Kimihiro NISHIO^*, Kenji MATSUZAKA^1†, and Hiroo YONEZU²

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Yonago National College of Technology, 4448 Hikona-cho, Yonago, Tottori 683-8502, Japan
¹Department of Production System Engineering, Yonago National College of Technology, 4448 Hikona-cho, Yonago, Tottori 683-8502, Japan
²Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Toyohashi University of Technology, 1-1 Hibarigaoka, Tempaku-cho, Toyohashi, Aichi 441-8580, Japan

(Received December 6, 2006; Accepted May 21, 2007)

We proposed in this study a novel analog complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) circuit for generating a motion signal when an object moves, which is a simple structure. The proposed unit circuit was constructed using a previously proposed edge detection circuit and a novel proposed circuit for generating a motion signal which accepts an edge signal. The part for generating the motion signal was constructed using six metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) transistors and one capacitor. Results obtained by the simulation program with integrated circuit emphasis (SPICE) and the measured results of a test circuit constructed with discrete MOS transistors and the test circuit fabricated with a 1.2 μm CMOS process showed that the proposed unit circuit can output pulsed current (motion signal) when an object moves on the circuit. It was clarified from the SPICE results that the two-dimensional network constructed with proposed unit circuits can output motion signals. The size of the novel unit circuit is expected to be about 110× 110 μm² obtained by the 1.2 μm CMOS process. It is possible to arrange 90× 90 unit circuits on a chip which has an area of 1× 1 cm². The aperture ratio is expected to be about 21%, which is twice as large as that of the previously proposed circuit. An integrated circuit for image processing in real time can thus be realized by applying the two-dimensional network constructed with the proposed circuits.

Key words: vision chip, edge detection, motion detection, analog integrated circuit

^*E-mail address: nishio@yonago-k.ac.jp
^†Present address: Graduate School of Life Science and Systems Engineering, Kyushu Institute of Technology, 2-4 Hibikino, Wakamatsu-ku, Kitakyushu 808-0196, Japan.