Image processing by an optical analog device

摘要

An optical image processor and its capabilities are described. As an image restoring device it works by corrective convolution rather than by complex spatial filtering. A transparency to be restored is scanned by an extended, purely real corrective function and the optically processed signal is simultaneously played back, using the same scanning drum. Apart from restoration the device can also be used to perform other linear operations, such as differentiation and matched function correlation. In addition, an incorporated flexible function generator permits quantization, contour generation and other non-linear operations to be performed in the playback, with or without the optical processing.