Multiple CCD Array Image Resolution via Electronic Merging
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing digital video equipment using Charge Coupled Device (CCD) arrays faces challenges such as decreased sensitivity with increased resolution, high cost, high power consumption, inability to capture moving objects, and operational reliability issues due to electromechanical assemblies, resulting in low-quality images limited by HDTV parameters.
Innovation Solution
The method involves using multiple CCDs operating in parallel with shifted optical images projected onto each CCD, simultaneously digitizing and pre-processing video signals, creating an information field that is read at an increased clock rate and post-processed to generate high-resolution images without compromising sensitivity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the resolution of digital video equipment is increased by using smaller pixels in CCD arrays, then the image detail quality improves, but the sensitivity to light decreases and noise level increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention divides the imaging task into multiple segments by using several CCD arrays (e.g., 4 arrays) that capture different sectors of the optical image simultaneously. Each CCD array can use larger pixels for its assigned sector, maintaining sensitivity while achieving high overall resolution through electronic merging of the segmented images.
2Measurement precision
If large-format CCD arrays with maximum number of large pixels are used to improve image quality, then sensitivity and image quality improve, but the cost increases enormously
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of manufacturing one expensive large-format CCD array, the invention segments the imaging function across multiple smaller, more affordable CCD arrays. This approach achieves equivalent or superior image quality through electronic merging while significantly reducing the cost of individual sensor components.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention merges the output images from multiple separate CCD arrays through electronic processing to create a single high-resolution image. This merging process combines the advantages of multiple smaller sensors to achieve the performance of a large-format array at lower cost.
3Measurement precision
If multiple CCD arrays are used to increase resolution, then image resolution improves, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention replaces complex mechanical image processing systems with electronic merging of images from multiple CCD arrays. This substitution simplifies the overall system by using electronic operations rather than mechanical mechanisms to achieve high-resolution imaging.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach effectively increases digital image resolution by n times while maintaining sensitivity, improving image quality by electronically combining video signals from adjacent sectors of the image, thereby enhancing the overall quality without the need for large-format CCD arrays.
Implementation Method 1
An optical unit generates an image... which is simultaneously projected via four channels onto all CCD arrays
Data Source
AI summary
A technical solution is provided, which allows generating a high-quality digital image using multiple CCD arrays. More specifically, a lens generates an image on an area equal to the sum of photosensitive areas of n CCD arrays. The CCD arrays are shifted from one another. The image is projected via four channels onto all the CCD arrays such that each of said arrays generates a video signal from only one of n sectors of the image. The video signals from the CCD arrays, which operate on a conventional scanning standard and in parallel, are digitized, pre-processed and recorded in a memory from which they are read at a rate n times higher than a clock rate. A digital image is produced by electronically combining the video signals from the CCD arrays that convert adjacent sectors of the image, after which the video signal is post-processed.