UNM prof receives patent on fuzzy logic video printer

17 Jun 2002

Dr. Mohammad Jamshidi, University of New Mexico professor of electrical and computer engineering and director of the NASA Center for Autonomous Control Engineering at UNM, and his student Ali Asgharzdeh, a Ph.D. candidate, were recently awarded a U.S. patent for their "Fuzzy Logic Controlled Video Printer," which uses a fuzzy logic controller embedded with commands to automatically regulate brightness, sharpness, color and other variables that impact a picture's quality. The patent is only the 16th that has been issued on fuzzy logic technology in the United States to non-Japanese inventors.

Jamshidi's fuzzy logic controller will allow the printer to make prints as good as possible the first time with few, if any, adjustments by the operator. Fuzzy logic control systems are based on a series of "if-then rules" to make corrections or regulate outcomes in electronic devices. In the case of the fuzzy logic printer, a fuzzy logic controller tells the printer that if brightness is dark, then increase it to medium bright. Similar rules are set up for color, hue and saturation.

The idea of applying fuzzy logic to film developing was born three years ago when Jamshidi conducted a short course on the general topic in Boston hosted in part by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Among those attending were five engineers from the Polaroid Corporation, who became intrigued with the idea of using fuzzy logic in their business. Polaroid gave UNM $50,000, along with film, a video printer and computers, to research the area and conduct a feasibility study. Jamshidi and his colleagues used the grant to develop a prototype fuzzy logic controller which they installed in a video printer. Recently they conducted an experiment in which they printed five sets of the same picture on Polaroid film.