Foveal-Peripheral Sampling for Imaging Systems
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current imaging systems face challenges in reducing processing burdens, such as size, weight, computational, and power requirements, particularly in balancing high frame rates with display resolution and resource limitations.
Innovation Solution
The system differentiates between foveal and peripheral regions of a focal plane array, sampling and processing the foveal region at a faster rate than the peripheral region, allowing for adjustable foveal region sizes and positions, and using integrated circuitry to manage detector signals efficiently.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If the entire focal plane array is sampled at a high frame rate to maintain display resolution, then the temporal resolution is improved, but the processing burden and power consumption increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by differentiating between foveal and peripheral regions of the focal plane array. The foveal region, corresponding to the area of human visual acuity, is sampled at a high frame rate to maintain temporal resolution where it matters most. The peripheral region is sampled at a lower frame rate, reducing overall processing burden and power consumption while maintaining acceptable display quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the focal plane array into distinct foveal and peripheral regions. This segmentation allows independent sampling strategies for each region, enabling high frame rate processing only for the critical foveal area while using reduced frame rates for the peripheral area, thus resolving the contradiction between overall high frame rate and power consumption.
2Measurement precision
If the entire focal plane array is processed at high resolution to maintain display quality, then the image quality is improved, but the computational burden increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by processing only the foveal region at high resolution while using reduced processing for the peripheral region. This matches the human visual system's characteristics where central vision requires high acuity but peripheral vision tolerates lower resolution. The result is high display quality in the critical foveal area with significantly reduced computational burden overall.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies partial action by processing only the necessary portion of the image at high resolution. Instead of processing the entire focal plane array at full resolution, only the foveal region receives full processing attention, while the peripheral region receives reduced processing. This eliminates excessive computation on areas where high precision is not visually critical.
3Measurement precision
If the foveal region size is increased to improve central vision quality, then the central image quality is improved, but the processing resources required increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by making the foveal region size adjustable rather than fixed. The system can dynamically adapt the foveal region dimensions based on processing resource availability and specific application requirements. This allows optimization of the balance between central vision quality and processing resource consumption, enabling the system to scale the high-resolution processing area according to needs.
Data Source
AI summary
According to certain embodiments, foveal array elements of a foveal region (52) of a focal plane array (26) are sampled at a faster sampling rate to yield foveal array data. Peripheral array elements of a peripheral region (54) of the focal plane array (26) are sampled at a slower sampling rate or sparser sampling density to yield peripheral array data. The foveal array data is processed to yield foveal image data for a foveal region (62) of a display. The peripheral array data is processed to yield peripheral image data for a peripheral region (64) of the display.