OPTICAL METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR GENERATING EXPANSION COEFFICIENTS FOR AN IMAGE PROCESSING FUNCTION

A system for optically generating expansion coefficients for an image processing function. The invention (10) includes a first optical element (18) for providing a transform of an image provided at a first image plane (16). A second optical arrangement (20) provides a product of the transform of the image and a transform of a convolving function. This product is transformed by a lens (22) to provide an image intensity distribution representative of expansion coefficients resulting from a convolution of the image by the convolving function. In a specific implementation, the convolving function is a wavelet and the intensity distribution is detected to provide the expansion coefficients.