Image processing system

• US 3,971,068 A
• Filed: 08/22/1975
• Issued: 07/20/1976
• Est. Priority Date: 08/22/1975
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: the united states of america as represented by the secretary of the navy
• Original Assignee: the united states of america as represented by the secretary of the navy
• Inventors: Corby, Nelson R. Jr., Gerhardt, Lester A., Sims, Edward M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Griffin, Robert L.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Psitos, Aristotelis M.
• Application Number:
  US05/607,081
• Time in Patent Office: 333 Days
• Field of Search: 178/DIG. 6, 178/DIG. 8, 358/81, 358/82
• US Class Current: 382/270
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 13/22 Circuits therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/0007 Image acquisition
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/42 characterised by the display of patterns using a display memory without fixed position correspondence between the display memory contents and the display position on the screen
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/43 Conversion of monochrome picture signals to colour picture signals for colour picture display

Abstract

A portable, low-cost, bichannel image processing and enhancement system t can be programmed to accept two video sources, operate upon one or both simultaneously and deliver an enhanced result to a color monitor. The operations that can be performed on each source include, for example, unity gain, logarithmic amplification and differentiation, and both outputs thereafter can be subjected to such arithmetic operations as addition, subtraction and multiplication. The results are passed through an electronic user programmed window, color encoded by a quantizer and then displayed on a color monitor. The processor includes an area measurement circuit which quantitatively measures the percentage of the screen covered by any of the levels used in the quantizer, a luminance distribution analyzer which generates an histogram approximation to the distribution of grey levels in the image and a luminance cross-section analyzer which displays a graph of the image luminance along a vertical line.

Claims

1. An image processing system comprising, in combination

a first and second source of video signals which represent one or more images,

each of said sources producing a signal sequence which duplicates the format generated by a television camera so that appropriate vertical and horizontal sync pulses are included therein;

means for subjecting the video signals from both sources to a preliminary wave shaping operation which involves unity gain, logarithmic amplification or differentiation so as to produce first and second modified video signals;

means for performing a preselected arithmetic operation with said first and second modified video signals which involves addition, subtraction, multiplication or division so as to produce processed video signals;

means for comparing the amplitude of said processed video signals to a plurality of successively higher threshold levels and for developing quantized signals which correspond to the number of threshold levels that are exceeded by said processed video signals;

means for combining selected ones of said quantized signals to form first, second and third encoded signals which designate those corresponding processed video signals that exceed predetermined combinations of said threshold levels;

a monitor adapted to provide a color television type display on its screen,

said monitor being synchronized by the horizontal and vertical sync pulses from said sources and having three electron guns adapted to produce a like number of different colors on said screen; and

means for coupling said first, second and third encoded signals to different ones of said electron guns thereby to form on the screen of said monitor a color encoded image.

2. In an arrangement as defined in claim 1

means for providing a quantitative indication of the percentage of the screen of said monitor on which appears a particular color produced by one of said encoded signals originating from a quantized signal developed by a processed video signal whose amplitude exceeds a particular threshold level.

3. In an arrangement as defined in claim 1 means for forming on the screen of said monitor a vertical graph which indicates the luminance level of the encoded image along a particular image line.

4. In an arrangement as defined in claim 1 wherein said means for combining selected ones of said quantized signals comprises a resistance matrix having an input line for each threshold and three output lines.

5. In an arrangement as defined in claim 1 wherein said monitor has a luminance control terminal which regulates the brightness of the image formed on the screen thereof;

and

means for coupling said processed video signals to said control terminal thereby to determine the background intensity of the image displayed on the screen of said monitor.

6. In an arrangement as defined in claim 1

means for forming on the screen of said monitor a rectangular window so as to distinquish the image area within this window from the rest of the image displayed on the screen of said monitor.

7. In an arrangement as defined in claim 1 wherein said means for comparing the amplitude of said processed video signals to a plurality of successively high threshold levels only compares those processed video signals which correspond to a particular rectangular area of said one or more images.

8. In an arrangement as defined in claim 1

an oscilloscope;

and

means for forming on the screen of the cathode ray tube of said oscilloscope a graphical representation depicting the quantized signals associated with the different threshold levels for a signal sequence corresponding to a particular image.