OPTICAL IMAGE SYSTEMS

• US 20110200319A1
• Filed: 05/27/2010
• Published: 08/18/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SRI International, Inc.
• Original Assignee: SRI International, Inc.
• Inventors: Gershtein, Sergey, Kim, Jongjin George, Kravitz, Arnold
• Granted Patent: US 8,326,142 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 396/333
• CPC Class Codes: G03B 17/02 Bodies
• CPC Class Codes: G03B 19/07 having more than one objective
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/11 for generating image signals from visible and infrared light wavelengths
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/45 for generating image signals from two or more image sensors being of different type or operating in different modes, e.g. with a CMOS sensor for moving images in combination with a charge-coupled device [CCD] for still images
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/60 Control of cameras or camera modules
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/951 by using two or more images to influence resolution, frame rate or aspect ratio
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/33 Transforming infrared radiation cameras or camera modules for generating image signals from infrared radiation H04N23/20; circuitry of SSIS for transforming infrared radiation into image signals H04N25/20

Abstract

The present invention is an optical image system having at least a first camera including a first lens and at least a second sensor including a second lens. The system also includes at least one beam splitter for transmitting an incoming beam of electromagnetic radiation of at least a first band of wavelength to a focal plane array of the first camera and reflecting an incoming beam of electromagnetic radiation of at least a second band of wavelength to a focal plane array of the second camera. The first lens is positioned behind the beam splitter for focusing the beam of the first band of wavelength onto an image at the focal plane array of the first camera and the second lens is positioned behind the beam splitter for focusing the beam of the second band of wavelength onto the image at the focal plane array of the second camera.

Claims

1. An optical image system comprising:

a first sensor having a first lens;

a second sensor having a second lens;

at least one beam splitter for transmitting an incoming beam of electromagnetic radiation of at least a first band of wavelength at a focal plane array of the first sensor and reflecting an incoming beam of electromagnetic radiation of at least a second band of wavelength at a focal plane array of the second sensor, wherein said first lens is positioned behind the beam splitter for focusing the beam of at least the first band of wavelength onto an image at the focal plane array of the first sensor and the second lens is positioned behind the beam splitter for focusing the beam of the at least the second band of wavelength onto the image at the focal plane array of the second sensor.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising a wide band window for receiving the incoming beams of electromagnetic radiation of the at least first and the second bands of wavelengths prior to passing the beams to the at least one splitter, wherein said window comprise continuously transparent and transmissive material.

3. The system of claim 2 further comprising a vision processor coupled to the first and the second sensors for controlling the size and the alignment of the image captured by the first and the second lens.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein said vision processor functions to retrieve and combine relevant data of the imagery from the at least first band of wavelength and from the at least second band of wavelength, said relevant data comprising pixels of edges in the image having a high energy in spatial frequency domain.

5. The system of claim 3 further comprising a third sensor having a third lens.

6. The system of claim 5 further comprising a second beam splitter for reflecting an incoming beam of electromagnetic radiation of a third band of wavelength at a focal plane array of the third sensor.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein said third lens is positioned behind the second beam splitter for focusing the beam of the third band of wavelength onto the image at the focal plane array of the third sensor.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein said vision processor is coupled to the third sensor to control the size and the alignment of the imagery captured by the third lens and to retrieve and combine relevant data of the image from the at least third band of wavelength.

9. The system of claim 3 further comprising a fourth sensor having a fourth lens.

10. The system of claim 9 further comprising a third beam splitter for reflecting an incoming beam of electromagnetic radiation of a fourth band of wavelength at a focal plane array of the fourth sensor.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein said fourth lens is positioned behind the third beam splitter for focusing the beam of the fourth band of wavelength onto the image at the focal plane array of the fourth sensor.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein said vision processor is coupled to the fourth sensor to control the size and the alignment of the imagery captured by the fourth lens and to retrieve and combine relevant data of the image from the at least fourth band of wavelength.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein said at least one beam splitter comprise optical coating designed to reflect and transmit the incoming beam based on spectrums of radiation of the beam.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein said beam splitter is a dichroic splitter.

15. The system of claim 1 which is mounted on a stationery platform.

16. The system of claim 1 which is mounted on a moving platform.

17. The system of claim 1 wherein said first and second lens are zoom lenses for magnifying the image.

18. The system of claim 1 wherein said first and second sensors comprise one of a visible, SWIR, MWIR or LWIR camera.

19. A method of providing a fused image comprising the steps of:

transmitting an incoming beam of electromagnetic radiation of at least a first band of wavelength to a focal plane array of at least a first sensor and reflecting an incoming beam of electromagnetic radiation of at least a second band of wavelength to a focal plane array of at least a second sensor;

focusing the beam of at least the first band of wavelength onto an image at the focal plane array of the first sensor; and

focusing the beam of at least the second band of wavelength onto the image at the focal plane array of the second sensor.

20. The method of claim 19 comprising capturing the image and said beams of the at least a first band of wavelength and of the at least second band of wavelength.

21. The method of claim 19 further comprising controlling size and alignment of the image captured by said at least first and the second sensor.

22. The method of claim 19 further comprising retrieving and combining relevant imagery from the at least first band of wavelength and from the at least second band of wavelength, wherein said relevant data comprising pixels of edges in the image having a high energy in spatial frequency domain.

23. The method of claim 19 wherein said fused image is parallax free across depth of field provided via a system on a stationary platform.

24. The method of claim 19 wherein said fused image is parallax free across depth of field provided via a system on a moving platform.

25. The method of claim 19 wherein said first and second beams comprise one of visible, SWIR, MWIR or LWIR.