Imaging system

Abstract: An imaging system, which improves the optical revolution and reduces optical alias of a solid state imager comprises a lens and a modulating element, which alters incident radiation in such a manner as to displace the image by fractions of a pixel between adjacent fields by either mechanically shifting the elements or by electro-optic variations of refractive index. A processing system is also provided, in which alternate fields are interlaced and output to a monitor. The modulator is arranged in a demountable manner, so that it can be "bolted on" as an additional attachment to a standard camera. The processing means is attached via the original CCD output terminal.

Description: This invention relates to an imaging system and in particular it relates to apparatus for improving the resolution and reducing the optical alias of imaging systems which include a solid state image sensor such as a CCD sensor. In a conventional scanned imaging system using a solid state sensor, electromagnetic radiation, generally either optical or infra-red is admitted by a lens system to an array of imaging elements which may be charge coupled devices (CCD's). The CCD array is scanned and an output is taken from each element in turn which is dependant upon the light incident upon that element. This output is processed and used to modulate the display on a monitor and thus to produce an image upon the monitor. The resolution of such a system is dependant upon the number of the CCD elements within the sensing array. Current technology limits this number to a sensor of a maximum of perhaps 600 x 600 elements each of around 10 micron dimensions. An image is generally viewed over two scanning fields. In the first field the 1st, 3rd, 5th etc. lines of the array are scanned and during the second field the 2nd, 4th etc. lines are scanned. The processing system then interlaces the two fields upon a display monitor and the human eye and brain performs an integrating function to see the entire image. Typically the scanning time for one field is 50Hz and thus the whole picture is refreshed with a frequency of 25Hz. In order to improve the resolution of such a system, it has been suggested to shift the image position with respect to the sensor during each alternate field. If the shift is made in the horizontal direction then the horizontal resolution of such a system can be doubled since the slight shifting of the image tends effectively to halve the pitch of an imaging element and thus to double the total number of elements which are apparently used to view each horizontal line of the image. In order that the picture does not flicker on the monitor it is important that, after sensing, the video signals are shifted back by an equivalent amount in synchronism with the shift of the image. It has been suggested to shift the image either by altering the position of the CCD slightly (as described in EP-A-0127277) or to alter the angle of a glass plate or mirror placed between the lens and imaging sensor (as described in EP-A-0133890). The present invention arose from a need to maintain the resolution increase whilst also reducing the degrading effects of aliassing. Also, it was required to provide a system which would be used as an add-on to a standard CCD camera. According to the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for use with a video camera having a solid state sensor array and means for scanning the array as two fields to produce an output serially indicative of the radiation incident upon each element of alternate rows of the array during consecutive integration periods, the apparatus comprising means for optically shifting image forming radiation relative to the array so as to shift the sensed image between consecutive integration periods and processing means for processing the output to provide information in the form of pixel signals each of a pre-determined duration, the processing means serving to in consecutive preserve the correct spatial relationship between the pixel information integration periods, the processing means including filter means for extracting high frequency and low frequency components of the information, sampling means and for sampling the extracted high frequency components of the information of the sampled pixel signals being then processed by a digital storage means and the lower frequency part being removed from the received information and added after said storage. The sampling of the pixel signals is such that the whole of the information of a pixel signal is taken for a portion of the duration thereof and that none of the information of the pixel signal is taken for the remainder of the duration thereof. The consecutive time integration periods may be fields or frames of a T.V. picture and the image may be shifted by half a pixel pitch or by an integer-and-a-half times the pixel pitch in adjacent T.V. fields. The sampling means may be adapted such that the sampling sites for display or further processing are adjacent in each integration period, i.e. when two fields are interlaced to form a T.V. image the sampling sites form a "checker board" type of display. The imaging sensor may comprise a CCD array. The invention thus not only improves the resolution of an imaging system but also reduces the optical alias of the sensors. By virtue of its sampling action, the solid state image sensor produces an alias in both vertical and horizontal senses. According to the invention a reduction in this alias may be realised. Although generally the image will be shifted in the horizontal direction it could also be shifted in the vertical direction or in a combination of both directions. The image shifting element may by a glass block or mirror placed between a lens and the imaging sensor. In one embodiment, image shift is performed by means of piezoelectric bimorphs. Such bimorphs are well known and can provide a fast controllable degree of oscillation. For currently available CCD arrays, the photodetector pitch is in the range 7.5 to 22 microns, so the half pixel image displacement required is in the region of 4 to 11 microns. Assuming a 5 micron shift is required, for a glass block of 5mm thickness the angular rotation required is around 2 milliradians and this can be controllably achieved by using piezo-electric bimorphs in the manner further described below. Alternatively, the element may be of a material whose refractive index n , or another parameter, can be changed under the influence of an electric or magnetic field. In such a case, electro-optic means are provided to alter n , and hence displace the image, between fields. The sampling is achieved by digital methods using a field store with appropriate delays built in. Embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example only with references to the accompanying drawings in which; Figure 1 shows schematically an imaging system including apparatus for improving resolution and reducing optical aliassing; Figure 2 shows representative outputs from the system; Figure 3 shows an embodiment of an imaging system of the present invention involving digital techniques; Figure 4 shows two alternative methods of mounting a glass plate on piezo-electric bimorphs; Figure 5 shows an optical shifting arrangement; and Figure 6 shows an alternative optical shifting arrangement. Referring to Figure 1, in an optical imaging system a lens 1 is arranged to direct radiation, generally either optical or infra-red, through a glass plate 2 to an imaging sensor 3. The sensor comprises an array of CD imaging elements, typically a 600 x 600 array. A signal output from sensor 3 is filtered by a low pass filter 4 and directed to standard video processing circuitry 5. The output from this is passed either directly or indirectly (via a half pixel delay line 7), to a chopping modulator 6. The chopping modulator 6 is synchronised with clocking signals serving a scanning function for reading the outputs of the sensor elements 3 by means of a clock generator 8. The output from the modulator 6 is displayed on the monitor 9, or alternatively may be used for further processing as desired. The glass plate 2 is arranged to be tilted slightly back and forth by a driver 10 at a rate synchronous with the integration period rate of the sensor, i.e. with the field rate of the system. The system is thus basically a standard CCD element imaging system with the further addition of an image shifting means 2, a switchable delay 7 and chopping modulator 6. The imaging sensor 3 is driven at a rate determined by the clock generator 8 such that it scans an image fieldwise; i.e. in a first field, lines 1, 3, 5 etc of an image are scanned and in a second field lines 2, 4 etc are scanned. The complete image frame is made up by interlacing the two received fields. A typical frame range is 25Hz. The use of the apparatus of Figure 1 will now be described. During receipt of the first field of the image, the sensor 3 is clocked by generator 8 at its normal clocking rate. The glass plate, for the first field, is situated at one particular angle shown by the solid line on the figure. After low pass filtering, standard video processing and further filtering is applied within box 5. The processed video signals are then sent sequentially direct to the chopping modulator 6 which is arranged as a square wave of frequency equal to the pixel rate determined by clock generator 8. This is the frequency e.g. 11.25 MHz used sequentially to sample the relevant elements of the imaging sensor 3. Thus, since a chopping modulator is a square wave of approximately 50% duty cycle, then, in effect, half of the received output from each array element is blanked out. This effect is shown more clearly in Figure 2a and 2b where, in Figure 2a, signals arriving at the input of the chopping modulator are shown and these are spatially representative of the array element configuration. After chopping, the situation illustrated in Figure 2b is reached in which half of each of the signals is allowed to continue unmodulated and half is in effect blanked out. The thus received field is displayed on monitor 9 or used for any further processing which is desired. After the first field has been received, the glass block is tilted to a second position shown by the dotted lines of Figure 1. It will be appreciated that this tilting has the effect of displacing the image slightly relative to the stationary array of sensor elements. It is arranged such that the image is displaced by half a pixel or by an integer-and-a-half pixels. The displaced image is then scanned by the sensor, sent through the same processing circuitry 4 and 5 and switchably fed to a delay line 7. This serves to delay the video signal by the equivalent duration of half a pixel or integer-and-a-half pixels for the reasons outlined above and so as to maintain the picture position constant on the monitor. After passing through the delay line, the video signal for the second field is re-sampled by chopping modulator 6 and fed to monitor 9. Figure 2c shows the signals received by the system relative to the object after the action of the delay line 7. Figure 2d shows the same signals after re-sampling or chopping at modulator 6. The second field is then displayed on the monitor. The effective picture actually seen on the monitor is as illustrated in Figure 2e as the eye tends to retain images for relatively long periods and thus sees both fields interlaced together in the manner shown in Figure 2e. The eye thus performs an integrated function and it is seen that a high resolution picture is obtained. An unchopped signal would cause blurring between adjacent pixel elements. The chopping modulator should run at pixel rate but also be synchronised to the pixel readout rate so as, for example, to chop the same portion of each pixel signal. This may also be external to the camera. Figure 3 shows an embodiment of the present invention in which signals received from the video camera (including, as shown in Figure 1, an image sensor 3, processing circuitry 4, 5) are split into high and low frequency components by respective filters 15 and 16. The high and low frequency components are digitised by ADC's 17 and 18 respectively which are clocked at the pixel rate to provide digital signal values representative of variations in the video signals. During receipt of the first field, signals representative of the high frequency component of each pixel element are sampled such that a sample equal to half the length of each pixel element is stored in every other memory location of one of two field stores forming a frame store 22. As each signal is sequentially received, the sampled portion of it is stored in every other memory element of that field store. During receipt of a second field, the image of which has been shifted with respect to the sensor by the glass block, each received pixel element is sequentially sampled as for the first field and is placed in the empty locations of the first field store such that after receipt of the complete field, that field store is filled with, alternatively, data representative of respectively the first field and second field. The whole resulting frame is then sent out from the field store where it is mixed with the low frequency component of the second, i.e. current field. The whole recovered signal is then reconverted to analogue form in a digital to analogue converter 19. Sync signals. etc. are added at unit 20 and the video signal is thus as shown in Figure 2e except that all the picture elements are in effect moved up one row, i.e. the elements shown as L 1 are moved down to the second line L 2 and fill the gaps between the elements in line L 2 . Since there are two field stores present in a frame store, while each field store is being read out a second field store is being filled and thus the third line of the video display will show that information currently in line L 3 of Figure 2e interlaced with the information currently in L 2 . Similarly the fourth line will contain the information currently in the fourth line interlaced with that currently in the third line, i.e. the overall effect is of vertical bars of each of two lines in the vertical dimension and one square of horizontal dimension. Hence, the increase in resolution and also the reduction in aliassing is maintained. The picture actually seen by the eye is the same as that for the imaging system described in relation to Figure 1 since the eye itself performs the vertical integration function over adjacent pixels in the system of Figure 1. The displayed video signal is as shown in Figure 2e except that all the picture elements are in effect moved on one row, i.e. the elements shown as L 1 are moved to the second line L 2 . The third line of the video display will show that information currently in line L 3 of Figure 2e interlaced with the information currently in L 2 . Similarly the fourth line will contain the information currently in the fourth line interlaced with that currently in the third line, i.e. the overall effect is of vertical bars each of two lines in the vertical dimension and one square of horizontal dimension. Hence, the increase in resolution and also the reduction in aliassing is maintained. The picture actually seen by the eye is the same as that for the first embodiment function over adjacent pixels in the first embodiment. The low frequency output from the camera is not processed by the field store because the vertical resolution is effected by low frequency information and similarly processing the LF information would tend to degrade vertical resolution. The use of digital techniques in effectively producing half pitch samples considerably reduces the performance requirements of the monitor. Also, all the digital apparatus may be external to the camera, and thus can, in effect, be a "bolt on" addition to a standard camera. The glass plate 2 may conveniently be tilted by means of piezo-electric bimorphs, as shown in Figure 4. A piezo-electric bimorph comprises two piezo-electric sheets 11 and 12 bonded onto respective sides of a thin metal plate 13. The polarisation of the plates is arranged so that one plate contracts when a voltage is applied and the other expands. This tends to bend the bimorph into an arc of a circle. Two different methods of using such bimorphs are shown in the Figure. In Figure 4a, four bimorphs are connected to an axle 14 which lies in a plane perpendicular to the paper. The glass block is mounted transversley along the axle. Thus, by applying the voltages as shown to the bimorphs the angle of the axle and hence of the glass block 3 is controllably altered, dependant upon the applied voltage. By reversing the applied voltage the angle is reversed. Figure 4b shows an alternative embodiment wherein the bimorphs are connected to the axle by means of hinges. In a further embodiment, shown in Figures 5 and 6, the image shifting is performed by changing a physical property of a refracting glass block, mirror or lens, for example, by imposing a varying electrical field across at least two faces of the block. Preferably, the modulation of incident radiation to shift the image, in such an embodiment, is characterised by the changing of the refractive index of the transparent glass, typically by an alternating voltage. An example of such a material is Cadmium Mercury Telluride (CMT). This is a "glass" which is transparent to a broad waveband of light. The inherent advantage of using such an optical shifting system is that it is faster, more reliable, more responsive and less likely to suffer "wear-&-tear" damage. This final point is especially important when considering, not so much the element itself, but the modulating means and its attachment. Figure 5 shows two substantially parallel blocks of transparent Cadmium Mercury Telluride (CMT) (2g and 2h). Attached to each of these blocks are electrodes 62a, 62b, 72a and 72b respectively. A first modulation controller 52f modulates the refractive index across two faces, thereby variably refracting radiation in one plane, whilst a second modulation controller, 52g varies the refractive index in a different sense and thereby variably refracts radiation in a different plane. In the preferred embodiment, the two planes are orthogonal. Figure 6 shows a single block (2f) arranged to modulate in two orthogonal planes, the control of said modulation being performed by controllers 52f and 52g. Apparatus according to the present invention may be used with any convenient type of solid state imager or self scan imagers such as staring arrays. Certain types of infra-red imagers require a thermal difference in detected radiation in order to function correctly. The action of the image shifting device 2 of the present invention may be used to provide this radiant difference for the sensor. All the non-standard parts of the system may be external to a standard video camera and thus the system can be implemented easily without requiring modification of a camera.

Claims: Apparatus for use with a video camera having a solid state sensor array (3) and means (8) for scanning the array as two fields to produce an output serially indicative of the radiation incident upon each element of alternate rows of the array during consecutive integration periods, the apparatus comprising means (2) for optically shifting image forming radiation relative to the array so as to shift the sensed image between consecutive integration periods and processing means (4, 5) for processing the output to provide information in the form of pixel signals each of a pre-determined duration, the processing means serving to preserve the correct spatial relationship between the pixel information in consecutive integration periods, the processing means including filter means (15, 16) for extracting high frequency and low frequency components of the information, sampling means (17, 21) for sampling the extracted high frequency components of the information, the sampled pixel signals being then processed by a digital storage means (22) and the lower frequency part being removed from the received information and added after said storage. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 characterised in that the sampling means (17, 21) is arranged to reduce the duration fo each sampled pixel signal by half. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein the means for optically shifting the image is an element having a refractive index and adapted to be mechanically moved so as to displace the image in adjacent time integration periods. An apparatus system as claimed in claim 3 wherein the element is mounted by means of piezo-electric bimorphs (11, 12). An apparatus system as claimed in claim 3 wherein the optical element is one having a refractive index which is capable of modulation by electro-optic means. An apparatus system as claimed in claim 5 including means for providing at least one potential field across the element and means for switching the field between two states. An apparatus system as claimed in claim 3 where the element is of cadmium mercury telluride. An imaging system as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the apparatus is demountable from the camera. A video camera fitted with the apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 8.

Inventors: ROBINSON CHRISTOPHER PAUL, ROBINSON, CHRISTOPHER PAUL
Applicants: MARCONI GEC LTD, GEC-MARCONI LIMITED
Application year: 1988
Main classification: H04N5
IPC codes: H04N5