Line object scene generation apparatus
First Claim
1. An event recording camera system for forming a time sequence of images, comprising:
- A. a first digital camera which generates a first sequence of digital image frames, each frame of said first sequence representing a first view that is captured by said first digital camera at a first moment in time and imaged onto a first array of detector elements;
B. a second digital camera which generates a second sequence of digital image frames, each frame of said second sequence representing a second view that is captured by said second digital camera at a second moment in time and imaged onto a second array of detector elements;
C. a precision timer associated with said first digital camera, and a timer processing means which marks frames of said first sequence of digital image frames with a time reference indicative of said first moment in time, D. a tunable timer in said second digital camera, said tunable timer being operative in at least a faster mode and in a slower mode, and timer processing means which marks frames of said second sequence with a time reference representative of said second moment in time as determined by the tunable timer; and
E. mode selection means for accessing the precision timer and selecting a mode having a speed to maintain said tunable timer synchronous with said precision timer, so that said first and second sequences of digital image frames are marked with a common time reference.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention provides a system for recording and displaying a time sequential scene on a computer (16). The digital camera (12) transmits a sequence of digital image frames to the timer (14) representative of the image of a body passing a plane in space. Each frame represents a line object (18) of the body, thus forming a fractional part of the scene. Once the frame reaches the image timer (14), it is digitally marked with a time reference (34) and buffered into a block of information. The main control computer (16) stores blocks of information from the image timer (14) for a variety of processing and features available to the user. The invention also provides a selected memory (36), preferably a virtual memory subsystem, or hard-disc drive. Preferred constructions for adjusting camera pixel processing of light values, time-marking the images, creating color palettes for interactive viewing of color images, and video data coding to accommodate the high volume of line image data are described.
68 Citations
26 Claims
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1. An event recording camera system for forming a time sequence of images, comprising:
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A. a first digital camera which generates a first sequence of digital image frames, each frame of said first sequence representing a first view that is captured by said first digital camera at a first moment in time and imaged onto a first array of detector elements;
B. a second digital camera which generates a second sequence of digital image frames, each frame of said second sequence representing a second view that is captured by said second digital camera at a second moment in time and imaged onto a second array of detector elements;
C. a precision timer associated with said first digital camera, and a timer processing means which marks frames of said first sequence of digital image frames with a time reference indicative of said first moment in time, D. a tunable timer in said second digital camera, said tunable timer being operative in at least a faster mode and in a slower mode, and timer processing means which marks frames of said second sequence with a time reference representative of said second moment in time as determined by the tunable timer; and
E. mode selection means for accessing the precision timer and selecting a mode having a speed to maintain said tunable timer synchronous with said precision timer, so that said first and second sequences of digital image frames are marked with a common time reference. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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- 4. An event recording digital camera including an optical imaging element for forming a light image of a visual field, and an image sensing element for generating a digital image frame from the light image, timing means in said camera for generating time signals at tunable discrete rates, and means responsive to communication with a precision time source for selecting a said rate so as to maintain synchronization of the timing means with the precision time source, said digital camera further including time processing means for marking frames generated by said camera with their time of generation as determined by said timing means.
- 6. An event recording digital camera including an optical image forming element and an image sensing element for generating digital image frames, a tunable timer and means for periodically varying the rate at which said tunable timer operates so as to maintain it in synchrony with a precision time source, and means for marking the digital image frames with time generated by said tunable timer.
- 8. A digital camera including an optical imaging element for forming a visual image of a field, an image sensing element for generating a multi-pixel electrical output from the visual image, and circuit means in said camera for processing said multi-pixel electrical output to provide a video stream including a digital value for each image pixel, wherein said circuit means senses a digitized dark current signal from a dark current pixel of said image sensing element and offsets the electrical output of each image pixel by a value corresponding to said dark current signal, thereby producing a low noise video stream of enhanced image quality.
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10. An event recording video camera comprising
optical means for imaging a visual field a line sensor for converting a fixed line portion of the imaged visual field into electrical signals representative of a line of pixels of the image of said field, the line of pixels forming a frame representative of said fixed portion at an instant in time circuit means for processing said electrical signals to form a digital output stream containing digitized pixel values of a sequence of frames at a high scanning rate a buffer for storing said digital output stream before transmission, and compression means for compressing data in said buffer to reduce bandwidth thereof before it is transmitted.
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16. A video display processing module for processing a data stream of video data for display, such data including successive frames of light information, each frame comprising pixels having light color values, wherein the color values may represent a large number of colors, said display module including means for determining a palette of colors consisting of a smaller predetermined maximum number of coded color values, wherein the means for determining includes
i) first means for assigning successive coded color values to said palette based upon color values of pixels in the data stream said first means including comparator means for comparing color value of an incoming pixel with coded color values if any previously assigned to said palette, and ii) means responsive to said comparator means for replacing the color value of an incoming pixel with a coded color value from the palette when said comparator means determines a match, and otherwise assigning the color value of said incoming pixel to the palette as a further coded color value, until said palette contains said maximum number of coded color values, said palette initially being non-full, and said means for assigning operating to assign said small number of colors to all pixels of successive frames as it fills said palette so a video image represented by said data stream may be viewed immediately without awaiting inspection of subsequent frames.
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21. A color normalizer for determining a small palette of fewer than n colors and assigning a color from the palette to each pixel of a stream of color video data having plural frames of pixels, wherein each pixel is specified by multibit RGB components, thereby to produce a multicolor stream with fewer colors suitable for display on a monitor, such color normalizer comprising
first means inspecting RGB values of incoming pixels in a digital data stream and for adaptively adding colors to the palette until it is filled with no more than n colors selected in accordance with the RGB values of said incoming pixels, and for simultaneously assigning colors of this palette to said pixels, and second means operative once the palette is filled, for assigning the closest color of the palette to each incoming pixel, whereby each pixel is assigned one of said fewer than n colors for immediate interactive n-color computer display of said stream by an operator.
- 22. A color normalizer for determining a small palette of fewer than n colors and assigning a color from the palette to each pixel of a stream of color video data containing plural frames of pixels, wherein the video data includes views of changing events against a fixed environment, and said normalizer adaptively forms a table of said n colors on the fly based upon colors of initial frames in said color video data stream, and then assigns the n colors from the table to subsequent frames of said stream.
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23. A compression system for compressing a sequence of digital data frames, wherein each of said digital data frames forms a column of n-bit greyscale numbers representative of luminance values detected at pixels of a line sensor on which a fixed line portion of a scene is imaged in a video camera, and wherein said sequence forms an array of rows of n-bit numbers, such compression system comprising:
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A. greyscale conversion means, for converting each of said digital data frames into a column of m-bit greyscale numbers, wherein the integer m is less than n, thereby forming an array of rows of m-bit numbers;
B. a counter means, which provides a count of the number of occurrences of equivalent m-bit greyscale numbers in adjacent frames in each row of said array of rows of m-bit numbers;
C. a row reformatting means, for reformatting each row of said array of rows of m-bit numbers such that every row sequence of equivalent m-bit numbers is represented by one m-bit number value and the count thereof; and
D. a memory reformatting means, for storing each reformatted row of said array of rows sequentially;
whereby said compression system reduces the memory required to store said sequence of digital data frames representing the fixed line portion of the imaged visual field.
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Specification