Importance

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Abstract

This is an apparatus for sharpening and otherwise enhancing images such as those produced on a screen or on the face plate of a cathode-ray tube. Regarding an image as being composed of a very large number of elements called 'pixels,' the apparatus of this invention enhances those of the pixels which appear at points of rapid transition between light and shade in the image. The apparatus comprises a plurality of substrates superimposed upon one another, optically in series. A first such substrate includes an array of filters and lenses which together form a 'mask' that operates upon selected portions of the light input thereto to multiply certain portions of the light input with respect to certain other portions of the light input. The light upon which this operation has taken place proceeds to a second substrate where it is detected to generate electrical signals expressive of the intensities of the respective portions of the light input. The detectors cooperate with the filters and lenses of the first substrate to accomplish the aforementioned multiplication and may process the light in accordance with a so-called Laplacian distribution. The lenses of the first substrate may be three-dimensional lenses called 'negative lenses.' Alternatively, they may be two-dimensional devices called Fresnel zone-plate elements, one such zone plate for each of the aforementioned pixels. In a variation of the invention, the first substrate and the second or detecting substrate may be disposed close to the face plate of a cathode-ray tube. Light is conducted from the face plate to the first substrate by means of fiber optics. The image of the cathode-ray tube is thus enhanced and may be re-displayed directly or may be conveyed to a remote location by summing the detected outputs from the second or detecting substrate and transmitting the summed outputs to a remote display unit.

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First Claim