

Claim 20

An apparatus for consecutively reading Hough conversion data from a two-dimensional (x,y) coordinate system in which coordinate values (x,y) of said two-dimensional coordinate system are varied at prescribed intervals (g,h) continuously while scanning said data in an x-axis direction, wherein said x-axis direction comprises a main scanning direction and said y-axis direction comprises a subscanning direction, thereby performing Hough conversion of said coordinates in accordance with the following equation: ρ(s, y, θ.sub.n)=x·cosθ.sub.n +y·sinθ.sub.n wherein θ n is an angle between the x-axis and a straight line segment defined by said Hough conversion data, said apparatus comprising: first register means for receiving and storing first Hough conversion data therein having a value sinθ n -l·cosθ n , wherein l is a predetermined constant indicating a length of said (x,y) coordinate system in the x-direction; second register means for receiving and storing second Hough conversion data therein having a value g·cosθ n , wherein g has a predetermined value; selecting means connected to said first and second register means for receiving therein the contents of the data stored in said first and second register means and for selecting and outputting one of said contents of said first and second register means; adding means connected to an output of said selecting means for receiving therein said second Hough conversion data and adding a multiple of said value g·cosθ n to said second Hough conversion data each time said x-coordinate is successively incremented by said prescribed interval g, and for receiving therein said first Hough conversion data and adding said first Hough conversion data to the result of addition of said multiple of said value g·cosθ n and said second Hough conversion data each time said addition is repeated l times, thereby outputting (x,y) coordinate data; and circulating means comprising a flip-flop connected to said adding means for circulating the (x,y) coordinate data through said adding means as said x and y coordinates are successively incremented by said prescribed intervals g and h, wherein an output of said circulating means is connected to an input of said adding means.

Claim 21

An apparatus for consecutively reading Hough conversion data from a two-dimensional (x,y) coordinate system in which coordinate values (x,y) of said two-dimensional coordinate system are varied at prescribed intervals (g,h) continuously while scanning said data in an x-axis direction, wherein said x-axis direction comprises a main scanning direction and said y-axis direction comprises a subscanning direction, thereby performing Hough conversion of said coordinates in accordance with the following equation: ρ(s, y, θ.sub.n)=x·cosθ.sub.n +y·sinθ.sub.n wherein θ n is an angle between the x-axis and a straight line segment defined by said Hough conversion data, said apparatus comprising: first register means for receiving and storing first Hough conversion data therein having a value sinθ n -l·cosθ n , wherein l is a predetermined constant indicating a length of said (x,y) coordinate system in the x-direction; second register means for receiving and storing second Hough conversion data therein having a value g·cosθ n , wherein g has a predetermined value; selecting means connected to said first and second register means for receiving therein the contents of the data stored in said first and second register means and for selecting and outputting one of said contents of said first and second register means; adding means connected to an output of said selecting means for receiving therein said second Hough conversion data and adding a multiple of said value g·cosθ n to said second Hough conversion data each time said x-coordinate is successively incremented by said prescribed interval g, and for receiving therein said first Hough conversion data and adding said first Hough conversion data to the result of addition of said multiple of said value g·cosθ n and said second Hough conversion data each time said addition is repeated l times, thereby outputting (x,y) coordinate data; and circulating means comprising a flip-flop connected to said adding means for circulating the (x,y) coordinate data through said adding means as said x and y coordinates are successively incremented by said prescribed intervals g and h, wherein an output of said circulating means is connected to an input of said adding means.