Methods and apparatus for use in imaging an object

An apparatus for imaging an object, comprising:

• means for emitting electromagnetic radiation onto the object to be imaged;
• an imaging sensor system comprising a solid-state sensor matrix incorporating a row-and-column arrayed plurality of pixels;
• means for detecting and storing the electrical output signal of said imaging sensor system;
• a CCD imaging sensor system with a control system and operative for providing a mutual, relative movement between the object to be imaged and said sensor system, and further operative to transfer the charge-mode image formed from the object to be imaged on the CCD sensor elements at the same speed with said relative movement as between the object to be imaged and the sensor system;
• the physical pixel imaging element size of the sensor being smaller than that required to achieve the predetermined maximum resolution required from the sensor;
• and
• means operative to reduce the image blur caused by the relative movement between the object to be imaged and the imaging sensor by shifting the pixel charges in synchronized steps corresponding to the physical size of the CCD sensor pixels, whereby the tracking of the relative movement between the object to be imaged and the CCD sensor occurs with maximum accuracy.

A method of imaging an object with electromagnetic radiation reflected from or transmitted through an object (O;P;M) and detected by an imaging sensor including a solid-state sensor matrix comprised of a row-and-column arrayed plurality of picture imaging CCD sensor elements each producing an electrical charge responsive to detected radiation, comprising the steps of:

• applying a TDI-mode imaging technique whereby a mutual relative movement occurs between the object to be imaged and the imaging sensor;
• transferring the charge-mode image, which is formed from the object to be imaged on the sensor elements, at the same speed with said relative movement and accumulating the image information gathered from the object for a predetermined time simultaneously achieving an increased sensitivity of the sensor;
• selecting the physical size of each sensor element to be smaller than that required to achieve the maximum resolution required from the sensor matrix;
• and
• reducing the image blur caused by the relative movement between the object to be imaged and the imaging sensor by shifting the charges of individual sensor elements in synchronized steps corresponding to the physical size of the sensor elements, whereby the tracking of the relative movement between the object to be imaged and the CCD sensor occurs with maximized accuracy.

An apparatus for imaging an object, comprising:

• means for emitting electromagnetic radiation onto the object to be imaged:
• an imaging sensor system comprising a solid-state sensor matrix incorporating a row-and-column plurality of pixels producing charges in response to the radiation received by the pixels, and said apparatus further including;
• means for detecting and storing the electrical output signal of said imaging sensor system;
• control means for said imaging sensor system selectably operative to combine the charges of plural pixels receiving images from different portions of the object being imaged, along rows or columns of sensor matrix, into clusters of pixels and to transfer the charges which represent the image information obtained from combining the individual pixels of said clusters to the means for detecting, so as to produce signals corresponding to the combined charges from the different portions of the object.