JP5236173B2 - Parallel analog computing device using reversible optical response element - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a parallel analog operation device using a reversible photoresponsive device showing a peculiar phenomenon by irradiating a predetermined light.

  In addition, the present invention uses a phenomenon in which a physical property changes by irradiating predetermined light using a light responsive element and returns to the original physical property with an exponential probability after the change as an exponential function calculation. Thus, the present invention relates to an image sensor, a molecular arithmetic element, and an arithmetic device for performing advanced information processing.

  In addition, since a group of analog information is handled as one piece of image information by processing such as developing a plurality of analog signals in one dimension or two dimensions, the present invention can also be an apparatus that performs analog calculations. The present invention relates to an arithmetic device capable of performing a parallel operation on a single group of analog signals at a time for a group of processed analog signals.

  With recent demands for speeding up information processing apparatuses, high-speed arithmetic processing is required. In particular, exponential operations are frequently used for simulation of social systems and natural phenomena. Therefore, a complex circuit is required to perform the required exponential operation at high speed with a digital computer. Moreover, in order to perform an exponential function on an analog signal, the analog signal is once converted and then exponential.

  With recent demands for speeding up information processing apparatuses, parallel processing is required. For this reason, a parallel arithmetic device in which a plurality of digital arithmetic processing circuits are incorporated is provided. However, for analog information, parallel digital arithmetic must be performed after each signal is converted into a digital signal. For this reason, in order to speed up the arithmetic processing, an arithmetic device capable of performing a parallel operation in which a plurality of analog signals are calculated at a time as analog is required.

  In a conventional analog arithmetic unit, a single circuit uses a conventional semiconductor element such as an operational amplifier. In a plurality of circuits, an analog signal is first converted into a digital signal, and then a plurality of digital signals are processed. It was. Therefore, in order to perform analog operations of a plurality of analog signals in parallel, the same number of analog-digital conversion circuits as the number of input circuits are required. In addition, as the number of circuits increases, there arises a problem that it becomes difficult to synchronize a plurality of analog-digital conversion circuits.

  As described above, conventionally, an exponential calculation of analog information such as an analog signal or image information requires a complicated circuit configuration and a lot of calculation time.

  At the same time, as the number of analog input circuits is increased, there is a problem that the number of analog-digital conversion circuits equal to the number of inputs is increased. In addition, as the number of circuits increases, there is a problem that it becomes difficult to synchronize the analog-digital conversion circuit. Similarly, in the case of exponential calculation, since the same number of calculations as the number of input circuits must be performed, a lot of calculation time is used.

The present invention solves such problems of the prior art and develops a plurality of analog information in two dimensions using a reversible photoresponsive element using a substance that exhibits a specific phenomenon by irradiating predetermined light. Thus, an object of the present invention is to provide a new parallel analog computing device that performs computation at once as image information, performs complex analog computation, and uses this for imaging and parallel analog computation.

  According to the present invention, the following technical means are provided to solve the above problems.

(1) A parallel analog computing device using a reversible optical response element, which receives an optical analog signal from an input unit that two-dimensionally develops an input analog signal and converts it into an optical analog signal. A calculation unit that integrates the change in physical properties of the reversible photoresponsive element and its restoration at regular intervals to form a two-dimensional image, and an output unit that receives and outputs a two-dimensional image as a calculation result from the calculation unit, The reversible light-responsive element includes a two-dimensional array element in which optical cells are two-dimensionally arranged. Each optical cell changes its physical property by irradiating light with a predetermined characteristic, and the physical property changes with time after the change. A parallel analog computing device comprising a substance that returns to its original state with an exponential probability.

  (2) In the invention of (1), the substance contained in each optical cell is a photochromic material.

  (3) The parallel analog arithmetic device according to (1) or (2), wherein the substance contained in each optical cell is confined in a predetermined space.

(4) The parallel analog arithmetic unit according to (1) or (2) , wherein the substance contained in each optical cell is fixed to the cell.

According to the present invention, by using a reversible photoresponsive element having a unique property that a physical property is changed by irradiating predetermined light, and the physical property is restored with an exponential probability after the change. and irradiating the calculation unit the signals of a plurality of circuits as the light of the two-dimensional image it is possible to perform a plurality of exponential operation simultaneously, it is possible to obtain a clear image with less noise by utilizing them, a large amount Thus, it is possible to provide a parallel analog arithmetic device capable of quickly and rapidly executing analog information operations in parallel.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

The reversible light-responsive element used in the present invention uses a substance that changes its physical properties by irradiating light with a predetermined characteristic, and then returns to its original state with an exponential probability with respect to time after the change. It is characterized by.

The reversible light-responsive element used in the present invention includes a two-dimensional array element in which optical cells are two-dimensionally arrayed, and each optical cell changes its physical properties when irradiated with light of a predetermined characteristic. It may be characterized by including a substance whose physical properties return to its original state with an exponential probability with respect to time.

  Examples of the substance having the above-described properties typically include fluorescent / phosphorescent materials and photochromic materials. For example, fluorescent / phosphorescent materials such as spirobenzothiopyran, and photochromic materials such as diarylethene and spiropyran. Can be used.

In the reversible photoresponsive device used in the present invention , the substance can take a solid, liquid, or gel form. The substance may be a thin film, a bulk, or a droplet. Further, the substance may be confined in a predetermined space such as the inside of the cell, or may be fixed to the cell in the form of adhesion, coating, printing, or the like.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing a configuration example of an apparatus using a reversible photoresponsive element according to the present invention, and is a diagram for explaining the principle. This apparatus includes an input unit (1-1), a calculation unit (1-2), and an output unit (1-3). The input unit (1-1) inputs a two-dimensional image such as a picked-up image or an image optically converted into a predetermined pattern by two-dimensionally developing a plurality of analog information. The computing unit (1-2) has a substance whose physical properties change by irradiating with light having a predetermined characteristic, and after which the physical properties return to the original state with an exponential probability with respect to time. The light is irradiated from the part (1-1), and calculation is performed using the characteristics of the substance. The output unit (1-3) receives and outputs the calculation result of the calculation unit (1-2) in the form of an image.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing another configuration example of the apparatus using the reversible photoresponsive element according to the present invention. This apparatus has a mirror (1-4) in addition to an input unit (1-1), a calculation unit (1-2), and an output unit (1-3). In the case of this configuration example, the operation principle is basically the same as that in FIG. 1, but the optical image information output from the input unit (1-1) is reflected by the mirror (1-4) and the calculation unit (1 -3). The image obtained by the calculation unit (1-3) passes through the mirror (1-4) and reaches the output unit (1-3). As the mirror (1-4), various types such as a half mirror, a low pass filter, and a high pass filter can be used.

  Here, the operation of the reversible photoresponsive element constituting the calculation unit (1-2) will be described. As shown in principle in FIG. 1, when the amount of the substance changed to the state of B is the vertical axis, the number of substance components (for example, molecules) proportional to the amount of irradiation is changed from the state A to the state of irradiation with light of a predetermined characteristic. It changes to B, and then returns from the substance in the B state to the substance in the A state with an exponential probability over time. For each substance component, if the amount proportional to the amount of irradiated light is C, the vertical axis after irradiation indicates Cexp (−kt) (k is a coefficient, and t is time).

  This change is used as an exponent calculation of the reversible photoresponsive element, for example, in a calculation unit (1-2) including a two-dimensional array element in which the reversible photoresponsive elements are two-dimensionally arranged. When the arithmetic unit (1-2) is irradiated with two-dimensionally developed analog signals or image information from the input unit (1-1) as light image information, the two-dimensional of the arithmetic unit (1-2) is obtained. Each of the two-dimensionally arranged substances in the array element starts the exponential function calculation independently. By repeating the physical property change due to light irradiation from the input unit (1-1) and the exponential restoration of the physical property, the calculation result appears as image information in the calculation unit (1-2), and the result is output to the output unit (1-2). 1-3) and output.

  Therefore, a plurality of exponential operations can be performed at once by handling a plurality of analog information as image information consistently from input to calculation to output. In addition, the calculation unit (1-2) having a function of decreasing the numerical value exponentially makes it possible to suppress the occurrence of overflow as much as possible when only the integration calculation is performed.

FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing an example in which the reversible photoresponsive element used in the present invention is applied to an imaging apparatus. This imaging apparatus includes an image input unit (3-1), an analog information calculation unit (dye molecule two-dimensional array element) (3-2), an image capture element (3-3), a mirror (3-4), and a surface light emission. It has an element (3-5).

  As an example, the image input unit (3-1) can be configured by a device [digital micromirror element (DMD)] configured with tens of thousands of micro-sized mirrors using light of a short wavelength light source. The configuration of the image input unit (3-1) is not limited to this, and may be arbitrary. For example, an optical fiber in which semiconductor laser outputs are bundled may be used.

  The mirror (3-4) is a mirror in which a low-pass filter is superimposed on the top and a half mirror is superimposed on the bottom, and a short wavelength optical image from the image input unit (3-1) is sent to the analog information calculation unit (3-2). Lead.

As an example, the analog information calculation unit (3-2) encloses a dye molecule (3-2a) in a droplet as an optical cell (3-2b), and two-dimensionally arranges a plurality of dye molecules (3-2b). It can be composed of a dimensional array element. In this dye molecule two-dimensional array element, dye molecules in an excited state excited by short-wavelength light and dye molecules in a ground state that are not excited or return from the excited state to the ground state are distributed. In this example , the liquid dye molecule (3-2a) is used as the substance to be placed in the optical cell (3-2b), but a thin film solid, gel-like dye molecule, etc. can be substituted. It is desirable that the distance that the dye molecules can diffuse during operation is negligible, so it can be placed in a low-temperature state, used as a gel, or provided with a lattice-like film to suppress the diffusion of liquids, etc. It is also desirable.

  The image capture element (3-3) passes through the mirror (3-4) in a state where the short wavelength is cut, and functions as an analog information output unit that acquires only a long-wavelength optical image. The image capture element (3-3) can be configured as a CCD (charge coupled device) as an example, and is used as an element that outputs a calculation result appearing as image information as an external signal. At this time, the surface light emitting element (3-5) is used as a light source for illuminating the analog information calculation unit (3-2).

  However, when the dye molecule (3-2a) is a substance that emits fluorescence or phosphorescence after light irradiation, the apparatus configuration from the image input unit (3-1) to the image capture element (3-3) However, in the case of a substance having other properties, for example, when using a substance such as diarylethene or spiropyran whose physical properties change due to light irradiation and return to its original state by heat at room temperature, When outputting the result, the color change of the dye molecule (3-2a) is shown most greatly in order to clearly output the calculation result in the analog information calculation unit (3-2) to the image capture element (3-3). A surface light emitting device (3-5) that emits light of a wavelength is used.

  Note that the analog information calculation unit (3-2) can also be configured by only dye molecules as shown in the lower part of FIG.

Next, the operation of the image pickup apparatus of the above example will be described. The substance put into the optical cell (3-2a) of the dye molecule two-dimensional array element constituting the analog information calculation unit (3-2) is a molecule in a ground state by light irradiation as shown in FIG. 4A (a). Changes to the excited state and returns to the ground state with an exponential decrease exp (−x / T) having a certain lifetime T. A representative compound having such properties is spirobenzothiopyran with a half-life of 12 seconds. Since this substance emits phosphorescence in an excited state, it is not necessary to provide a surface light emitting element (3-5) when this substance is used. In this case, it is assumed that light having two-dimensional information, in other words, an image is irradiated to the dye molecule two-dimensional array element constituting the analog information calculation unit (3-2). Then, as shown in FIG. 4A (b), the dye molecule (3-2b) is excited and changes its color in the portion where the luminance of the excitation light of the image data is strong. If exponential decay in which the excited atom returns to the original state is used, it can be used for arithmetic processing such as noise removal.

  For example, A and B in (c) of FIG. 4A illustrate the cases of continuous irradiation and intermittent irradiation of light, respectively, but it can be seen that a large difference occurs when the amount of excited state is examined after a certain time. FIG. 4A (d) shows a graph of signal intensity obtained by observing A and B at a certain interval and integrating them. Since excitation is always repeated in the case of continuous irradiation, a constant intensity excitation state is ensured, but in the case of intermittent irradiation, there is a high probability that the excitation state is attenuated. That is, in the case of intermittent irradiation, the amount of excited states is effectively lower than continuous irradiation.

  This operation principle can be applied to, for example, image noise removal ((e) in FIG. 4B). Image noise removal is performed by integrating images that contain noise, and the S / N ratio increases by √n times because normal signals increase by n times and n times by √n times the number of integrations. A clear image can be created. In the case of randomly generated noise, it is possible to obtain a clear image by a method of integration, but in the case of pulse or wave noise, it is known that noise removal by integration processing is difficult. However, in the case of the present invention, when the difference between the clear image without noise and the image after noise processing is square-averaged with respect to the effect of noise reduction during the integration processing and processing, the integration processing (in FIG. 4B) Compared to A) of (e), the image processing of the present invention (B of (e) of FIG. 4B) has a smaller root mean square value. That is, by using the present invention, pulsed and wavy noise can be significantly reduced as compared with the prior art.

Also, the work of creating a clear image is usually performed at a portion for accumulating charges in the CCD that constitutes the image capture element (3-3) of this example . However, it is well known that there is a problem with this accumulation, and the accumulation of images by the CCD is caused by overflow due to excessive charge accumulation and the dynamic range due to a small signal intensity difference as shown in FIG. 4B (f). A decrease occurs. However, in this example , since the number of dye molecules (3-2a) contained in the optical cell of the dye molecule two-dimensional array element constituting the analog information calculation unit (3-2) is very large, overflow is unlikely to occur. The dynamic range can also be increased. Considering the size of one of the dye molecule droplets as a cube for simplification, it is 80 μm in length, 80 μm in width, and 100 μm in depth, and a photoresponsive molecule having a molar concentration of 0.05 mol / liter in the droplet. In the case where is included, the number of photoresponsive molecules is as large as 1.9 × 10 ¹³ , and in principle, it can be understood that the dynamic range of 13 digits can be obtained.

As described above, by using the above-described element, it is possible to realize an imaging device that can efficiently perform noise removal, hardly cause overflow, and has a large dynamic range.

FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically showing an embodiment in which the reversible optical response element used in the present invention is applied to a parallel analog arithmetic device. In the above-described embodiment, the image pickup apparatus has been described by taking image noise removal as an example. However, here, a case will be described in which the present invention is applied to a parallel analog arithmetic apparatus suitable for parallel calculation of two-dimensional data.

As in the example of the imaging device, the parallel analog arithmetic device includes an image input unit (5-1), an analog information arithmetic unit [dye molecule two-dimensional array element] (5-2), and an image capture element (5-3). ), A mirror (5-4) and a surface light emitting element (5-5).

  Currently, in the fields of computational science and computational engineering, since it takes time to calculate using an electronic computer, for example, software and architecture optimal for operation research represented by the traveling salesman problem are required. In other words, the traveling salesman problem of “What is the delivery route with the shortest delivery distance with delivery to multiple delivery locations?” Is because the number of delivery routes is the factorial of the number of deliveries. This is because time is required. One algorithm that solves this problem is the ACO [Ant Colony Optimization] method, which is a method in which ants use pheromones to search for the optimum route between food and burrows. In this ACO method, a pheromone map representing the pheromone concentration distribution, which is the locus of movement of ants, is created on a memory. However, with a conventional computer method, a pheromone map calculation, particularly exponential decay calculation, is enormous. In this embodiment, since the reversible photoresponsive element of the present invention performs exponential decay, it is necessary to calculate the amount of each pheromone in the pheromone map that places the greatest burden on the computer. Disappear. As a result, it is possible to dramatically increase the search speed for the optimum condition by the ACO method. It is adapted to a search method that finds the shortest path between the burrow and the bait by searching for food while ants release chemicals called pheromones. If the position of irradiating light is regarded as the position of an ant, it is possible to easily create a pheromone map in the arithmetic unit by the present invention, and the present invention can be said to be the optimum hardware for the ACO method. .

  The configuration of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. A two-dimensional region (indicated by xy coordinates) in which an ant moves is taken within the plane of the dye molecule two-dimensional array element constituting the analog information calculation unit (5-2), and an optical system independent of each coordinate indicated by the xy coordinates. It is assumed that a cell (5-2b) is placed and a dye molecule (5-2a) is placed in this optical cell (5-2b). Dye molecule (5-2a) that changes from colorless to red when irradiated with purple light and returns to colorless with an exponential probability after the change is used as a pheromone. The pheromone concentration is proportional to the red color density of the dye molecule (5-2a). The part irradiating the optical cell (5-2b) corresponding to the position of the ant searching for food is violet light, and the part irradiating the optical cell (5-2b) corresponding to the position of the ant returning to the nest is An image input unit (5-1) emits an intense purple light to illuminate the optical cell (5-2b) at the burrow position with orange and yellow to the optical cell (5-2b) at the bait position. The dye molecule two-dimensional arrangement element of the analog information calculation unit (5-2) is irradiated as analog information created and imaged by the above.

  The image input unit (5-1) can be configured by combining a computer that generates two-dimensional information in addition to the DMD. After that, the color information of the dye molecule two-dimensional arrangement element of the analog information calculation unit (5-2) is obtained by the image capture unit (5-3), and the position where the ant moves according to the determination condition described later is set in the image input unit ( Tell 5-1).

  The image capture unit (5-3) can be configured by combining a CCD with a frame memory and a computer for performing signal determination in accordance with the determination conditions.

  Next, an operation example of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 6 (I, violet light is irradiated to the dye molecule (5-2a) placed in the optical cell (5-2b) corresponding to the current position of the ant. At this time, the dye molecule (5- 6 (II), when the ant moves, the irradiation position of the light changes, so that the red color of the discolored dye molecule (5-2a) is exponentially attenuated. In this case, an ant locus in which the red color becomes exponentially thinner from the current position of the ant appears on the dye molecule two-dimensional array element, and this red distribution becomes a pheromone map.

  As shown in FIG. 6 (III), the optical cell (5-2b) at the burrow position is continuously irradiated with orange, and the optical cell (5-2b) at the bait position is continuously irradiated with yellow. The ant irradiates purple light to the dye molecule (5-2a) of the optical cell (5-2b) corresponding to the current position of the ant moving at random from the burrow in search of food. The following judgment condition is added to the behavior of this ant.

  i) When it reaches the yellow (bait) optical cell (5-2b), it moves toward the orange optical cell (5-2b). When returning to the burrow, increase the intensity of the purple light.

  ii) If there is a red dye molecule (5-2a) around the ants from the image information acquired by the image capture unit (5-3), the image goes to the red dye molecule optical cell (5-2b).

  Under this condition, when the operation of the present embodiment is executed as shown in FIG. 6 (IV), after a certain time, the optical cell (5-2b) at the position of the burrow and the optical cell (5- In 2b), a red pattern appears on the shortest route between the nest hole and the bait. That is, the shortest rule between the burrow and the bait is calculated according to this embodiment.

  FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a modification of the embodiment of FIG. It is configured to irradiate purple light corresponding to the current position designation of ants, to specify the position of the nest, and to irradiate orange or yellow corresponding to the position of the bait, and the image input unit includes image information of the purple light The image input unit A (7-1) for generating the image information and the image input unit B (7-1) for generating the image information of the orange or yellow light are separated. This makes it possible to carry out the ant position designation in a complicated manner. In this modification, there are two image input units, but the number is not limited and may be three or more. In the case of this modification, since the mirror (7-4) is a low-pass filter, the image input unit A (7-1) needs to be above the image input unit B (7-1). is there.

  Next, another embodiment of the parallel analog arithmetic unit according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  In the embodiment of the parallel analog arithmetic device described above, the application to the optimization problem search has been described. However, the dedicated arithmetic device of the present embodiment can be applied to arithmetic operations such as a road traffic jam avoidance system.

  The arithmetic device of this embodiment includes an image input unit (8-1), an analog information calculation unit (8-2), an image capture element (8-3), a mirror (8-4), and a surface light emitting element (8-5). ). In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8, the optical cell (8-2b) is arranged only in the portion corresponding to the road, which is a difference in configuration from the above-described embodiment.

  An image of road conditions is taken, an image in which only moving cars are extracted from the image is created by the image input unit (8-1), and the two-dimensional analog information is converted into the analog information calculation unit (8-2). Irradiate the dye molecule two-dimensional arrangement element. The irradiation part is a dye molecule two-dimensional arrangement element provided only in the part corresponding to the road. When this operation is repeated, a colored portion appears in the dye molecule two-dimensional arrangement element, and a colored traffic jam location is indicated in the image capture section (8-3). According to this embodiment, it is possible to search for a traffic jam location on a complicated road network.

  An example of the operation of a dedicated arithmetic element used for searching for a traffic jam location on a complex road network will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 9 (a) a, when an image in which the car moves in one direction from right to left is obtained, position information of the moving car is obtained from this image, and the position corresponding to the position of the car is obtained. The dye molecule (8-2a) put in the optical cell (8-2b) is irradiated with ultraviolet light corresponding to FIG. 9 (I) b. As the dye molecule (8-2a), spiropyran, diarylethene or spirobenzothiopyran having similar characteristics can also be used. These molecules change color due to purple absorption and return to their original structure due to room temperature heat. The color of the dye molecule (8-2a) irradiated with light changes due to the irradiation with ultraviolet light, and a change that returns to the original with an exponential probability occurs after the change. When the vehicle moves, the light irradiation position changes, so that the color of the discolored dye molecule (8-2a) changes to colorless due to exponential decay. In this case, the movement trajectory of the car in which white becomes exponentially thinner from the current position of the car appears on the dye molecule two-dimensional arrangement element (8-2) as shown in FIG. 9 (I) c.

  Next, consider the intersection shown in FIG. Now, when the traffic light in the vertical direction is blue and the traffic light in the horizontal direction is red, light is emitted following the car passing by the blue light, so the moving trajectory of the car appears thinly in the vertical direction, and the red traffic light Since the light is kept moving without moving to the position of the stopped vehicle, a white traffic congestion portion appears in the traffic congestion portion where the vehicle is stopped. At this time, it can be seen from FIG. 9 (II) that the lateral road region (region H) where the vehicle is congested is whiter than the vertical road region (region V).

  Since this embodiment can be used in a signal control system for avoiding traffic jams, an example of this operation will be described. A system for reducing traffic congestion by controlling the traffic light according to the procedure described in the flowchart of FIG. 9 (III) based on the image information of the image capture unit (8-3) will be described. First, the white amount (pheromone amount) of the road connected to the intersection is measured. The white amount (pheromone amount) of the vertical road region (region V) and the horizontal road region (region H) is compared. At this time, when the amount of white (the amount of pheromone) in the region H is larger than that in the region V, the time of the blue signal in the vertical direction is shortened and the time of the blue signal in the horizontal direction is lengthened. On the other hand, if there are more regions V, the above control is reversed. In addition to the device shown in FIG. 8, this signal control can be realized by a control device (not shown), a computer provided separately, or a configuration device such as a communication system that connects the control device and the signal device.

  In order to show the effect of this embodiment, the time change of the total pheromone amount when controlled by either the pattern control that controls the traffic light at regular intervals or the pheromone control that is the control method of this embodiment is simulated. Then, the superiority or inferiority of both control methods was investigated.

  The simulation was performed with two kinds of patterns at two intersections and two kinds of control methods. This control method was evaluated based on the total amount of pheromones because the greater the amount of pheromones on the map, the worse the traffic situation. FIG. 9 (IV) shows the change over time of the average value of the total pheromone amount indicating the traffic jam situation after 20 trials of 10,000 steps for each of the four patterns. The amount of total pheromone was the smallest when the two intersections were pheromone controlled. That is, the number of vehicles that are congested is smaller in the pheromone control than in the pattern control.

From the above, it can be seen that the control method shown in the above embodiment is effective in the information processing of the traffic system by performing the apparatus configuration based on the present invention.

  According to the present invention, by using a substance that changes its physical properties by irradiating predetermined light and returns to the original with an exponential probability after the change, signals of a plurality of circuits can be converted into two-dimensional images. By irradiating the arithmetic unit as light and performing a plurality of exponential function calculations simultaneously, exponential calculations of a plurality of analog information can be realized in parallel, which greatly contributes to improving the performance of the analog arithmetic device.

It is a figure which shows typically the example of a structure of the apparatus using the reversible optical response element by this invention, and is also a principle explanatory drawing. It is a figure which shows typically another structural example of the apparatus using the reversible photoresponsive element by this invention. It is a figure which shows typically the example which applied the said reversible optical response element to the imaging device. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing of the imaging device of FIG. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing of the imaging device of FIG. It is a figure which shows typically the Example which applied the reversible optical response element by this invention to the parallel analog arithmetic unit. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing of the parallel analog arithmetic unit of FIG. It is a figure which shows typically the modification of the Example of FIG. It is a figure which shows typically another Example which applied the reversible optical response element by this invention to the parallel analog arithmetic unit. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing of the parallel analog arithmetic unit of FIG.

1-1 Input Unit 1-2 Computing Unit 1-3 Output Unit 1-4 Mirror 3-1 Image Input Unit 3-2 Analog Information Computing Unit 3-2a Dye Molecule 3-2b Optical Cell 3-3 Image Capture Device 3- 4 Mirror 3-5 Surface Light Emitting Element 5-1 Image Input Unit 5-2 Analog Information Calculation Unit (Dye Molecule Two-dimensional Array Element)
5-2a Dye molecule 5-2b Optical cell 5-3 Image capture unit 7-1 Image input unit A, B
7-2 Analog information calculation unit (Dye molecule two-dimensional array element)
7-2a Excited state dye molecule 7-2b Ground state dye molecule 7-3 Image capture element 7-4 Mirror 7-5 Surface light emitting element 8-1 Image input unit 8-2 Analog information calculation unit (Dye molecule two-dimensional Array element)
8-3 Image capture element 8-4 Mirror 8-5 Surface light emitting element

Claims (4)

A parallel analog computing device using a reversible photoresponsive element,
An input unit that two-dimensionally develops an input analog signal and converts it to an optical analog signal, and receives an optical analog signal from the input unit, and integrates physical property changes and restoration of the reversible photoresponsive element at regular intervals. A two-dimensional image, and an output unit that receives and outputs a two-dimensional image as a calculation result from the calculation unit,
The reversible light-responsive element includes a two-dimensional array element formed by two-dimensionally arraying optical cells, and each optical cell changes its physical properties by irradiating light of a predetermined characteristic, and the physical properties change over time after the change. On the other hand, it comprises a substance that returns to its original state with an exponential probability, and is a parallel analog computing device.   The parallel analog arithmetic device according to claim 1, wherein the substance contained in each optical cell is a photochromic material.   The parallel analog arithmetic device according to claim 1, wherein a substance contained in each optical cell is confined in a predetermined space. The parallel analog arithmetic device according to claim 1 , wherein the substance contained in each optical cell is fixed to the cell.