Methods and systems for detecting concealed objects

• US 20070122038A1
• Filed: 12/20/2005
• Published: 05/31/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Iscon Imaging, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Iscon Video Imaging, Inc.
• Inventors: Doubinina, Galina, Gorian, Izrail
• Granted Patent: US 7,657,092 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/195
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 2005/0077 Imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 8/00 Prospecting or detecting by optical means
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 8/005 operating with millimetre waves, e.g. measuring the black losey radiation
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 9/005 by thermal methods, e.g. after generation of heat by chemical reactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/52 Surveillance or monitoring of activities, e.g. for recognising suspicious objects recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 2201/05 Recognition of patterns representing particular kinds of hidden objects, e.g. weapons, explosives, drugs

Abstract

Methods and systems for detecting the presence of concealed objects.

Claims

1. A system for detecting a presence of concealed objects, the system comprising:

at least one temperature modifying component capable of modifying a temperature distribution of an emitting body; and

at least one image acquisition device capable of receiving electromagnetic radiation from the emitting body and of acquiring at least one image of the emitting body from the received electromagnetic radiation;

the received electromagnetic radiation from the emitting body, the emitting body having a modified temperature distribution, enabling detection of the presence of concealed objects.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a display receiving at least one output image from said at least one image acquisition device.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein said at least one temperature modifying component comprises a component capable of heating the emitting body.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein said at least one temperature modifying component comprises a component capable of cooling the emitting body.

5. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

an analysis component capable of identifying at least one region in said at least one image, said analysis component being capable of receiving said at least one image from said at least one image acquisition device.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein said analysis component is also capable of enhancing an image attribute in said at least one region.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein said image attribute is a contrast.

8. The system of claim 6 wherein said image attribute is a color.

9. The system of claim 5 wherein said analysis component comprises:

a pre-processing component capable of enhancing detectability of said at least one region in said at least one image;

said pre-processing component being capable of receiving said at least one image from said at least one image acquisition device.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein said analysis component further comprises:

a region detecting component capable of identifying said at least one regions in said at least one image and of receiving said at least one image from said pre-processing component; and

a region analysis component capable of determining characteristics of said at least one region.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein said characteristics include moment invariants.

12. The system of claim 9 wherein said preprocessing component comprises a noise reduction component capable of increasing a signal to noise ratio in said at least one image.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein said noise reduction component is an adaptive noise reduction component.

14. The system of claim 12 wherein said noise reduction component is a wavelet based noise reduction component.

15. The system of claim 12 wherein said preprocessing component further comprises a contrast enhancing component capable of enhancing contrast in said at least one image.

16. The system of claim 9 wherein said preprocessing component comprises a contrast enhancing component capable of enhancing contrast in said at least one image.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein said contrast enhancing component comprises a histogram equalization component.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein said contrast enhancing component further comprises an adaptive thresholding component capable of binarizing an output of said histogram equalization component.

19. The system of claim 5 further comprising an optimization component;

said analysis component being an adaptive analysis component; and

said optimization component being capable of enabling substantially optimal adaptation of said adaptive analysis component.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein said optimization component comprises a neural network.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein said optimization component further comprises a database.

49. The system of claim 1 wherein at least some of said received electromagnetic radiation is in the range of about 0.75 μ

to about 1000 μ

.

50. The system of claim 1 wherein said at least one temperature modifying component comprises a forced flow component capable of inducing flow of a gas directed at the emitting body.

51. The system of claim 50 wherein said at least one temperature modifying component further comprises a component capable of heating the emitting body.

53. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a platform on which the emitting body is located; and

a motion component operatively connected to said platform and capable of causing rotation of said platform.

22. A method for detecting a presence of concealed objects, the method comprising the steps of:

modifying a temperature distribution of an emitting body;

acquiring at least one image from electromagnetic radiation emanating from the emitting body after the temperature distribution has been modified; and

providing the at least one image for detection of the presence of concealed objects.

23. The method of claim 22 further comprising the step of:

enhancing detectability of at least one region in the at least one acquired image before providing the at least one image for detection of the presence of concealed objects.

24. The method of claim 23 further comprising the steps of:

identifying the at least one region in the at least one image; and

determining characteristics of the at least one region.

25. The method of claim 24 further comprising the step of enhancing an image attribute in the at least one region;

and

wherein the step of providing the at least one image comprises the step of displaying the at least one image.

26. The method of claim 24 wherein at least one step from the steps of enhancing detectability of at least one region, identifying the at least one region or determining characteristics of the at least one region is performed adaptively;

and the method further comprises the step of enabling substantially optimal performance of the at least one adaptive step.

27. The method of claim 23 wherein the step of enhancing detectability of the at least one region comprises the step of increasing a signal to noise ratio in the at least one image.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein the step of enhancing detectability of the at least one region further comprises the step of enhancing contrast in the at least one image.

43. The method of claim 22 wherein the step of modifying the temperature distribution of the emitting body comprises the step of:

inducing flow of a gas directed at the emitting body.

29. A system for detecting a presence of concealed objects, the system comprising:

at least one temperature modifying component capable of modifying a temperature distribution of an emitting body;

at least one image acquisition device capable of receiving electromagnetic radiation from the emitting body and of acquiring at least one image of the emitting body from the received electromagnetic radiation;

at least one processor; and

at least one computer usable medium having computer readable code embodied therein, the computer readable code being capable of causing said at least one processor to;

receive said at least one image from said at least one image acquisition device;

enhance detectability of at least one region in said at least one image; and

provide said at least one image with enhanced detectability to a detection component.

30. The system of claim 29 further comprising a display;

and

wherein said detection component comprises said display.

31. The system of claim 29 wherein said computer readable code is also capable of causing said at least one processor to:

identify said at least one region in said at least one image; and

determine characteristics of said at least one region.

32. The system of claim 29 wherein said computer readable code in causing said at least one processor to enhance detectability is also capable of causing said at least one processor to:

increase a signal to noise ratio in said at least one image.

33. The system of claim 32 wherein said computer readable code is in causing said at least one processor to increase a signal to noise ratio is also capable of causing said at least one processor to:

utilize wavelet based noise reduction methods.

34. The system of claim 29 wherein said computer readable code is in causing said at least one processor to enhance detectability is also capable of causing said at least one processor to:

enhance contrast in said at least one image.

35. The system of claim 34 wherein said computer readable code in causing said at least one processor to enhance contrast in said at least one image is capable of causing said at least one processor to:

apply histogram equalization to said at least one image.

36. The system of claim 35 wherein said computer readable code is in causing said at least one processor to enhance detectability is also capable of causing said at least one processor to:

binarize, using adaptive thresholding, said at least one image after applying histogram equalization.

37. The system of claim 29 wherein said computer readable code is also capable of causing said at least one processor to:

identify said at least one region in said at least one image; and

determine characteristics of said at least one region;

and wherein, in causing said at least one processor to perform at least one of operation from a group of operations consisting of enhancing detectability of at least one region, identifying said at least one region and determining characteristics of said at least one region, said at least one processor is caused to apply adaptive techniques.

38. The system of claim 37 wherein said computer readable code is also capable of causing said at least one processor to:

enable substantially optimal performance of said at least one of operation from the group of operations consisting of enhancing detectability of at least one region, identifying said at least one region and determining characteristics of said at least one region.

39. The system of claim 38 wherein, in enabling substantially optimal performance, said computer readable code is capable of causing said at least one processor to:

apply neural network techniques.

40. The system of claim 38 further comprising:

another computer usable medium for storing data for access by said computer readable code, said another computer usable medium comprising;

a data structure stored in said another computer usable medium, said data structure including information resident in a database used by said computer readable code in enabling substantially optimal performance.

41. The system of claim 29 wherein said computer readable code is also capable of causing said at least one processor to:

identify said at least one region in said at least one image;

determine characteristics of said at least one region; and

detect a presence of objects concealed in the emitting body utilizing said at least one image, said at least one region, and said characteristics.

42. The system of claim 41 further comprising:

another computer usable medium for storing data for access by said computer readable code, said another computer usable medium comprising;

a data structure stored in said another computer usable medium, said data structure including information resident in a database used by said computer readable code in detecting the presence of objects.

44. The system of claim 29 wherein at least some of said received electromagnetic radiation is in the range of about 0.75 μ

to about 1 mm.

45. The system of claim 29 further comprising:

a platform on which the emitting body is located; and

a motion component operatively connected to said platform and capable of causing rotation of said platform.

46. The system of claim 29 wherein said at least one temperature modifying component comprises a forced flow component capable of inducing flow of a gas directed at the emitting body.

47. The system of claim 46 wherein said at least one temperature modifying component further comprises a component capable of heating the emitting body.

48. The system of claim 46 wherein said at least one temperature modifying component further comprises a component capable of cooling the emitting body.

52. The system of claim 52 wherein said at least one temperature modifying component further comprises a component capable of cooling the emitting body.