OPTICAL PROCESSOR INCLUDING ELECTRONIC PROCESSING ARRAY

A hybrid optical/electronic processor for determining the presence of a feature of interest in an input image. The system includes an optical processor for convolving the input image with a target image representing the feature of interest, to produce an output image that is incident onto an electronic processing array. The array comprises a two dimensional array of processing cells, each of which performs local operations. In particular, each processing cell comprises a a photodetector for producing an electronic detection signal corresponding to the intensity of illumination at the processing cell, means for transmitting the detection signal to adjacent processing cells, and means for receiving detection signals from adjacent processing cells. Each processing cell produces an output signal if the local and neighboring detection signals satisfy a predetermined criteria. The output signal preferably comprises the address of the processing cell.