Dual-mode camera
First Claim
1. A camera, comprising:
- a single lens system adapted to direct a beam;
a mirror adapted to receive and distribute the directed beam;
a first image sensor adapted to receive a portion of the distributed beam;
a second image sensor adapted to receive a portion of the distributed beam;
a first iris adapted to limit an amount of the directed beam;
an image intensifier adapted to intensify the limited amount of the directed beam;
a second iris adapted to limit an amount of the intensified directed beam reaching at least one of the sensors;
at least one first module adapted to sample an output from at least one of the sensors;
at least one second module adapted to filter the sampled output;
at least one third module adapted to provide a time constant to the filtered output;
at least one iris driver adapted to;
receive the output from the at least one third module; and
drive the at least one iris actuator and the at least one iris thereby limiting the output if the output increases to a certain level.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A dual camera system uses a single lens and no moving parts in the optical path. A single lens directs a desired scene to a partially reflective beamsplitting mirror, thence to a pair of image sensors. For day/night operation, one sensor may be optimized for nighttime sensitivity, while the other is optimized for daytime operation. Alternatively, one optical path may have greater magnification, thus allowing electronic zooming with no resolution loss. The system may be enhanced with an image intensifier for nighttime operation; digital sensors for improved resolution, or orthogonal gyroscopic accelerometers for image stabilization. Additionally, the monochrome and color images may be produced simultaneously and ‘fused’ algorithmically, yielding an improvement in sensitivity and color resolution compared with a conventional color camera.
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Citations
9 Claims
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1. A camera, comprising:
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a single lens system adapted to direct a beam;
a mirror adapted to receive and distribute the directed beam;
a first image sensor adapted to receive a portion of the distributed beam;
a second image sensor adapted to receive a portion of the distributed beam;
a first iris adapted to limit an amount of the directed beam;
an image intensifier adapted to intensify the limited amount of the directed beam;
a second iris adapted to limit an amount of the intensified directed beam reaching at least one of the sensors;
at least one first module adapted to sample an output from at least one of the sensors;
at least one second module adapted to filter the sampled output;
at least one third module adapted to provide a time constant to the filtered output;
at least one iris driver adapted to;
receive the output from the at least one third module; and
drive the at least one iris actuator and the at least one iris thereby limiting the output if the output increases to a certain level.
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2. A system, comprising:
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a plurality of cameras sharing a single optical path, the cameras each comprising;
a single lens system adapted to direct a beam;
beam;
a plurality of sensors adapted to receive a portion of the distributed beam; and
a switch adapted to select an output from at least one of the sensors; and
a multiplexer, operably coupled to the cameras, adapted to select at least one of the cameras.
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3. A camera, comprising:
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a single lens system adapted to direct a beam;
a beam-splitting mirror adapted to receive and distribute the directed beam;
a first digital image sensor adapted to receive a portion of the distributed beam;
a second digital image sensor adapted to receive a portion of the distributed beam; and
control a scanning of the digital image sensors;
receive the scanned portions of the distributed beam; and
produce an output based on the received portions.
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4. A camera, comprising:
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a single lens system adapted to direct a beam;
a beam-splitting mirror adapted to receive and distribute the directed beam;
a first digital image sensor adapted to receive a portion of the distributed beam;
a second digital image sensor adapted to receive a portion of the distributed beam;
a processor adapted to control a scanning of the digital image sensors, and produce an output based on the scanning;
accelerations;
the processor further adapted to twice integrate the angular accelerations to derive an instantaneous angular position of the camera; and
the processor further adapted to temporally offset the scanning, thereby stabilizing the output based on the instantaneous angular position.
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5. A camera, comprising:
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a single lens system adapted to direct a beam;
a beam-splitting mirror adapted to receive and distribute the directed beam;
a first digital image sensor adapted to receive a portion of the distributed beam;
a second digital image sensor adapted to receive a portion of the distributed beam;
a processor adapted to control a scanning of the digital image sensors, and produce an output based on the scanning;
accelerations;
the processor further adapted to twice integrate the angular accelerations to derive an instantaneous angular position of the camera; and
the processor further adapted to variably offset read addresses driven to the digital image sensors, thereby stabilizing the output based on the instantaneous angular position.
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6. A camera, comprising:
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a single lens system adapted to direct a beam;
a beam-splitting mirror adapted to receive and distribute the directed beam;
a first digital image sensor adapted to receive a portion of the distributed beam;
a second digital image sensor adapted to receive a portion of the distributed beam; and
a processor adapted to;
occur in at least one of a following order;
reverse-pixel; and
reverse-line; and
produce an output based on the scanning.
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7. A camera, comprising:
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a single lens system adapted to direct a beam;
a mirror adapted to receive and distribute the directed beam;
a color image sensor, providing chrominance information, adapted to receive a portion of the distributed beam;
a monochrome image sensor, providing luminance information, adapted to receive a portion of the distributed beam;
a processor adapted to;
control a scanning of the image sensors; and
produce an output based on the scanning, wherein a resolution of the output of the color image sensor is increased based on the filter.
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8. A camera, comprising:
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a single lens system adapted to direct a beam;
a mirror adapted to receive and distribute the directed beam;
a color image sensor, providing chrominance information, adapted to receive a portion of the distributed beam;
a monochrome image sensor, providing luminance information, adapted to receive a portion of the distributed beam; and
control a scanning of the chrominance information and the luminance information;
scale the chrominance information and the luminance information; and
merge the chrominance information and the luminance information.
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9. A camera, comprising:
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a single primary lens system adapted to direct a beam;
a beam-splitting mirror adapted to receive and distribute the directed beam;
a first image sensor adapted to receive a portion of the distributed beam;
a second image sensor adapted to receive a portion of the distributed beam;
a first iris associated with the single primary lens, whereby said first iris is adapted to limit an amount of the directed beam;
image sensor, whereby said image intensifier is adapted to intensify the limited amount of the directed beam; and
a second iris associated with the image intensifier, whereby said second iris is adapted to limit an amount of the intensified directed beam reaching the first image sensor;
a processor adapted to control a scanning of the image sensors, and produce an output based on the scanning;
a first actuator;
a second actuator;
wherein incident light reaching the first image sensor is controlled by the second iris, as driven by the second actuator, under control of the processor, thereby preventing the first image sensor from saturation or overload; and
under control of the processor, thereby protecting the intensifier from excessive illumination.
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Specification