Continuous two dimensional monitoring of thin webs of textile materials

An apparatus for monitoring a web of textile material, said web including a plurality of entities, comprising:

• an imaging unit for receiving electromagnetic radiation from said web and producing image signals in response thereto, said image signals corresponding to images of portions of said web including said entities, said web being in motion relative to said imaging unit, said imaging unit for scanning stripe images at first and second fixed locations simultaneously in a direction substantially perpendicular to the direction of relative motion of said web and scanning successive stripe images at said first and second fixed locations at subsequent times while said web is in motion past said fixed locations to produce a plurality of first stripe images and a plurality of second stripe images, such that each stripe image from the first location is produced at a different time from each of the other stripe images from the first location and further such that each of the stripe images from the first location depicts a different portion of the web as compared to other stripe images from the first location, and such that each stripe image from the second location is produced at a different time from each of the other stripe images from the second location and further such that each of the stripe images from the second location depicts a different portion of the web as compared to other stripe images from the second location;
• and
• processing means for receiving said image signals from said imaging units, for producing and storing digital data corresponding to the image signals received from said imaging unit, said processing means further comprising means for producing and storing digital data corresponding to a first composite image generated by sequentially accessing each of the plurality of said first stripe images and for producing and storing digital data corresponding to a second composite image generated by sequentially accessing each of the plurality of said second stripe images, said processing means further comprising means for analyzing the digital data, for finding entities of interest in said web based on the analysis of the digital data, for determining parameters of said found entities of interest, and for producing output signals indicating parameters of entities of interest in said web.