Abstract: The invention relates to a detector device having pixels in a two-dimensional arrangement, the detector device comprising row pixels, a row readout wiring for each row of said row pixels and a column select wiring for each column of said row pixels, as well as column pixels, a column readout wiring for each column of said column pixels and a row select wiring for each row of said column pixels. Analog-to-digital converters adapted for row-parallel and column-parallel operation are connected to the readout wirings, and simultaneously one or more columns of row pixels for row parallel readout and one or more rows of column pixels for column parallel readout can be selected. The invention further relates to a positioning code and to a position detecting method.

Abstract: The invention relates to a detector device having pixels in a two-dimensional arrangement, the detector device comprising row pixels, a row readout wiring for each row of said row pixels and a column select wiring for each column of said row pixels, as well as column pixels, a column readout wiring for each column of said column pixels and a row select wiring for each row of said column pixels. Analog-to-digital converters adapted for row-parallel and column-parallel operation are connected to the readout wirings, and simultaneously one or more columns of row pixels for row parallel readout and one or more rows of column pixels for column parallel readout can be selected. The invention further relates to a positioning code and to a position detecting method.

Abstract: The invention relates to a detector device having pixels in a two-dimensional arrangement, the detector device comprising row pixels, a row readout wiring for each row of said row pixels and a column select wiring for each column of said row pixels, as well as column pixels, a column readout wiring for each column of said column pixels and a row select wiring for each row of said column pixels. Analog-to-digital converters adapted for row-parallel and column-parallel operation are connected to the readout wirings, and simultaneously one or more columns of row pixels for row parallel readout and one or more rows of column pixels for column parallel readout can be selected. The invention further relates to a positioning code and to a position detecting method.

Abstract: A position measurement system for determining 2D displacement or position of a mobile element with respect to a reference frame, including: a point light; an optical mask having transparent and opaque areas defining a repetitive pattern on at least one side of its surfaces; an imager, fixed to a mobile element, including integrated electronic circuits allowing detection, computing and analyzing of a shadow projected by the optical mask. The position measurement system includes an optical diffuser plate between the light source and the mask. The imager, mask and diffuser plate form an assembly so as to produce a light spot created by the scattering of the incident light beam emitted by the light source on the diffuser plate. The mask positioned between the diffuser plate and imager, produces a shadow on the imager, allowing to compute and provide 2D position of the mobile element relative to the fixed reference frame.

Abstract: A system measures the position of a light source in space using an imager and transparent surface with a pattern on top. The pattern consists of a repetitive pattern and a distinctive element. The system achieves sub-micron precision. It also handles the measurement of several light sources simultaneously, and the measurement of the position of a retroreflector instead of the light.

Abstract: A method for working out the angular position of a rotating element, by using at least one fixed light source emitting a light beam in the direction of a fixed sensor, arranging the light source with respect to the rotating element and sensor to induce an interaction between the beam and sensor, and providing a value of the angular position dependent of the sensor's output signal. The method including: arranging on the path of the beam a code-disc presenting a two-dimensional pattern of transparent and opaque areas and an absolute code integral with the rotating element, using the image casted by the code-disc on the sensor for determining the eccentricity of the code-disc in dependence of the angular position of the rotating element, using the eccentricity for compensating the value of the computed angular position, and computing a corrected angular position of the rotating element.

Abstract: A position measurement system for determining 2D displacement or position of a mobile element with respect to a reference frame, including: a point light; an optical mask having transparent and opaque areas defining a repetitive pattern on at least one side of its surfaces; an imager, fixed to a mobile element, including integrated electronic circuits allowing detection, computing and analyzing of a shadow projected by the optical mask. The position measurement system includes an optical diffuser plate between the light source and the mask. The imager, mask and diffuser plate form an assembly so as to produce a light spot created by the scattering of the incident light beam emitted by the light source on the diffuser plate. The mask positioned between the diffuser plate and imager, produces a shadow on the imager, allowing to compute and provide 2D position of the mobile element relative to the fixed reference frame.

Abstract: Method for working out the angular position of a rotating element, using at least one light source emitting a light beam in the direction of a fixed sensor and computing elements for processing an output signal of the sensor, includes: arranging the light source with respect to the rotating element and the sensor so as to induce an interaction between the light beam and the sensor which depends on the angular position of the rotating shaft, arranging on the path of the light beam, in a fixed position with respect to the sensor, a perforated mask which presents a repetitive pattern of perforations, detecting shadows generated by the mask on the sensor, processing the output signal of the sensor for determining the position of the shadows on the sensor, and computing the angular position of the rotating element using the position of the shadows.

Abstract: Method for determining the position and/or displacement of a mobile element with respect to a fixed frame, includes using a fixed light source emitting a light beam, arranging the source with respect to the mobile element and a sensor to induce an interaction between the beam and sensor, using a concave mirror, integral in movement with the mobile element, for reflecting the beam in direction to the sensor, arranging on the path of the beam a fixed optical mask which presents a two dimensional regular pattern interlaced with an absolute code, detecting and processing the image casted by the mask on the sensor, computing the displacement value of the image on the sensor and using the computed displacement value for computing and providing the position and/or the displacement in at least one direction of the mobile element in dependence of the image's displacement.

Abstract: A one-dimension position measurement system includes: a first ruler having a first one-dimension binary code si applied thereon, a camera for acquiring a picture of a portion of the code si, the portion having a length of I bits, and some processing elements. Each codeword of length I of the one-dimension code si is unique within the whole code si. A codeword ai is read from the acquired picture, and the processing elements are implemented for computing an absolute position p of the codeword ai of the code si from: (I). An ad-hoc interpolation method is used to obtain a precision way below the distance between two bits of the codewords. The code si may be applied on the ruler by using some geometric primitives, a geometric primitive for encoding a “1” being different from a geometric primitive for encoding a “0”, both having the same horizontal projection. The horizontal projection is then used for fine interpolation, achieving nanometer-scale resolution.

Abstract: A system measures the position of a light source in space using an imager and transparent surface with a pattern on top. The pattern consists of a repetitive pattern and a distinctive element. The system achieves sub-micron precision. It also handles the measurement of several light sources simultaneously, and the measurement of the position of a retroreflector instead of the light.

Abstract: Method for working out the angular position of a rotating element, using at least one light source emitting a light beam in the direction of a fixed sensor and computing elements for processing an output signal of the sensor, includes: arranging the light source with respect to the rotating element and the sensor so as to induce an interaction between the light beam and the sensor which depends on the angular position of the rotating shaft, arranging on the path of the light beam, in a fixed position with respect to the sensor, a perforated mask which presents a repetitive pattern of perforations, detecting shadows generated by the mask on the sensor, processing the output signal of the sensor for determining the position of the shadows on the sensor, and computing the angular position of the rotating element using the position of the shadows.

Abstract: A method for working out the angular position of a rotating element, by using at least one fixed light source emitting a light beam in the direction of a fixed sensor, arranging the light source with respect to the rotating element and sensor to induce an interaction between the beam and sensor, and providing a value of the angular position dependent of the sensor's output signal. The method including: arranging on the path of the beam a code-disc presenting a two-dimensional pattern of transparent and opaque areas and an absolute code integral with the rotating element, using the image casted by the code-disc on the sensor for determining the eccentricity of the code-disc in dependence of the angular position of the rotating element, using the eccentricity for compensating the value of the computed angular position, and computing a corrected angular position of the rotating element.

Abstract: A one-dimension position measurement system includes: a first ruler having a first one-dimension binary code si applied thereon, a camera for acquiring a picture of a portion of the code si, the portion having a length of I bits, and some processing elements. Each codeword of length I of the one-dimension code si is unique within the whole code si A codeword ai is read from the acquired picture, and the processing elements are implemented for computing an absolute position p of the codeword ai of the code si from: (I). An adhoc interpolation method is used to obtain a precision way below the distance between two bits of the codewords. The code si may be applied on the ruler by using some geometric primitives, a geometric primitive for encoding a “1” being different from a geometric primitive for encoding a “0”, both having the same horizontal projection. The horizontal projection is then used for fine interpolation, achieving nanometre-scale resolution.

Abstract: A neural network having layers of neurons divided into sublayers of neurons. The values of target neurons in one layer are calculated from sublayers of source neurons in a second underlying layer. It is therefore always possible to use for this calculation the same group of weights to be multiplied by respective source neurons related thereto and situated in the underlying layer of the neural network.

Abstract: An electronic circuit for a capacitive flash analog to digital converter for converting the ratio of first and second analog signals into a digital code representation using an array of parallel capacitive comparator branches. Each branch computing one bit of the digital code simultaneously according to its array index. The first analog signal is applied as a voltage difference between first signal nodes comprising a first positive signal node and a first negative signal node. The second analog signal is, applied as a voltage difference between second signal nodes comprising a second positive signal node and a second negative signal node.

Abstract: The values of target neurons are calculated for sublayers of target neurons It is therefore always possible to use for this calculation the same group of weights to be multiplied by respective source neurons related thereto and situated in the underlying layer of the neural network.

Abstract: An electronic circuit for measuring the position of a spatially periodic intensity pattern of incident radiation includes an array of detectors (1); two or more correlator units (2, 3) each having arrays of capacitors (12, 13) connected to a buffer (14); and a phase angle computing unit (4). The pitch of the array of detectors (1) is smaller than the pitch of the incident intensity pattern so that the latter is oversampled, yielding high accuracy. The detector outputs (17) are weighted by respective fixed capacitance values (15, 16) which vary periodically along arrays of capacitors (12, 13), and a weighted sum of outputs for each correlator unit (2, 3) is output at its respective buffer (14). The capacitance values (15, 16) of respective correlator units (2, 3) are mutually offset by a predetermined phase shift. The analog computation using capacitor arrays (12, 13) is fast and energy efficient, and can be implemented as a VLSI circuit.