Patent ID: 8355054

Claim:
An arrangement for acquiring a monochrome image of a target, comprising: a solid-state imager for capturing return light from the target over a field of view, and for generating an output image data stream having image components arranged in a serial format at a clock frequency; a preprogrammed microprocessor operatively connected to the imager for serially receiving and processing the image components at a sampling frequency to generate the monochrome image of the target; a clock frequency adjustment circuit operatively connected to the imager and the microprocessor for adjusting the clock frequency to enable the microprocessor to receive and process the image components and generate the monochrome image; and wherein the imager is a monochrome imager for generating the image components in a monochrome format only as a plurality of intensity components; wherein the microprocessor is a color microprocessor preprogrammed to serially receive the image components in a color format as a plurality of intensity components alternating with a plurality of color information components; and wherein the clock frequency adjustment circuit increases the clock frequency to enable the microprocessor to only process the intensity components of the output image data stream to generate the monochrome image.