What is claimed is:
1. An imaging apparatus, comprising:
a CCD imager having a plurality of pixels, each pixel producing a charge packet having a charge level in proportional to a level of radiation incident thereupon;
a charge detection circuit, operatively connected to said CCD imager, to detect when a charge packet associated with a pixel has a charge level that exceeds a predetermined threshold; and
a conversion circuit to convert charge packets into voltage levels, the converted charge packets being associated with a subarray of pixels centered upon a pixel having a charge packet with a charge level that said charge detection circuit has detected as exceeding said predetermined threshold.
2. The imaging apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said charge detection circuit comprises:
a floating-gate charge-sensing amplifier; and
a clampsample correlated double sampling circuit, operatively connected to said floating-gate charge-sensing amplifier, to identify each pixel having a charge packet exceeding said predetermined threshold.
3. The imaging apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein said floating-gate charge-sensing amplifier senses the charge packet capacitively.
4. The imaging apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said charge detection circuit noiselessly recovers the charge packet of the pixel for further processing.
5. The imaging apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:
a charge measuring circuit to measure the charge in the charge packet that said charge detection circuit has detected as exceeding said predetermined threshold and in charge packets associated with neighboring pixels;
a shape determination circuit to determine a shape of the charged particle event based on the charge measured by said charge measuring circuit; and
a characterization circuit to characterize charge packets associated with a charged particle event as either rejected charge packets or a non-rejected charge packets based upon charged particle event’s determined shape;
said conversion circuit converting non-rejected charge packets into voltage levels.
6. The imaging apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:
a charge measuring circuit to measure the charge in the charge packet that said charge detection circuit has detected as exceeding said predetermined threshold and in charge packets associated with neighboring pixels;
a shape determination circuit to determine a shape of the charged particle event based on the charge measured by said charge measuring circuit;
a characterization circuit to characterize charge packets associated with a charged particle event as either rejected charge packets or a non-rejected charge packets based upon charged particle event’s determined shape;
a frame storage area to store charge packets from said CCD imager;
a serial register to store the charge packets transferred thereto row by row from said frame storage area;
a charge delay circuit to store charge packets read out from said serial register; and
a buffer to store charge packets that said characterization circuit has characterized as non-rejected charge packets;
said buffer synchronously feeding the stored charge packets to said conversion circuit;
said conversion circuit converting the non-rejected charge packets from said buffer into voltage levels.
7. The imaging apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein said conversion circuit is a floating-diffusion charge-sensing amplifier.
8. The imaging apparatus as claimed in claim 7, further comprising:
a clampdeintegrateintegrate correlated double sampler, operatively connected to said conversion circuit; and
a high linearity analog to digital conversion circuit.
9. The imaging apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said predetermined threshold is programmable.
10. The imaging apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said subarray of pixels is a 33 subarray centered on the detected pixel.
11. The imaging apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said subarray of pixels is a 55 subarray centered on the detected pixel.
12. The imaging apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the dimensions of said subarray of pixels are programmable.
13. The imaging apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said CCD imager is an X-ray CCD imager.
14. The imaging apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the dimensions of said pixels of said CCD imager are 2 m2 m.
15. The imaging apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the dimensions of said pixels of said CCD imager are 1.5 m1.5 m.
16. A method of imaging, comprising:
(a) producing a charge packet having a charge level in proportional to a level of radiation incident upon a pixel of a CCD imager having a plurality of pixels;
(b) detecting when a charge level of a charge packet associated with a pixel exceeds a predetermined threshold; and
(c) converting charge packets into voltage levels, the converted charge packets being associated with a subarray of pixels centered upon a pixel having a charge packet with a charge level that has been detected as exceeding the predetermined threshold.
17. The method as claimed in claim 16, wherein said detection noiselessly recovers the charge packet of the pixel for further processing.
18. The method as claimed in claim 16, further comprising:
(d) measuring the charge levels in the charge packets of the pixel that has been detected as exceeding the predetermined threshold and the pixels neighboring therewith, the charge packets of the pixel that has been detected as exceeding the predetermined threshold and the pixels neighboring therewith representing a charged particle event;
(e) determining a shape of a charged particle event based on the measured charge levels in the charge packets of the pixel that has been detected as exceeding the predetermined threshold and the pixels neighboring therewith, and
(f) characterizing charge packets associated with a charged particle event as either rejected charge packets or a non-rejected charge packets based upon charged particle event’s determined shape such that only the non-rejected charge packets are converted into voltage levels.
19. The method as claimed in claim 16, further comprising:
(d) measuring the charge levels in the charge packets of the pixel that has been detected as exceeding the predetermined threshold and the pixels neighboring therewith, the charge packets of the pixel that has been detected as exceeding the predetermined threshold and the pixels neighboring therewith representing a charged particle event;
(e) determining a shape of a charged particle event based on the measured charge levels in the charge packets of the pixel that has been detected as exceeding the predetermined threshold and the pixels neighboring therewith, and
(f) characterizing charge packets associated with a charged particle event as either rejected charge packets or a non-rejected charge packets based upon charged particle event’s determined shape;
(g) storing, in a frame buffer, charge packets from the CCD imager;
(h) storing, in a serial register, the charge packets transferred thereto row by row from the frame buffer;
(i) storing, in a delay buffer, charge packets read out from the serial register;
(j) storing, in a buffer, charge packets that have been characterized as non-rejected charge packets such that only the non-rejected charge packets stored in the buffer are converted into voltage levels.
20. The method as claimed in claim 19, further comprising:
(k) highly linearly converting the voltages levels to a digital value.
21. The method as claimed in claim 16, wherein the predetermined threshold is programmable.
22. The method as claimed in claim 16, wherein the subarray of pixels is a 33 subarray of pixels centered on the pixel having a charge packet with a charge level detected as exceeding the predetermined threshold.
23. The method as claimed in claim 16, wherein the subarray of pixels is a 55 subarray of pixels centered on the pixel having a charge packet with a charge level detected as exceeding the predetermined threshold.
24. The method as claimed in claim 16, wherein the dimensions of the subarray of pixels are programmable.
25. A method of finding of a centroid of several neighboring pixels that contain satellite image data using event driven imaging, comprising:
(a) producing a set of pixels of satellite image data, each pixel having a charge packet, the charge packet having a charge level in proportional to a level of radiation incident upon a pixel of a CCD imager;
(b) detecting when the charge level of a charge packet associated with a pixel exceeds a predetermined threshold;
(c) forming subarrays of pixels, each subarray of pixels being centered upon the pixel having a charge packet with a charge level exceeding the predetermined threshold;
(d) eliminating, from the produced set of pixels, pixels not associated with a formed subarray; and
(e) determining a centroid for each subarray of pixels.
26. The method as claimed in claim 25, wherein the dimensions of the subarray of pixels are set so as to enable detection of fringe pixels.
27. The method as claimed in claim 26, wherein each subarray of pixels is a 33 subarray of pixels centered on the pixel having a charge packet with a charge level detected as exceeding the predetermined threshold.
28. The method as claimed in claim 26, wherein each subarray of pixels is a 55 subarray of pixels centered on the pixel having a charge packet with a charge level detected as exceeding the predetermined threshold.
29. The method as claimed in claim 26, wherein the dimensions of each subarray of pixels are programmable.
30. The method as claimed in claim 25, wherein the predetermined threshold is programmable.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. An apparatus for affixing an adhesive tape to a workpiece, wherein the apparatus is configured to dispense the adhesive tape and the workpiece has a cylindrical portion and an outer peripheral surface, the apparatus comprising:
A tape-feeding device configured to feed the adhesive tape below the outer peripheral surface of the workpiece in a condition in which an adhesive surface of the adhesive tape faces upwardly in a direction approximately perpendicular to an axis of the cylindrical portion of the workpiece;
A tape-cutting device configured to cut the adhesive tape fed from the tape-feeding device at a predetermined length that is greater than a circumference of the outer peripheral surface of the workpiece; and
A tape-affixing device having two claws which are configured to be elastically deformable in response to a force exerted by the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical portion of the workpiece, the tape-affixing device being configured to thrust and affix the adhesive surface of the cut adhesive tape to the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical portion of the workpiece in such a way that an upward movement of the two claws causes the adhesive tape to be elevated, wherein the two claws are configured to be forced apart by the cylindrical portion of the workpiece as the two claws move upward and contact the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical portion of the workpiece,
Wherein the two claws are arranged so that adhesive surfaces at ends of the cut adhesive tape are pressed against and are adhered to each other after the adhesive surface of the adhesive tape is thrust against and adhered to the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical portion,
Wherein the tape-affixing device additionally comprises a through hole penetration in a direction that is perpendicular to a crossing portion of a tape-feeding groove and a workpiece-disposing groove.
2. The apparatus for affixing an adhesive tape according to claim 1, wherein the tape-feeding device comprises:
A rotating roll on which the adhesive tape is rolled; and
A rotating device for feeding the adhesive tape rolled on the rotating roll in a predetermined direction.
3. The apparatus for affixing an adhesive tape according to claim 2, wherein the rotating device comprises:
at least one first rotating member; and
A second rotating member disposed downstream of each of the at least one first rotating member in a feeding path for adhesive tape at a predetermined distance, and
Wherein the second rotating member has a larger outer diameter than that of each one of the at least one first rotating member and rotates in the same direction and rotating frequency as each of the at least one first rotating member.
4. The apparatus for affixing an adhesive tape according to claim 3, wherein each of the at least one first rotating member is associated with a first angle of a contact portion at which the associated first rotating member contacts the adhesive tape, the first angle being defined as an angle between a first line and a second line, the first line connecting one end of the contact portion of the associated first rotating member and a center of the associated first rotating member, the second line connecting another end of the contact portion of the associated first rotating member and the center of the associated first rotating member, and
A second angle of a contact portion at which the second rotating member contacts the adhesive tape is defined as an angle between a third line and a fourth line, the third line connecting one end of the contact portion of the second rotating member and a center of the second rotating member, the fourth line connecting another end of the contact portion of the second rotating member and the center of the second rotating member and
The first angle of the contact portion of each of the at least one first rotating member is larger than the second angle of the contact portion of the second rotating member and
the rotating device includes more first rotating members than second rotating members.
5. The apparatus for affixing an adhesive tape according to claim 3,
Wherein the feeding path for the adhesive tape is formed with a flat portion opposing an outer peripheral surface of each of the at least one first rotating member, a concave portion opposing an outer peripheral surface of the second rotating member, and a connecting portion smoothly connecting the flat portion and the concave portion.
6. The apparatus for affixing an adhesive tape according to claim 1, wherein the tape-cutting device comprises:
A cutter rotatably provided to on a shaft and downwardly rotating to the adhesive surface of the adhesive tape so as to cut the adhesive tape; and
A suction member provided on the shaft so as to synchronously rotate with the cutter,
Wherein the suction member downwardly rotates so as to retract from the feeding path for of the adhesive tape when the adhesive tape is cut,
Wherein after the adhesive tape is cut, the cutter upwardly rotates and departs from the feeding path for the adhesive tape, and
Wherein the suction member upwardly rotates and returns to the feeding path of the adhesive tape so that a reverse surface of the adhesive surface of the adhesive tape cut by the cutter is subjected to suction and is peeled off from the cutter.
7. The apparatus for affixing an adhesive tape according to claim 1, wherein the tape-affixing device comprises:
A guide plate having a tape-feeding groove through which the adhesive tape is fed and having a workpiece-disposing groove formed in a direction perpendicular to the tape-feeding groove, the cylindrical portion of the workpiece being disposed on the guide plate;
A thrust member vertically movable through the through hole, the thrust member being configured to rise through the through hole when the thrust member is thrusted toward the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical portion of the workpiece,
Wherein the two claws are formed on an upper surface portion of the thrust member and oppose the cylindrical portion of the workpiece upstream and downstream of the feeding path of the adhesive tape with respect to the axis of the cylindrical portion of the workpiece,
Wherein a hollow portion is formed under the claws of the thrust member.
8. The apparatus for affixing an adhesive tape according to claim 7, wherein surfaces of the two claws opposing the cylindrical portion of the workpiece contact each other at a lower end portion and have an upwardly convex shape in which the surfaces gradually separate from each other toward an upward direction.