Machine Vision System for Forming a One Dimensional Digital Representation of a Low Information Content Scene

A method useful in forming a one dimensional digital representation of a low information content scene, the method comprising:

• forming a background signal using a pixel array comprising a light sensitive pixels and dark pixels arranged in rows and columns, the dark pixels arranged in different rows from the light sensitive pixels, wherein during the forming of the background signal, the dark pixels receive a reference signal and the light sensitive pixels are prevented from receiving incoming light energy;
• obtaining a background measurement signal of the background signal by
• i) supplying sets of control signals to the rows of the pixel array, wherein pixels of each row share common control signals, and each of the sets of control signals is representative of a different vector of a sampling matrix, and
• ii) for each of the sets of control signals, summing pixel output signals for at least one of the columns, wherein the background measurement signal comprises a background measurement vector usable for each of the columns;
• forming an image signal using the pixel array, wherein, during the forming of the image signal, the dark pixels receive the reference signal and the light sensitive pixels receive the incoming light energy;
• obtaining an image measurement signal of the image signal by
• i) supplying the sets of control signals, which are representative of the sampling matrix, to the rows of the pixel array, and
• ii) for each of the sets of control signals, summing pixel output signals for each of the columns, wherein the image measurement signal comprises an image measurement vector for each of the columns;
• for each column of the pixel array,
• i) determining a distance between the image measurement vector and the background measurement vector;
• and
• ii) generating, from the determined distance, a digital value indicative of a magnitude of the portion of the image signal that is received by the light sensitive pixels of the column.