THERMAL IMAGING CAMERA WITH RANGE DETECTION

• US 20130050453A1
• Filed: 08/24/2011
• Published: 02/28/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/24/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fluke Corporation (Fortive Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Fluke Corporation (Fortive Corp.)
• Inventors: Bergstrom, Peter A., McManus, Thomas J., Johnson, Kirk R., Schmidt, Roger
• Granted Patent: US 9,204,062 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/61
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 2005/0077 Imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 5/025 Interfacing a pyrometer to an external device or network; User interface
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 5/0265 Handheld, portable ear thermometers G01J5/049
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 5/0275 Control or determination of height or distance or angle information for sensors or receivers
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 5/0859 Sighting arrangements, e.g. cameras
• 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 5/272 Means for inserting a foreground image in a background image, i.e. inlay, outlay

Abstract

A thermal imaging camera may be used to capture a visible-light (VL) image and an infrared (IR) image. In some examples, the camera includes a range imaging camera module that captures the VL and an infrared camera module that captures the IR image. In such examples, the VL image may include a plurality of different portions that each correspond to a different portion of the scene and distance-to-target data associated with each of the different portions of the scene. The camera may align each of the plurality of different portions of the VL image based on the distance-to-target data associated with corresponding portions of the scene so as to correct a parallax error between the VL image and the IR image. The camera may then concurrently display the VL image in alignment with the IR image.

Claims

1. A camera comprising:

a range imaging camera module configured to capture a visible-light (VL) image of a scene along a first optical axis, the VL image including a plurality of different portions that each correspond to a different portion of the scene and distance-to-target data associated with each of the different portions of the scene;

an infrared camera module configured to capture an infrared (IR) image of the scene along a second optical axis, the second optical axis being offset from the first optical axis so that the IR image of the scene is from a different point of view than the VL image thereby causing a parallax error;

a display; and

a processor configured to align each of the plurality of different portions of the VL image based on the distance-to-target data associated with corresponding portions of the scene so as to correct the parallax error between the VL image and the IR image, and control the display to concurrently display at least a portion of the VL image in alignment with at least a portion of the IR image.

2. The camera of claim 1, wherein the range imaging camera module comprises a time-of-flight camera system.

3. The camera of claim 2, wherein the time-of-flight camera system comprises a VL lens defining the first optical axis, a VL detector associated with the VL lens, and an optical energy source configured to emit optical energy for determining the distance-to-target data.

4. The camera of claim 1, wherein the range imaging camera module comprises a VL detector that includes a plurality of VL sensor elements, and each of the plurality of different portions of the VL image correspond to a different one of the plurality of VL sensor elements.

5. The camera of claim 4, wherein the distance-to-target data comprises a distance-to-target value associated with each portion of the VL image corresponding to a specific VL sensor element, and the distance-to-target value comprises a value representative of the distance between the range imaging camera module and a point in the scene captured by the specific VL sensor element associated with the distance-to-target value.

6. The camera of claim 4, wherein the processor is configured to align each of the plurality of different portions of the VL image by at least determining a parallax correction value associated with each portion of the VL image corresponding to a specific VL sensor element.

7. The camera of claim 6, wherein the processor is configured to determine the parallax correction value based upon at least one of an equation or a look-up table associating different distance-to-target values with different parallax correction values.

8. The camera of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to align each of the plurality of different portions of the VL image by adjusting position coordinates associated each of the plurality of different portions of the VL image.

9. The camera of claim 1, wherein IR camera module comprises an IR lens defining the second optical axis, and an IR detector associated with the IR lens.

10. The camera of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to control the display to concurrently display at least one of the VL image and the IR image surrounded by the other of the images so as to effect a picture-in-picture display of the scene.

11. A method comprising:

receiving visible-light (VL) image data representative of a VL image of a scene captured via a range imaging camera module along a first optical axis, the VL image including a plurality of different portions that each correspond to a different portion of the scene and distance-to-target data associated with each of the different portions of the scene;

receiving infrared (IR) image data representative of an IR image of the scene captured via an IR camera module along a second optical axis, the second optical axis being offset from the first optical axis so that the IR image of the scene is from a different point of view than the VL image thereby causing a parallax error;

aligning each of the plurality of different portions of the VL image based on the distance-to-target data associated with corresponding portions of the scene so as to correct the parallax error between the VL image and the IR image; and

concurrently displaying at least a portion of the VL image in alignment with at least a portion of the IR image.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the range imaging camera module comprises a time-of-flight camera system.

13. The method claim 11, wherein receiving VL image data comprises receiving VL image data from a plurality of VL sensor elements, each of the plurality of VL sensor elements corresponding to a different one of the plurality of VL image portions.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the distance-to-target data comprises a distance-to-target value associated with each portion of the VL image corresponding to a specific VL sensor element, and the distance-to-target value comprises a value representative of the distance between the range imaging camera module and a point in the scene captured by the specific VL sensor element associated with the distance-to-target value.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein aligning each of the plurality of different portions of the VL image comprises determining a parallax correction value associated with each portion of the VL image corresponding to a specific VL sensor element.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein determining the parallax correction value comprises references at least one of an equation or a look-up table associating different distance-to-target values with different parallax correction values.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the IR camera module comprises an IR lens defining the second optical axis, and an IR detector associated with the IR lens.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein concurrently displaying at least a portion of the VL image in alignment with at least a portion of the IR image comprises concurrently displaying at least one of the VL image and the IR image surrounded by the other of the images to effect a picture-in-picture display of the scene.

19. A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that cause a programmable processor to:

receive visible-light (VL) image data representative of a VL image of a scene captured via a range imaging camera module along a first optical axis, the VL image including a plurality of different portions that each correspond to a different portion of the scene and distance-to-target data associated with each of the different portions of the scene;

receive infrared (IR) image data representative of an IR image of the scene captured via an IR camera module along a second optical axis, the second optical axis being offset from the first optical axis so that the IR image of the scene is from a different point of view than the VL image thereby causing a parallax error;

align each of the plurality of different portions of the VL image based on the distance-to-target data associated with corresponding portions of the scene so as to correct the parallax error between the VL image and the IR image; and

control a display to concurrently display at least a portion of the VL image in alignment with at least a portion of the IR image.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the instructions that cause the programmable processor to receive visible-light (VL) image data comprise instructions that cause the programmable processor to VL image data from a plurality of VL sensor elements, each of the plurality of VL sensor elements corresponding to a different one of the plurality of VL image portions.

21. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein the distance-to-target data comprises a distance-to-target value associated with each portion of the VL image corresponding to a specific VL sensor element, and the distance-to-target value comprises a value representative of the distance between the range imaging camera module and a point in the scene captured by the specific VL sensor element associated with the distance-to-target value.

22. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein the instructions that cause the programmable processor to align each of the plurality of different portions of the VL image comprise instructions that cause the programmable processor to determine a parallax correction value associated with each portion of the VL image corresponding to a specific VL sensor element.

23. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the instructions that cause the programmable processor to determine a parallax correction value comprise instructions that cause the programmable processor to reference at least one of an equation or a look-up table associating different distance-to-target values with different parallax correction values.

24. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the instructions that cause the programmable processor to control the display comprise instructions that cause the programmable processor to control the display to concurrently display at least one of the VL image and the IR image surrounded by the other of the images to effect a picture-in-picture display of the scene.