Image blanking circuit for line follower
AssigneeUnion Carbide Corporation
InventorGeorge H. Kallen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A window generation circuit is provided for gating image signals from an electronically scanned sensor array in a line tracing machine. The window generation circuit includes two shift registers of variable length for measuring intervals of time for setting first and second bounds to a sector scan. The interval of the second register corresponds to the width of the window. Logic circuitry, responsive to the detection of image data, alters the electrical lengths of the registers to enlarge the window in the absence of an image, and restores the original lengths upon return of the image.
Claims17
In a curve follower circular scanning apparatus, a gating circuit for setting a sector window comprising:
- first means for timing the duration of a scan of a first sector;
- second means, triggered by said first timing means, for timing the duration of a scan of a second sector;
- means for signaling the presence of a subject within said window, said window being bounded by the sum of said first and said second sectors;
- and
- means responsive to said signaling means for resetting said first and said second timing means upon the detection of said subject.
In a curve follower sector scanning apparatus comprising:
- first and second timing means for setting boundaries of a sector scan, said first timing means setting a first boundary of said boundaries;
- and
- means for combining elapsed times of said first and said second timing means for setting a second boundary of said boundaries, the timing operations of said first timing means and said second timing means being synchronized with a period of scan of said sector scan.
In a curve follower comprising a circular array of image sensors and a scanner of these sensors for developing motor drive signals, the improvement being a scanning window circuit comprising, in combination:
- a plurality of timing units;
- a second of said timing units being activated by a first of said timing units;
- individual ones of said timing units setting respective bounds of a sector scan of said array;
- and
- means responsive to the sensing of an image by said array for resetting said timing units.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.