Method and apparatus for recording in a memory trajectories and traces of objects

• US 4,025,718 A
• Filed: 12/02/1975
• Issued: 05/24/1977
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/1974
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Comitato Nazionale Per L'Energia Nucleare
• Original Assignee: Comitato Nazionale Per L'Energia Nucleare
• Inventors: Paretti, Claudio R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Murray, Richard
• Assistant Examiner(s): Coles, Edward L.
• Application Number:
  US05/637,013
• Time in Patent Office: 539 Days
• Field of Search: 178/DIG. 21, 178/DIG. 33, 178/DIG. 38, 178/DIG. 37, 178/6.8
• US Class Current: 358/448
• CPC Class Codes: G01T 5/02 Processing of tracks; Analysis of tracks
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 19/00 Digital stores in which the information is moved stepwise, e.g. shift registers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/2625 for obtaining an image which is composed of images from a temporal image sequence, e.g. for a stroboscopic effect sequence generated by event triggered capturing H04N7/188

Abstract

A method and an apparatus for storing in a digital memory the information obtained by comparing by means of a logical operator any information previously stored in said memory with the information originating from a television camera. Specifically a method and an apparatus for storing in a digital memory the plane projection of a trace left by a particle on a transparent medium or the plane projection of the trajectory of an object moving through the space along with the stationary objects with respect to which said object is moving or without said stationary objects.

The apparatus comprises a television camera for scanning the picture to be memorized, an analog-digital converter for converting the signals from the telecamera into digital signals, a digital memory for processing said digital signals, an inclusive-OR logical operator for supplying to said memory the image of a trace or trajectory along with the background of stationary objects, an exclusive-OR for forming in said memory the image of a trajectory without the stationary background, a switch for shifting the apparatus from operating through said inclusive-OR or through said exclusive-OR and vice-versa.

Claims

1. An apparatus intended to store in a digital memory the set of information obtained by comparing by means of a logical operator the information previously stored in the said memory with the information originating from a television camera, said television camera being capable of scanning a picture composed of a plurality of elementary areoles and of supplying at the output in the form of an electric signal an elementary information for each of the said areoles;

the aforesaid apparatus comprising, in addition to the said television camera, a device for defining a field within said picture and for establishing a one-to-one correspondence between each elementary areole of said field and one storage location of a memory having at least as many locations as the areoles comprised within said field;

at least one logical operator having two inputs and one output, whereof one input is connected to the output of said memory and the other input is connected to the television camera through analogic/digital converter and the output is connected to the memory input, the purpose of such arrangement being that of carrying out a logical comparison between the elementary information originating from the individual areoles within the television camera'"'"'s field and the information originating from the corresponding storage location;

a clock synchronous with the television camera'"'"'s line pulses capable of causing the simultaneous arrival at the input of the aforesaid logical circuit of the elementary information originating from the corresponding storage location and the entering into the said storage location of the signal obtained from the comparison of the said information through the logical circuit.

2. An apparatus as per claim 1 above intended to store in a digital memory the plane projection of a trace or the plane projection of a trajectory, in which apparatus the aforesaid logical operator is made up by one inclusive-OR circuit and one exclusive-OR circuit parallel-connected to each other of which circuits one input is connected to the corresponding input of the other circuit and to the memory output, and the other input is connected, besides to the corresponding input of the other circuit, to the television camera through the aforesaid analog/digital converter, while a switch is fitted between the outputs of said circuits and the memory input, in such a manner that either of said OR circuits can be connected as desired to the memory input, the result of such arrangement being that when said switch is in inclusive-OR position, the apparatus will store in the memory the plane projection of a trace, the image of which is picked up by the television camera on successively focused parallel planes, or the plane projection of a trajectory of an object the image of which is picked up by the television camera in successive positions, together with the background, that is the stationary object relative to which the object is moving, while in the exclusive-OR position the apparatus will store the plane projection of the trajectory of an object, excluding the stationary objects within the television camera picture frame.

3. A method intended to store in a digital memory the set of information obtained by comparing by means of a logical operator the information previously stored in the aforesaid memory with the information originating from a television camera, the latter being capable of scanning a picture composed of a plurality of elementary areoles and of delivering at the output in the form of an electric signal an elementary information for each of the aforesaid areoles, such method consisting of the following stages:

delimiting a field within said picture;

establishing a one-to-one correspondence between each of the areoles of the television camera'"'"'s field and one of the storage locations;

converting the analog signal originating from the television camera for each of the areoles of the camera'"'"'s field into a digital signal;

reading off the memory the signal relating to one given storage location when the television camera issues the signal relating to the areole corresponding to the said location;

causing the said signal issuing from the television camera and the said signal issuing from the memory to be fed simultaneously to the inputs of the logical operator;

entering into the memory in the said location the result of the comparison performed by the said logical operator between said signal issuing from the memory and the said signal issuing from the television camera.

4. A method intended to store in a digital memory the plane projection of the trace left by a particle in a transparent medium in which method use is made of a microscope whose images are picked up by a television camera, such method comprising the following stages;

delimiting in the television camera'"'"'s picture frame a field including the trace to be recorded;

subdividing the said field into a grid of areoles corresponding to small sections of the lines of the television camera, obtaining on the output therefrom one signal for each areole;

establishing a one-to-one correspondence between each of the said areoles and one storage location;

focusing the microscope on different parallel layers of the medium containing the trace to be recorded;

converting the analog signal issuing from the television camera for each of the areoles into which said field is subdivided into a digital signal;

reading of the memory the information contained in the storage location corresponding to the areole which is scanned by the television camera at a given instant;

causing the signal relating to a certain field areole and the signal read off the memory relating to the location corresponding to the said areole to be fed simultaneously to the inputs of an inclusive-OR logical operator;

entering in the storage location referred to in the preceding point the signal issuing from the said logical operator, being the result of the comparison between the two signals simultaneously fed into the said operator.

5. A method intended to store in a digital memory the plane projection of the trajectory of a moving object, in which method use is made of an optical system capable of viewing the object along the said trajectory and of a television camera capable of picking up the images supplied by the said optical system, which method comprises the following stages;

delimiting in the television camera'"'"'s picture frame a field including the trace to be recorded;

subdividing the said field into a grid of areoles corresponding to small sections of the lines of the television camera picture, obtaining on the output therefrom one signal of each areole;

establishing a one-to-one correspondence between each of the said areoles and one storage location;

converting the analog signal issuing from the television camera for each of the areoles into which said field is subdivided into a digital signal;

reading off the memory the information contained in the storage location corresponding to the areole which is scanned by the television camera at a given instant;

causing the signal relating to a certain field areole and the signal read off the memory relating to the location corresponding to the said areole to be fed simultaneously to the inputs of an inclusive-OR logical operator;

entering in the storage location referred to in the preceding point the signal issuing from the said logical operator, being the result of the comparison between the two signals simultaneously fed into the said operator.

6. A method intended to store in a digital memory the plane projection of the trajectory of a moving particle, the stationary objects with respect to which the said particle is moving being excluded, in which use is made of an optical system capable of viewing the object along the said trajectory and of a television camera capable of picking up the images supplied by the said optical system, which method comprises the following stages.

delimiting in the television camera'"'"'s picture frame a field including the trace to be recorded;

subdividing the said field into a grid of areoles corresponding to small sections of the television camera'"'"'s picture lines, obtaining on the output therefrom one signal for each areole;

establishing a one-to-one correspondence between each of the said areoles and one storage location;

converting the analog signal issuing from the television camera for each of the areoles into which said field is subdivided into a digital signal;

reading off the memory the information contained in the storage location corresponding to the areole scanned by the television camera at a given instant;

causing the signal issuing from the television camera and relating to a certain field areole and the signal read off the memory relating to the location corresponding to the said areole to be simultaneously fed to the inputs of an "exclusive-OR" logical operator;

entering in the storage location referred to in the preceding point the signal issuing from the said logical operator, being the result of the comparison of the two signals simultaneously fed into the said operator.