Method and apparatus for two-dimensional data acquisition

A system for acquisition of two-dimensional data comprising:

• a linear array of a plurality of discrete sensors, at least two groups of ganged shift registers, each of the sensors being in communication with at least one shift register in each group of ganged shift registers, load control logic means, load clock means connected to the ganged shift registers through the load control logic means, and activation means interposed between the sensor array and load control logic means, the activation means being responsive to the occurrence of an event to activate the load control logic means to provide the load clock means signal to at least one group of ganged shift registers to thereby sample the condition of the linear array of sensors at the load clock means frequency, the load control logic means further including a counter of twice the capacity of the number of tiers in the ganged shift registers with a response at one-half the full count, the output from the counter being connected to shift means to shift loading of data from one group of ganged shift registers to another group of shift registers upon accumulation of a count corresponding to the number of tiers in the ganged shift registers, the output from the load control logic means counter also being connected to unload control logic means to initiate unloading of the loaded group of ganged shift registers upon such shift, unload shift registers, one each being associated with each group of ganged shift registers with one shift register in each group of ganged shift registers being in communication with one position in the unload shift register to facilitate unloading of a single tier of data from the ganged shift registers into associated unload shift register, unload clock means in communication with the unload shift register and the unload control logic means to unload data from the unload shift register at the unload clock means frequency into a conventional data system, and a counter in the unload control logic means to count the bits unloaded from the unload shift register and, upon reaching a count equal to the position in the unload shift register, to unload another tier of data from the group of ganged shift registers into the unload shift register, whereby data may be acquired at a high rate according to the load clock means frequency and stored in the ganged shift registers, and, upon saturation of all tiers in a group of ganged shift registers, unloaded therefrom at a more conventional rate according to the unload clock means frequency and provided bit by bit at such conventional frequency to a conventional data system.

A method of acquiring intermittently occurring data at rapid rates while providing the data to data systems at convention rates comprising:

• sensing an event by means of a linear array of sensors, reacting activation means in response to and only during the occurrence of an event, entering at a load clock frequency the condition of the array of sensors into a group of ganged shift registers only during the reaction of the activation means with the condition of a given sensor being recorded at a specific shift register, counting the number of entries into the group of ganged shift registers, shifting the acquisition of data into a parallel group of ganged shift registers upon saturation of the group of ganged shift registers with data, unloading a tier of data from the saturated group of shift registers into a single shift register with each of the ganged shift registers communicating with one position in the single shift register, unloading data bit by bit from the single shift register at a conventional rate into a conventional data system, unloading another tier of data into the single shift register upon completion of the unloading of the initial tier of data until each tier of data from the saturated ganged shift registers has been unloaded into the single shift register on a tier-by-tier basis and into the data system on a bit-by-bit basis and, upon saturation of the second parallel group of ganged shift registers, repeating the process with a parallel system involving another single shift register while again repeating the process of loading the first group of ganged shift registers.