US3899250A — Active-gated television automatic range sweep tec…

Claim 1

Independent Claim 102 words

In an active-gated low light level television system having illuminating means and receiving means including a television camera, the method for scanning a wide depth of range during a television field to provide an image comprising the steps of: illuminating a scene with light pulses; gating on the receiving means at a discrete time after emission of said light pulses to receive reflected illumination; varying the time between illumination and the gating on of the receiving means during the field time of the television camera; whereby a plurality of range intervals (depths of field) are viewed during a single television field time.

Claim 2

Dependent Claim 102 words

In an active-gated low light level television system having illuminating means and receiving means including a television camera, the method for scanning a wide depth of range during a television field to provide an image comprising the steps of: illuminating a scene with light pulses; gating on the receiving means at a discrete time after emission of said light pulses to receive reflected illumination; varying the time between illumination and the gating on of the receiving means during the field time of the television camera; whereby a plurality of range intervals (depths of field) are viewed during a single television field time.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 87 words

The method set forth in claim 1 wherein said image has constant intensity, said constant intensity being achieved by: varying the time between the Illuminating light pulses and the gating on of the receiving means so that illumination reflected from successively greater range intervals is observed more frequently to compensate for the decrease in energy density at longer ranges due to the spread in the illuminator beam, and to atmospheric scattering and attenuation along the path from the illuminator to the scene and therefrom to the camera.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 125 words

The method set forth in claim 1 wherein said image is more intense at predetermined ranges than at other ranges viewed during the same television field, the desired intensity being achieved by: varying the time between the illuminating light pulse and the gating on of the receiving means; observing successively greater ranges more frequently to achieve a constant intensity image by compensating for the decrease in energy density at longer ranges due to the spread in the illuminator beam, and to atmospheric scattering and attenuation along the path from the illuminator to the scene and therefrom to the camera; and observing the particular range intervals for which greater intensity is desired more frequently than would be required for a constant intensity image from such intervals.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 45 words

The method set forth in claim 1 wherein preselected range intervals within the depth of range being scanned may be suppressed by: varying the time between illumination and gating on of the receiving means such that illumination reflected from said suppressed range is never observed.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 100 words

The method set forth in claim 1 wherein the time between illumination and gating on of the receiving means is varied by: loading a number indicative of the number of range intervals to the nearest range to be scanned into an up counter; loading a number indicative of the range intervals equivalent to one line time of a television camera into a down counter; comparing the outputs of said up counter and said down counter to provide an output to initiate an illumination pulse when said outputs are equal and gating on said receiving means when said counter reaches zero.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 91 words

An active-gated television device comprising: an illuminator for illuminating a scene with pulses of light energy; receiving means including a video camera having a field scan time for receiving input scene illumination; and timing circuit means for controlling said illuminator and said receiving means so that said camera accepts reflected scene illumination energy at various times after pulses of illumination energy are emitted from said illuminator and during a said field scan time of said camera whereby a plurality of range intervals may be scanned during a single television field time.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 91 words

An active-gated television device comprising: an illuminator for illuminating a scene with pulses of light energy; receiving means including a video camera having a field scan time for receiving input scene illumination; and timing circuit means for controlling said illuminator and said receiving means so that said camera accepts reflected scene illumination energy at various times after pulses of illumination energy are emitted from said illuminator and during a said field scan time of said camera whereby a plurality of range intervals may be scanned during a single television field time.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 54 words

An active-gated television device as set forth in claim 6 wherein said timing circuit means repetitively pulses said illuminator and said receiving means, successive pulses to said receiving means during said field scan time being time delayed with respect to pulses to said illuminator whereby said camera detects substantially equal energy at various ranges.

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 64 words

An active-gated television device as set forth in claim 6 wherein said timing circuit means pulses said illuminator and said receiving means, successive pulses to said receiving means during said field scan time being time delayed with respect to pulses to said illuminator whereby said camera detects less energy from a particular range increment to thereby enable scene suppression at such particular range increment.

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 64 words

An active-gated television device as set forth in claim 6 wherein said timing circuit means pulses said illuminator and said receiving means, successive pulses to said receiving means during said field scan time being time delayed with respect to pulses to said illuminator whereby said camera detects more energy from a particular range increment to thereby enable scene enhancement at such particular range increment.

Claim 12

Dependent Claim 43 words

An active-gated television device as set forth in claim 6 wherein said timing circuit means include: digital means for storing data indicative of said various times between emmission of illumination by said illuminator and acceptance of reflected illumination energy by said receiving means.

Claim 13

Dependent Claim 48 words

An active-gated television device as set forth in claim 6 wherein said receiving means comprises: optic means being pulsed on to pass energy to said camera indicative of the impinging scene energy and pulsed off to prevent significant energy reflected from said scene from passing to said camera.

Claim 14

Dependent Claim 59 words

An active-gated television device as set forth in claim 11 wherein said timing circuit means comprises: a memory for storing data, said data being indicative of the various time delays between successive pulses to said illuminator and pulses to said optical means to achieve various and select illumination levels to be detected by said camera for each range interval.

Claim 15

Dependent Claim 93 words

An active-gated television device as set forth in claim 6 wherein said timing circuit means comprises: a digital memory for storing a plurality of numbers indicative of the number of times the time is to be held constant at which said camera is to accept reflected scene illumination after a previous pulse of illumination; and digital counting means connected to said digital memory to advance said memory to the next successive number at a predetermined time during said field scan whereby said camera detects various and select illumination for each said range interval.

Claim 16

Dependent Claim 61 words

An active-gated television device as set forth in claim 13 wherein said successive numbers stored in said digital memory to control the apparent illumination of predetermined ranges as detected by said camera, are related to the attenuation and other atmospheric effects in the path of said illumination energy travel from said illuminator to successive range intervals and therefrom to said camera.

Claim 17

Dependent Claim 47 words

An active-gated television device as set forth in claim 6 wherein said timing circuit means comprises: delay means connected to said illuminator and camera for causing said illuminator to emit energy during a camera line scan and at predeterminable various times before an interval between line scans.

Claim 18

Dependent Claim 38 words

The apparatus of claim 15 whrein said timing circuit means further comprises: a memory for controlling the number of times said illuminator is successively pulsed at each of said predeterminable various times before an interval between line scans.

Claim 19

Dependent Claim 25 words

The apparatus of claim 15 wherein said delay means pulses said receiving means so that said camera accepts illumination energy only during camera blanking intervals.

Claim 20

Dependent Claim 42 words

An active-gated television device as set forth in claim 17 wherein said delay means causes said illuminator to emit energy during each horizontal scan of said camera and causes said camera to accept reflected illumination in said interval between each line scan.

Claim 21

Dependent Claim 73 words

The apparatus of claim 17 wherein said timing circuit means further comprises: memory circuit means for controlling the number of times said illuminator is successively pulsed at each of the various predeterminable times before a camera line scan interval; whereby the illumination at discrete range intervals may be varied to compensate for atmospheric and attenuation loss encountered by light energy traveling from said illuminator to the range intervals and therefrom to said camera.

Claim 22

Dependent Claim 67 words

An active-gated television automatic range sweep device comprising: illumination means for illuminating targets at different range intervals; receiving means including a television camera for receiving illumination reflected by said targets; and timing means for controlling said illumination means and said receiving means such that discrete ranges are sequentially viewed during a television line time to thereby sweep out an entire depth of range within a television frame.

Claim 23

Dependent Claim 67 words

An active-gated television automatic range sweep device comprising: illumination means for illuminating targets at different range intervals; receiving means including a television camera for receiving illumination reflected by said targets; and timing means for controlling said illumination means and said receiving means such that discrete ranges are sequentially viewed during a television line time to thereby sweep out an entire depth of range within a television frame.

Claim 24

Dependent Claim 78 words

An active-gated television automatic range sweep device as set forth in claim 20 wherein said timing means comprises: first down counTing means; up counting means; and means for comparing the output of said up counting means and said first down counting means, said comparing means generating an output pulse when the count in said first down counting means and said up counting means are equal, said output pulse from said comparing means being connected to said illuminating means.

Claim 25

Dependent Claim 41 words

An active-gated television automatic range sweep device as set forth in claim 21 wherein said first down counting means produces an output pulse when the count herein is equal to zero, said output at zero being connected to said receiving means.

Claim 26

Dependent Claim 43 words

An active-gated television automatic range sweep device as set forth in claim 22 wherein the timing means further comprises a master clock connected to a first input of said first down counting means, the frequency of said clock being determined by the formula:

Claim 27

Dependent Claim 74 words

An active-gated television automatic range sweep device as set forth in claim 23 to further comprise a first register and a second register, said first register having a preset number therein equal to the minimum range to be scanned (the number of range increments out to the minimum range) and said second register having a number stored therein equal to the number of range intervals corresponding to one line time of said television camera.

Claim 28

Dependent Claim 62 words

An active-gated television automatic range sweep device as set forth in claim 24 to further comprise means for loading the numbers in said second register into said first down counting means at the line rate of said television camera and means for loading the number in said first register into said up counting means at the field rate of said television camera.

Claim 29

Dependent Claim 114 words

An active-gated television automatic range sweep device as set forth in claim 25 wherein said means for causing said up counting means to count up comprises a second down counting means, a program memory unit, and address register and gating means; said address register being responsive to the output of said gating means to thereby load progressive bits of information from said program memory unit into said second down counting means; said second down counting means having its output connected to said gating means; said gating means having its output connected to said counting means to cause said up counting means to count up in response to an output pulse from said gating means.

Claim 30

Dependent Claim 61 words

An active-gated television automatic range sweep device as set forth in claim 26 wherein said address register is responsive to the vertical sync pulse from said television camera to thereby reset said address register at the field rate of said television camera and wherein second down counting means is caused to count down at the line rate of said television camera.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	1978-08-11	1979-02-10	1979-08-12	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	1982-08-11	1983-02-10	1983-08-12	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	1986-08-11	1987-02-10	1987-08-12	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

Active-gated television automatic range sweep technique

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