System for spatial analysis of a physical quantity

• US 20060034347A1
• Filed: 10/22/2003
• Published: 02/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CSEM Centre Suisse d'Electronique et de Microtechnique SA Recherche et Développement
• Original Assignee: CSEM Centre Suisse d'Electronique et de Microtechnique SA Recherche et Développement
• Inventors: Ruedi, Pierre-Francois, Kaess, Francois, Nussbaum, Pascal, Burgi, Pierre-Yves
• Granted Patent: US 7,672,506 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 375/130
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 5/247 using time shifts of pulses

Abstract

The invention concerns a system wherein the spatial values (S1 to Sn) of the physical quantity are represented by measurement pulses (I1 to In) whereof the temporal ordering represents said values. The system comprises a plurality of processing units (U1 to Un) for processing said measurement pulses. They are arranged in at least one row and include each an output (SOR1 to SORn) whereon, during successive processing cycles, a measurement pulse processed therein can be delivered to form the output signal (SU) of the system. The invention is characterized in that each processing unit (U1 to Un) comprises inhibiting means (BI) for, in other units of the row and during a given processing cycle, inhibiting the passage to the outputs (SOR1 to SORn) of said other units respective measurement pulses processed therein and hence preventing them from forming the output signal (SU), if said measurement impulses are temporally ordered later in the given processing cycle than the one processed in the unit concerned.

Claims

1-13. -13. (canceled)

14. System for spatial analysis of a physical quantity whose spatial values (S1 to Sn) are respectively represented by measurement pulses (I1 to In) whose order in time is representative of those values, this system comprising a plurality of processing units (U1 to Un;

p_n) for processing said measurement pulses, said processing units being arranged in one or more rows and each having an output (SOR1 to SORn) at which, during successive processing cycles, a measurement pulse that is processed therein may be delivered to form the output signal (SU) of said system, wherein each of said processing units (U1 to Un;

p_n) further includes inhibition means (BI) for inhibiting, in other units of said row and during a processing cycle, the passage toward the outputs (SOR1 to SORn) of those other units of respective measurement pulses that are processed therein, and thereby preventing them from forming said output signal (SU) of the system, if those measurement pulses are ordered later in the processing cycle concerned than the pulse processed in the unit concerned.

15. System according to claim 14, further comprising means (N) for counting the measurement pulses delivered at the output (SU) of said system over a plurality of successive processing cycles and for interrupting (INT1 to INTn) the processing of said measurement pulses if the number of pulses delivered in this way reaches a predetermined value.

16. System according to claim 14, wherein said spatial values (S1 to Sn) representing said physical quantity are instantaneous amplitudes thereof measured locally during respective successive processing cycles, and in that each of said units (U1 to Un;

p_n) further comprises conversion means (C1 to Cn) for converting said amplitudes into measurement pulses (I1 to In) ordered in time.

17. System according to claim 16, wherein said conversion means include control means that bring about the passage to the output of said measurement pulse in the processing unit of said row in which the order in time of that measurement pulse is the earliest in said cycle concerned and therefore represents the maximum value of the values of the physical quantity detected by the respective processing units (p_n) during a processing cycle.

18. System according to claim 16, wherein said conversion means include control means that bring about the passage to the output of said measurement pulse in the processing unit in said row in which that pulse is the latest in said cycle concerned and therefore represents the minimum value of all the values of the physical quantity detected by the respective processing units (p_n) during a processing cycle.

19. System according to claim 17, wherein said control means include a comparator to which is applied, on the one hand, the amplitude appearing in the processing unit (U1 to Un;

p_n) concerned during a processing cycle and, on the other hand, a generator of a reference signal variable in accordance with a profile repeated during each processing cycle;

said comparator being adapted to supply an inhibition signal to said adjacent units if said reference signal becomes equal to said amplitude during a processing cycle.

20. System according to claim 19, wherein said reference signal generator is adapted to generate a monotonously increasing reference signal and said measurement pulse corresponds to the lowest spatial value of said physical quantity during a processing cycle.

21. System according to claim 18, wherein said control means include a comparator to which is applied, on the one hand, the amplitude appearing in the processing unit (U1 to Un;

p_n) concerned during a processing cycle and, on the other hand, a generator of a reference signal variable in accordance with a profile repeated during each processing cycle;

said comparator being adapted to supply an inhibition signal to said adjacent units if said reference signal becomes equal to said amplitude during a processing cycle and wherein said reference signal generator reference signal is adapted to generate a monotonously decreasing reference signal and said measurement pulse corresponds to the highest spatial value of said physical quantity during a processing cycle.

22. System according to claim 14, wherein it includes a plurality of rows of processing units (p_n) forming a matrix, said units being arranged in rows and in columns, and each processing unit further comprises selection means for bringing about the selective inhibition of the passage toward the output of respective measurement pulses in the units adjacent the processing unit concerned, oriented in the direction of a column, a row or a diagonal of said matrix.

23. System according to claim 22, wherein each of said processing units (p_n) comprises a turning filter circuit to which said amplitude is applied to form a vectorial signal whose norm is represented by the order of said measurement pulse and whose phase represents the orientation of the spatial variation of said physical quantity, said selection means further comprising means for comparing the phase of said vectorial signal to the order in time of said pulse and for authorizing, as a function of the phase position of said measurement pulse, the inhibition of the processing units selectively situated in a column, a row or a diagonal of said matrix.

24. System according to claim 23, wherein said selection means further comprise means for selectively authorizing the passage to said output of the processing unit concerned of the measurement pulse that is processed therein or of the phase information of that pulse.

25. System according to claim 14, wherein each processing unit is connected to an element responsive to said physical quantity and supplying an analog signal representative of the local evolution thereof and forming said amplitudes during said successive processing cycles.

26. System according to claim 25, wherein said physical quantity is the luminance emanating from a scene observed by said system and said sensitive element is a photosensor forming part of each of said processing units.