THERMAL IMAGING SYSTEM CAPABLE OF TRACING SPECIFIC PORTION IN THERMAL IMAGE AND METHOD OF TRACING SPECIFIC PORTION USING THE SAME

• US 20140204217A1
• Filed: 03/22/2012
• Published: 07/24/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: The Industry & Academic Cooperation In Chungnam National University
• Original Assignee: The Industry & Academic Cooperation In Chungnam National University
• Inventors: Sohn, Jin-Hun, Eom, Jin-Sup
• Application Number:
  US13/883,715
• Publication Number:
  US 20140204217A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/164
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 1/0242 Control or determination of height or angle information of sensors or receivers; Goniophotometry
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 5/0859 Sighting arrangements, e.g. cameras
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 5/48 Thermography; Techniques using wholly visual means
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10048 Infrared image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30201 Face
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/33 using feature-based methods

Abstract

The present invention relates to a thermal imaging system capable of tracing a specific portion in a thermal image and a method of tracing a specific portion using thereof. The thermal imaging system includes a thermal imaging camera; an imaging camera installed to be adjacent to the thermal imaging camera; and a position measurement apparatus installed to be adjacent to the thermal imaging camera in order to measure photographing positions of the thermal imaging camera and the imaging camera. Therefore, a specific portion of the subject that is difficult to recognize in the thermal image with naked eyes is recognized by contrasting the specific portion in the thermal image with a corresponding portion in the normal image, and thus a correct temperature can be extracted by tracing the specific portion in the thermal image in real-time.

Claims

1. A thermal imaging system capable of tracing a specific portion in a thermal image, the system comprising:

a thermal imaging camera 110;

an imaging camera 120 installed to be adjacent to the thermal imaging camera 110; and

a position measurement apparatus 130 installed to be adjacent to the thermal imaging camera 110 in order to measure photographing positions of the thermal imaging camera 110 and the imaging camera 120 with respect to a subject 101.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the imaging camera 120 and the position measurement apparatus 130 are embedded in the thermal imaging camera 110 or installed to be adjacent and fixed to the thermal imaging camera 110.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the position measurement apparatus 130 includes a distance measurement unit for measuring at least either a photographing distance between the subject 101 and the thermal imaging camera 110 or a photographing distance between the subject 101 and the imaging camera 120.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the position measurement apparatus 130 further includes an angle measurement unit for measuring at least either a photographing angle between the subject 101 and the thermal imaging camera 110 or a photographing angle between the subject 101 and the imaging camera 120.

5. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a position correction apparatus 140 for performing a correction so as to overlap a specific portion of a subject 101 in a normal image of the imaging camera 120 with a corresponding portion of a subject 101 in the thermal image of the thermal imaging camera 110 based on a position data acquired by the position measurement apparatus 130.

6. The system according to claim 5, wherein the position correction apparatus 140 corrects at least one position data among a photographing distance and a photographing angle between the subject 101 and the thermal imaging camera 110 and a photographing distance and a photographing angle between the subject 101 and the imaging camera 120.

7. A method of tracing a specific portion using the thermal imaging system according to claim 1, the method comprising:

a first step S10 of photographing a normal image and a thermal image of a subject 101 respectively using the imaging camera 120 and the thermal imaging camera 110;

a second step S20 of searching for a specific portion of the subject 101 in the normal image;

a third step S30 of measuring position data of at least either the thermal imaging camera 110 or the imaging camera 120 with respect to the subject 101;

a fourth step S40 of estimating and searching for a portion in the thermal image corresponding to the specific portion searched from the normal image, and overlapping the normal image with the thermal image through a correction process performed based on the position data so as to match the normal image and the thermal image; and

a fifth step S50 of extracting temperature of an interested portion of the subject 101 in the thermal image overlapped with the normal image.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein in the second step S20, two or more specific portions are searched for so as to overlap and match the subjects 101 in the normal image and the thermal image.

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein the position data measured in the third step S30 is at least either a photographing distance or a photographing angle between the subject and the camera.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein in the fifth step S50, the correction is performed based on at least one position data among the photographing distance and the photographing angle so as to match the subjects 101 in the normal image and the thermal image to each other.

11. The system according to claim 3, wherein the position measurement apparatus 130 further includes an angle measurement unit for measuring at least either a photographing angle between the subject 101 and the thermal imaging camera 110 or a photographing angle between the subject 101 and the imaging camera 120.

12. A method of tracing a specific portion using the thermal imaging system according to 5, the method comprising:

a first step S10 of photographing a normal image and a thermal image of a subject 101 respectively using the imaging camera 120 and the thermal imaging camera 110;

a second step S20 of searching for a specific portion of the subject 101 in the normal image;

a third step S30 of measuring position data of at least either the thermal imaging camera 110 or the imaging camera 120 with respect to the subject 101;

a fourth step S40 of estimating and searching for a portion in the thermal image corresponding to the specific portion searched from the normal image, and overlapping the normal image with the thermal image through a correction process performed based on the position data so as to match the normal image and the thermal image; and

a fifth step S50 of extracting temperature of an interested portion of the subject 101 in the thermal image overlapped with the normal image.