JPH0517536B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for performing logical operations in parallel and at high speed using light. [Prior art and its problems] Research is progressing on computers that can perform calculations at high speed in order to process large-scale information, but methods that use sequential processing using electric circuits are already approaching their performance limits. There is. Therefore, research is progressing into parallel processing architectures such as supercomputers and array processors that execute multiple operations simultaneously. On the other hand, light has spatial expansion and its physical properties do not interfere with each other, so operations using light have excellent parallelism. As means for modulating light, amplitude, phase, frequency, polarization, etc. can be considered, and spatial light modulators are being developed. However, many of the conventional optical calculation methods are not suitable for parallel calculations or require complex coding before calculation, making them impractical. [Object of the Invention] An object of the present invention is to provide an optical operation method and apparatus for changing the transmittance of light and executing logical operations in parallel at high speed. [Means for Solving the Problems] The optical calculation method of the present invention forms a plurality of input signals and a signal obtained by inverting the plurality of input signals, and a first light source that emits light according to the input signals. and a second light source that emits light according to the inverted signal are arranged in pairs to form a first light emitting surface and a second light emitting surface having the same structure as the first light emitting surface, The light emitting pattern from the first surface and the light emitting pattern from the second light emitting surface are combined with the light emitted from the first light source and the second light source on the first light emitting surface and the light emitting pattern from the second light emitting surface.
The light emitted from the light source and the second light source are superimposed so as to overlap each other, and the first light source on the first light emitting surface and the light from the first light source on the second light emitting surface are combined. Light, second light that is a combination of light from a first light source on the first light emitting surface and a second light source on the second light emitting surface, a second light source on the first light emitting surface, and a second light source on the second light emitting surface. A third light that is multiplexed with the light from the first light source, and a fourth light that is multiplexed with the light from the second light source on the first light emitting surface and the second light source on the second light emitting surface. The intensities of the first, second, third, and fourth lights are changed by independently changing the transmittance of each of them to 0, 1/2, or 1. The signal is binarized by photoelectrically converting the intensity of the output pattern obtained by combining the third and fourth lights, and logical operations on the plurality of input signals are executed spatially in parallel. . The optical processing device of the present invention includes a first array light source in which a plurality of first light sources and second light sources are arranged in pairs, each of which emits light in response to an input signal and a signal obtained by inverting the input signal. and a second arrayed light source; a combining means for combining the lights emitted from the first arrayed light source and the second arrayed light source; and a light modulation means for changing the transmittance of the combined light. , a light observation means for observing the intensity of the pattern after passing through the light modulation means, and a digital conversion means for binarizing the signal obtained by the light observation means. [Principle of the Invention] The principle of the invention will be explained with reference to FIGS. 3 to 6. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the relationship between input data and an input surface. Two-dimensional binary input data 101 (a,
b, c, d, e,) and data obtained by inverting these input data (,,,,,,) are arranged in an array to form an input surface 102. Two sets of such input surfaces are prepared, and as shown in FIG.
When placed in a rotated state and superimposed using the half mirror 105, a pattern in which two sets of input patterns overlap is obtained on the output surface 107. FIG. 5 shows an example of the pattern. As shown in FIG.
The data 110 of 1 is the top, and its inverted data 111 is the bottom. In Fig. 5 b, c, d, and e, the shaded areas indicate the areas that are not irradiated with light, and b, c,
d and e have input data of 0, 0, 0, 1, respectively.
This corresponds to the case of 1, 0, 1, 1. In such a pattern, inverted data 109 and inverted data 11
1 and the inverted data 109
an overlapping region 113' between data 108 and data 110, and an overlapping region 11 between data 108 and inverted data 111.
4', and an overlapping area between data 108 and data 110 exists. At this time, the light transmittance of the pattern of the mask 106 can be changed to 0, 1/2, and 1, and as shown in FIG. 6a, overlapping areas 112', 113', It is composed of four first patterns 112, second patterns 113, third patterns 114, and fourth patterns 115 corresponding to 114' and 115'. Since the light of either one of the input data 108, 109 and one of the input data 110, 111 in FIG. Light intensity is expressed as 0, 1/2, and 1. In other words, when the light of both input data is not irradiated, the light intensity is 0, when the light of one input data is irradiated, the light intensity is 1/2, and the light of both input data is irradiated. The light intensity is 1 when the If the transmitted light of 11 sets of output patterns is focused and the light intensity is 1, it will be "1", and if the light intensity is 0 or 1/2, it will be "0". By changing the transmittance of the mask pattern, , can perform logical operations using data from two sets of input surfaces as input. Table 1 shows 14 logical operations that can be performed by setting the partial transmittance of the mask pattern to 0, 1/2, and 1. The numbers in the pattern column in the table represent the transmittance.

〔Example〕

Examples of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of an optical calculation device that implements the optical calculation method of the present invention. This optical arithmetic device includes array light sources 1 and 2 that are arranged at right angles to each other and are composed of light sources that can be modulated at high speed, such as LEDs, and a collimating system that collimates the light beams emitted from these array light sources. Lens arrays 3 and 4, a half mirror 5 that combines collimated light, and a transmittance of the combined light are changed. For example, a spatial light modulator 6 such as a liquid crystal TV, a detector array 7 such as a two-dimensional CCD, which observes the intensity of the pattern after passing through the spatial light modulator, and a pattern obtained by the detector array. A/D converter 11 that binarizes the signal
It is equipped with The arrayed light sources 1 and 2 are controlled by drive devices 8 and 9, respectively, which are constituted by circuits that apply voltages to the respective light sources, and the spatial light modulator 6 is controlled by a control device 10. In the optical arithmetic device having the above configuration, input data for causing the array light sources 1 and 2 to blink is controlled by the driving devices 8 and 9. Array light sources 1, 2
The light beam emitted from the lens is collimated by collimating lens arrays 3 and 4. These multiple collimated lights are combined by a half mirror 5 and then transmitted through a spatial light modulator 6. Control device 10
Accordingly, the aperture of the spatial light modulator 6 is placed at a position determined depending on the type of logical operation. The light transmitted through the spatial light modulator 6 is received by a detector array 7, and is digitized and binarized by an A/D converter 11. In the manner described above, desired logical operations can be executed. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing another embodiment of the optical arithmetic device. This optical calculation device is obtained by replacing the collimating lens arrays 3 and 4 of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 with lenticular plates 21 and 22, and the other configuration is the same as that of the optical calculation device shown in FIG. Therefore, the same elements are designated by the same numbers. The light emitted from the array light sources 1 and 2 is focused on the detector array 7 as shown in FIG. 7a. FIG. 7a shows the relationship between the input data and the input surface when the optical arithmetic device of this embodiment is made to correspond to the diagram showing the principle of the optical arithmetic method in FIG. The data 120 on the input surface 103 is on the right in the figure, its inverted data 121 is on the left, and the data 122 on the input surface 104 is on the right.
is focused on the top, and its inverted data 123 is focused on the bottom.
At this time, if the four mask patterns, that is, the first pattern 124, second pattern 125, third pattern 126, and fourth pattern 127 are set as shown in FIG. 7b, the implementation of FIG. You can perform logical operations similar to the example. [Effects of the Invention] As detailed above, logical operations can be executed in parallel and at high speed by using the optical operation method and optical operation device of the present invention.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 and 2 are perspective views showing embodiments of the optical arithmetic device of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the relationship between input data and an input surface, and FIG. 4 is the principle of the optical arithmetic method. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the output pattern, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the mask pattern, and FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the output and mask pattern of the embodiment of FIG. 2. . 1, 2... Array light source, 3, 4... Lens array, 5, 105... Half mirror, 6... Spatial light modulator, 7... Detector array, 8, 9...
Drive device, 10...Control device, 11...A/D
Converter, 21, 22...Wrench cutler plate, 1
01...Input data, 102, 103, 104...
...Input surface, 106...Mask, 107...Output surface, 108, 120...Data of input surface 103,
109, 121...inverted data of input surface 103,
110, 122...Data on input surface 104, 11
1,123...Inverted data of input surface 104, 11
2,124...first pattern, 113,125
...Second pattern, 114,126...Third pattern, 115,127...Fourth pattern.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Forming a plurality of input signals and a signal obtained by inverting the plurality of input signals, and a first light source emitting light according to the input signal and emitting light according to the inverted signal. A plurality of second light sources are arranged in pairs to constitute a first light emitting surface and a second light emitting surface having the same structure as the first light emitting surface, and a light emitting pattern from the first light emitting surface and a second light emitting surface are formed. The light emitting pattern from the surface is arranged so that the light emitted from the first light source and the second light source on the first light emitting surface overlaps with the light emitted from the first light source and the second light source on the second light emitting surface, respectively. superposition, the first light that is the combination of the first light source on the first light emitting surface and the light from the first light source on the second light emitting surface;
The second light is a combination of the light from the first light source on the surface and the light from the second light emitting surface, and the light from the second light source on the first light emitting surface and the first light source on the second light emitting surface. The transmittance of the third light that is multiplexed with the second light source on the first light emitting surface and the fourth light that is multiplexed with the light from the second light source on the second light emitting surface is 0 and 1. /2 or 1 to change the intensity of the first, second, third, and fourth lights, and combine the first, second, third, and fourth lights after changing the light intensity. An optical calculation method characterized in that the intensity of the output pattern obtained is at least photoelectrically converted to binarize the signal, and logical operations on the plurality of input signals are executed spatially in parallel. 2. A first light source and a second light source that emit light according to an input signal and a signal obtained by inverting this input signal, respectively.
a first array light source and a second array light source in which a plurality of light sources are arranged in pairs, and a combining means for combining light emitted from the first array light source and the second array light source. , a light modulation means for changing the transmittance of the combined light, a light observation means for observing the intensity of the pattern after passing through the light modulation means, and a binary signal for the signal obtained by the light observation means. 1. An optical arithmetic device comprising: digital conversion means for converting into digital data.