RETINAL INFORMATION MAPPING SYSTEM

The mapping provides a capability for quantifying an external scene in a manner equivalent to the allocation at perceptual bandwidth in the human retina. The device samples the scene, either photographically or by video; records a digital version of the scene, processes the digital version so that the effects of the distribution rods in the retina provides the weighting for allocating signal processing bandwidth differentially across the scene in accordance with human physiological data, and produces a recording of the processed digital image. The processing uses a selected acuity factor as a parameter, a neighborhood is assigned to each pixel, with a radius r equal to (1.0+(acuity factor.times.R))/2.0, where R is the distance from the center of the image. The digital values of all pixels in the neighborhood are summed and the sum is divided by the number of pixels in the neighborhood to obtain an average value. This value is then assigned to the pixel in forming a processed image frame.