Abstract: A video-based control and diagnostics system for use in an imaging machines, is presented. The system may be used in a number of ways with video imaging, including diagnostic testing, monitoring paper type, motors and solenoids, providing machine access by controlling access to an imaging station such as a printer or copier through video badging or fingerprint reading. The system may further control a printer or a copier using video, optical character recognition (OCR), shape recognition, motion detection and automatic machine learning. The system may have one image processing module with ability to select from three to ten or more video sources.

Abstract: An optical system enables images of a wide range of natural subjects to be well reproduced with their colors, and provides an image pickup system including, at least, an image pickup optical system, an electronic image pickup device having three or more different spectral characteristics to obtain a color image, and a controller for implementing signal processing or image processing on the basis of an output from the electronic image pickup device. The optical element that takes part in the determination of a focal length in said image pickup system includes an optical element making use of a refraction phenomenon alone.