Information processing apparatus and information processing system for detecting an injected droplet

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12348680-B2
Application number	US-202118245391-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 10, 2021
Priority date	Sep 25, 2020
Publication date	Jul 1, 2025
Grant date	Jul 1, 2025

Abstract

The present technology relates to an information processing apparatus and an information processing system that enable accurate detection of a droplet from a dispenser.
The information processing apparatus includes: an event sensor including a pixel configured to photoelectrically convert an optical signal and output a pixel signal, the event sensor being configured to output a temporal luminance change of the optical signal as an event signal on the basis of the pixel signal; and a processor configured to detect a droplet injected from the dispenser on the basis of the event signal. The present technology can be applied to, for example, a dispenser control system that controls a dispenser, and the like.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An information processing apparatus comprising:
an event sensor including a pixel configured to photoelectrically convert an optical signal and output a pixel signal, the event sensor being configured to output a temporal luminance change of the optical signal as an event signal on a basis of the pixel signal; and
a processor configured to
detect a droplet injected from a dispenser on a basis of the event signal,
generate and output control information for controlling injection of the droplet by the dispenser,
generate an event image in which the event signal from the event sensor is collected in unit of a predetermined integration time, and
generate the control information on a basis of the generated event image.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the event sensor is disposed such that a reading direction of the pixel signal coincides with a moving direction of the droplet.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the event sensor detects the droplet from two orthogonal directions.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the event sensor is one of two event sensors that respectively detect the droplet from two orthogonal directions.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
as the event image, the processor generates: a first event image based on the event signal of a first event that is a luminance change of a first polarity; and a second event image based on the event signal of a second event that is a luminance change of a second polarity, the second polarity being a polarity opposite to the first polarity.

6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein
the event image is a binary image in which a pixel value of a pixel in which the event signal has occurred is set to 1 and a pixel value of a pixel in which the event signal has not occurred is set to 0.

7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein
the processor further generates a display image in which a first pixel value of a first pixel in which the first event has occurred is set to a first luminance value, a second pixel value of a second pixel in which the second event has occurred is set to a second luminance value, and a third pixel value of a third pixel is set to a third luminance value.

8. The information processing apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the processor calculates trajectory information of the droplet on a basis of the first event image, and generates the control information on a basis of the calculated trajectory information.

9. The information processing apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the processor performs noise removal processing of removing noise of the first event image.

10. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the predetermined integration time is shorter than one frame period corresponding to a frame rate.

11. An information processing apparatus comprising:
an event sensor including a pixel configured to photoelectrically convert an optical signal and output a pixel signal, the event sensor being configured to output a temporal luminance change of the optical signal as an event signal on a basis of the pixel signal; and
a processor configured to
detect a droplet injected from a dispenser on a basis of the event signal, and
generate a reconfigured image in which a luminance value is estimated on a basis of the event signal in unit of a frame rate period corresponding to a frame rate.

12. The information processing apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein the processor generates the reconfigured image by using the event signal and previously output event signals.

13. The information processing apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein the processor calculates a width of the droplet on a basis of the reconfigured image, and generates control information for controlling injection of the droplet by the dispenser on a basis of the calculated width.

14. The information processing apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein the processor calculates a volume of the droplet on a basis of the reconfigured image, and generates control information for controlling injection of the droplet by the dispenser on a basis of the calculated volume.

15. The information processing apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein the processor performs noise removal processing of setting, to zero, a pixel value of a pixel in which an event does not occur within a certain period before a generation timing of the reconfigured image.

16. An information processing apparatus comprising: wherein
an event sensor including a pixel configured to photoelectrically convert an optical signal and output a pixel signal, the event sensor being configured to output a temporal luminance change of the optical signal as an event signal on a basis of the pixel signal; and
a processor configured to
detect a droplet injected from a dispenser on a basis of the event signal, and
detect the droplet also on a basis of an RGB image obtained by capturing an image of the droplet with an image sensor.

17. An information processing system comprising: a dispenser configured to inject predetermined liquid, and the information processing apparatus according to claim 1 .

18. An information processing system comprising a dispenser configured to inject predetermined liquid, and the information processing apparatus according to claim 11 .

19. An information processing system comprising a dispenser configured to inject predetermined liquid, and the information processing apparatus according to claim 16 .

Assignees

• Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corp

Inventors

• Niikura Hirotaka
• Miyatani Yoshitaka
• Kosuge Atsutake
• Nakagawa Daiki

Classifications

• H04N25/47

  Image sensors with pixel address output; Event-driven image sensors; Selection of pixels to be read out based on image data · CPC title

• B05B5/005

  the high voltage supplied to an electrostatic spraying apparatus being adjustable during spraying operation, e.g. for modifying spray width, droplet size · CPC title

• H04N25/53

  Control of the integration time · CPC title

• H04N23/60

  Control of cameras or camera modules · CPC title

• B05C11/10

  Storage, supply or control of liquid or other fluent material; Recovery of excess liquid or other fluent material {(B05C1/0813, B05C5/0225, B05C17/002 and B05C19/06 take precedence)} · CPC title