System for compensating for chip-to-chip gap widths in a multi-chip photosensitive scanning array

The present invention relates generally to an imaging apparatus in which a plurality of photosensitive chips are mounted on a substrate. In particular, the present invention relates to a signal processing method which addresses uneven chip-to-chip gaps in such an apparatus. In a photosensitive scanning apparatus, in which a plurality of chips are aligned to form a single linear array of photosensors, gaps of unknown width between photosensors on adjacent chips may have an effect on resulting image quality. A set of simple strategies can be used to overcome the problem. In a first strategy, for each chip, interpolation of output values of the photosensors is used to in effect displace the outputs of the photosensors by a predetermined amount toward a gap; within constraints, the predetermined displacement can be used without actual measurement of any gap width. In a second strategy, an interpolated output of a theoretical "phantom photosensor" disposed toward the gap is added to the output stream from each chip.