Two sensor quantitative low-light color camera
First Claim
1. A quantitative color image acquisition system, comprising:
- (a) a monochrome image sensor optically coupled to receive a first sub-beam having a first light intensity value, said monochrome image sensor producing a first plurality of monochrome image pixels representative of an imaged object;
(b) a color image sensor optically coupled to receive a second sub-beam having a second light intensity value, said color image sensor producing a second plurality of color image pixels representative of said imaged object;
wherein;
(i) said monochrome image sensor has a higher sensitivity than said color image sensor; and
, (ii) said first light intensity value is greater than said second light intensity value.
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Abstract
A high sensitivity monochrome image sensor optically coupled to receive a first sub-beam having a first light intensity produces a plurality of monochrome image pixels representative of an imaged object. A color image sensor optically coupled to receive a second sub-beam having a second light intensity produces a plurality of color image pixels representative of the imaged object. The monochrome sensor has a higher sensitivity than the color sensor. The first light intensity exceeds the second light intensity (i.e., the ratio of the first sub-beam'"'"'s light intensity to that of the second sub-beam is between about 70:30 and 80:20). Separate control circuits are provided for each sensor, allowing each sensor to be operated selectably independently of the other.
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Citations
13 Claims
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1. A quantitative color image acquisition system, comprising:
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(a) a monochrome image sensor optically coupled to receive a first sub-beam having a first light intensity value, said monochrome image sensor producing a first plurality of monochrome image pixels representative of an imaged object;
(b) a color image sensor optically coupled to receive a second sub-beam having a second light intensity value, said color image sensor producing a second plurality of color image pixels representative of said imaged object;
wherein;
(i) said monochrome image sensor has a higher sensitivity than said color image sensor; and
,(ii) said first light intensity value is greater than said second light intensity value. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A quantitative color imaging method, comprising:
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(a) providing a first light sub-beam representative of an imaged object, said first light sub-beam having a first light intensity value;
(b) providing a second light sub-beam representative of an imaged object, said second light sub-beam having a second light intensity value less than said first light intensity value;
(c) processing said first light sub-beam at a first sensitivity to produce a first plurality of monochrome image pixels representative of said imaged object; and
,(d) processing said second light sub-beam at a second sensitivity lower than said first sensitivity to produce a second plurality of color image pixels representative of said imaged object. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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Specification