Video-display-processor

Abstract

A video-display processor produces an on-line display of the distribution density of radiation stimuli emitted by a radiation field utilizing a probe for detecting the stimuli and a counter for accumulating the number of stimuli detected; and motorized means to cause the probe to traverse the field and sequentially scan a preselected number of elemental areas, each having a preselected size, for causing the probe counter to accumulate the number of stimuli that occurred during the scan of each elemental area. The number of stimuli accumulated during the scan of each elemental area, upon the completion of the scan thereof is transferred into a memory whose contents modulate the picture elements of a raster generated by a CRT of a TV display thus displaying the density of each elemental area immediately after scanning thereof is complete.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A video-display-processor for producing an on-line display of distribution density of radiation stimuli emitted by a radiation field, comprising: a. a probe for detecting the stimuli and a counter for accumulating the number of stimuli detected;   b. motorized means to cause the probe to traverse the field and sequentially scan a preselected number of elemental areas, each having a preselected size, for causing the probe counter to accumulate the number of stimuli that occurred during the scan of each elemental area;   c. a memory;   d. means for transferring into the memory the number of stimuli accumulated during the scan of each elemental area upon the completion of the scan thereof;   e. a TV display having a CRT with a viewing screen and means to periodically generate a raster of modulatable picture elements on the screen prior to completion of the scanning of all of the elemental areas of the field; and   f. means for modulating the picture elements in accordance with the contents of the memory.   
     
     
       2. A video-display-processor according to claim 1 wherein the means for generating the raster generates interlaced fields of lines, each picture element comprising a portion of two sequential lines of the other field. 
     
     
       3. A video-display-processor according to claim 1 wherein the memory is a solid state memory. 
     
     
       4. A video-display-processor according to claim 1 wherein the memory comprises a plurality of shift registers, each of which is associated with respective elemental areas of the radiation field, and the contents of the probe counter, upon completion of the scan of an elemental area, is transferred to the register associated with the last mentioned area. 
     
     
       5. A video-display-processor according to claim 4 including means to circulate the memory through one complete cycle by shifting the contents of the registers in synchronism with the generation of the raster. 
     
     
       6. A video-display-processor according to claim 5 including means to circulate the memory through one complete cycle beginning a pre-determined period of time subsequent to initiation of the generation of a raster and ending before the completion thereof, a memory address register incremented on each shift of the memory, means to shift the memory before the generation of the next raster is initiated and until the memory address register contains a number equal to the number of shifts required to circulate the memory through one cycle, means to insert a code word in one of the registers, and means responsive to detection of the code word during circulation of the memory for resetting the memory address register. 
     
     
       7. A video-display-processor according to claim 6 including limit selector means adjustable prior to the start of the scan of the radiation field to establish an initial limit of traverse of the probe in a given direction, and adjustable subsequent to the start of the scan but before the scan of all of the elemental areas is completed for overriding the initial limit, a shift counter responsive to an overide of the initial limit for counting the number of elemental areas beyond the initial limit scanned by the probes, and means for inserting the contents of the shift counter into the memory adress register when the code word is detected. 
     
     
       8. A video-display-processor according to claim 7 including a probe address register incremented by the traverse by the probe of radiation field and whose contents at the completion of the scan of an elemental area constitute the address of such area, comparator means for comparing the contents of the probe address register at the end of the scan of an elemental area with the contents of the memory adress register and transferring the contents of the probe counter into the memory when the contents of the probe address register and the memory address register are equal. 
     
     
       9. A video-display-processor for producing an on-line display of the distribution density of radiation stimuli emitted by a radiation field, comprising: a. a probe for detecting stimuli and a counter for accumulating the number of stimuli detected;   b. motorized means to cause the probe to traverse the field and sequentially scan a preselected number of elemental areas, each having a preselected size, for causing the probe counter to accumulate the number of stimuli that occur during the scan of each elemental area;   c. a plurality of memory registers respectively associated with the elemental areas of the radiation field;   d. means responsive to completion of the scan of an elemental area of the radiation field for transferring the contents of the probe counter into the memory register associated with the scanned elemental area;   e. a TV display having a CRT with a viewing screen, electron gun means for generating at least one electron beam, and deflection means for causing the beam to periodically generate a raster on the screen;   f. logic means to sequentially sample the contents of the memory registers in synchronism with the generation of the raster for producing processed data without changing the contents of the memory registers; and   g. a digital-to-analoque converter to convert the processed data into a control signal for modulating the beam while it generates the raster.   
     
     
       10. A video-display-processor according to claim 9 wherein the logic means subtracts a constant from the number sampled from each memory register to produce a processed number which is supplied to the digital-to-analogue converter without changing the original number in the memory register. 
     
     
       11. A video-display-processor according to claim 9 wherein the screen produces colored light, the hue of the light produced by a picture element being determined by the amplitude of the output of the converter when the picture element is scanned by the beam. 
     
     
       12. A video-display-processor according to claim 9 wherein the synchronization of the sampling of the contents of the memory register by the logic means with the generation of the raster causes the modulation of the beam to produce a display area on the screen covering less than the entire raster. 
     
     
       13. A video-display-processor according to claim 12 including means for manually selecting the memory register that is sampled when the beam reaches the display area of the screen. 
     
     
       14. A video-display-processor for producing an on-line display of the distribution density of radiation stimuli emitted by a radiation field, comprising: a. means to scan the radiation field for detecting and counting stimuli produced by elemental areas of the field;   b. a plurality of memory registers respectively associated with the elemental areas of the field;   c. means responsive to the scan of an elemental area of the field for storing a number representing the stimuli counted during the scan of such elemental area in the register associated therewith;   d. a TV display having a CRT with a viewing screen, electron gun means for generating an electron beam means, and a deflection circuit for causing the beam means to periodically scan the screen and generate a flicker-free raster;   e. logic means to sequentially read-out the memory registers, non-destructively, in synchronism with the scan of the screen for producing digital data functionally related to the contents of the registers; and   f. means responsive to the digital data for modulating the beam means in conformity therewith.   
     
     
       15. A video-display-processor according to claim 14 wherein the screen produces colored light, the modulation of the beam means changing the color of the light produced by the screen. 
     
     
       16. A video-display-processor according to claim 14 including means for periodically resynchronizing the reading-out of the memory registers with the scan of the screen. 
     
     
       17. A video-display-processor according to claim 16 wherein re-synchronizing takes place at the end of the generation of each raster. .Iadd. 18. A video-display-processor for displaying the distribution density of a field comprising: a. a plurality of memory registers respectively associated with the elemental areas of the field;   b. means responsive to the field for accumulating data numbers in the registers after a predetermined period of time, each data number being representative of the density of the elemental area of the field with which the register is associated;   c. a display having a CRT with a viewing screen, electron gun means for generating an electron beam means, and a deflection circuit for causing the beam means to scan the screen in a raster whose period is many times smaller than said predetermined period of time;   d. logic means to sequentially read out the memory registers, non-destructively, in synchronism with the scan of the screen for producing digital data functionally related to the contents of the register; and   e. means responsive to the digital data for modulating the beam means in conformity therewith;   f. the memory registers being read-out in the order that causes the density of the elemental areas of the field to be reproduced on the screen in proper spatial relationship. .Iaddend. .Iadd. 19. A video-display-processor according to claim 18 wherein the screen produces colored light, the color of the light of an elemental area of the screen being determined by the magnitude of the data number contained in a memory register that is read-out simultaneously with the scanning of such elemental area. .Iaddend. .Iadd. 20. A video-display-processor for use with a detector which is responsive to a radiation field for accumulating data numbers after a predetermined period of time, each data number being representative of the density of the respective elemental areas of the field comprising:   a. a plurality of memory registers respectively associated with the elemental areas of the field;   b. means for storing in each register the data number representative of the density of the elemental area of the field with which the register is associated;   c. a TV display having a CRT with a viewing screen, electron gun means for generating an electron beam means, and a deflection circuit for causing the beam means to scan the screen in a raster whose period is many times smaller than said predetermined period of time;   d. logic means to sequentially read-out the memory registers, non-destructively, in synchronism with the scan of the screen for producing digital data functionally related to the contents of the registers; and   e. means responsive to the digital data for modulating the beam in conformity therewith;   f. the memory registers being read-out in the order that causes the density of the elemental areas of the field to be reproduced on the screen in   
     
     
        proper spatial relationship. .Iaddend..Iadd. 21.  A video-display-processor for producing an on-line display comprising: a. a CRT having a screen and a modulatable beam that scans the screen in a raster;   b. a memory having a plurality of registers;   c. means to sequentially read-out the contents of the registers, non-destructively, in synchronism with the scan of the screen, for modulating the beam in accordance with the contents of the registers; and   d. detector means responsive to radiation stimuli emitted by a radiation field for storing data in the memory during the time the contents of the   
     
     
        registers are being sequentially read-out. .Iaddend. .Iadd. 22.  A video-display-processor for producing an on-line display of the distribution density of radiation stimuli emitted by a radiation field comprising: a. a plurality of memory registers respectively associated with the elemental areas of the field;   b. means for accumulating data in the registers, the data being representative of the number of stimuli emitted by the elemental area of the field with which the register is associated so that the density of radiation stimuli emitted by an elemental area of the radiation field is established by the contents of a register after the lapse of a predetermined period of time;   c. a display having a CRT with a viewing screen, electron gun means for generating an electron beam means, and a deflection circuit for causing the beam means to periodically scan the screen at a rate sufficiently high to generate a substantially flicker-free raster, the period of the scan being much smaller than said predetermined period of time;   d. logic means to sequentially read out the memory registers, non-destructively, in synchronism with the scan of the screen for producing digital data functionally related to the contents of the registers; and   e. means responsive to the digital data for modulating the beam means in conformity therewith whereby the distribution density of the field is displayed on the screen during the time data are being accumulated in the registers. .Iaddend.