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Method and apparatus for acquisition and tracking of light sources in a transient event rich environment

  • US 5,260,557 A
  • Filed: 01/31/1992
  • Issued: 11/09/1993
  • Est. Priority Date: 01/31/1992
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. A method for tracking a light source in the field-of-view of a tracking system in a transient event rich environment, the system having a charge-coupled-device (CCD) array, a processor, a memory for storing digitized data, and a communication means for communicating data as to the position and brightness of said light source to a host, the method comprising the steps of:

  • a) obtaining a first data set representative of the brightness of the field-of-view incident upon the pixels of an acquisition window array comprising at least a portion of said CCD array and storing said data set to memory;

    b) obtaining a second data set representative of the brightness of the field-of-view incident upon the pixels of said acquisition window and storing said data set to memory;

    c) comparing said first data set stored in memory with said second data set stored in memory so as to select the pixel coordinates of a target group of pixels from said second data set of said acquisition window and store the pixel coordinates of said target group in memory, said target group is determined from a group of contiguous pixels from said second data set having approximately the same brightness and location as a group of contiguous pixels from said first data set;

    d) obtaining a third data set representative of the brightness of the field-of-view incident upon the pixels of a tracking window array comprising at least a portion of said CCD array, wherein the center of said tracking window array has the same pixel coordinates as said target group of pixels, and storing said data to memory;

    e) comparing the location of said target group of pixels with the brightness and location of the pixels of said tracking window array so as to determine the pixel coordinates of a tracking group of pixels, said tracking group determined from a group of contiguous pixels having approximately the same brightness and position as said target group; and

    f) outputting to said host the pixel coordinates and brightness of said tracking group.

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