Infrared camera systems and methods using environmental information

• US 8,077,995 B1
• Filed: 02/22/2008
• Issued: 12/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/23/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Magna Electronics Sweden AB (SSW Partners LP)
• Original Assignee: Autoliv Development AB (Autoliv Incorporated), FLIR Systems, Inc. (Teledyne Technologies Incorporated)
• Inventors: Terre, Bill, Kostrzewa, Joseph, Källhammer, Jan-Erik, Höglund, Tobias
• Primary Examiner(s): PATEL, KANJIBHAI B
• Application Number:
  US12/035,594
• Time in Patent Office: 1,390 Days
• Field of Search: 382/104, 382/115, 382/254, 382275-276, 382/280, 382/312, 396/275, 250/330, 250/332, 250/339.03, 250/339.1, 348/148, 348/164, 701/42, 701/65, 701/117
• US Class Current: 382/254
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10048 Infrared image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30252 Vehicle exterior; Vicinity of vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/009 Global, i.e. based on properties of the image as a whole applied in cameras using an electronic image sensor H04N23/80, H04N23/70
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/40 using histogram techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/92 based on global image properties
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/20 for generating image signals from infrared radiation only
• 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

Systems and methods provide infrared camera techniques that may improve image quality or infrared camera performance over a range of varying conditions. For example, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a system is disclosed that transforms data provided by an infrared camera based upon environmental conditions at the time the data was obtained. As an example, the image quality provided by the infrared camera may be improved over a range of environmental conditions by the proper transformation of the data based upon the data and/or sensor information.

Claims

1. An infrared camera system comprising:

an infrared camera adapted to provide infrared image data; and

a controller adapted to process the infrared image data to determine environmental information and, based on the environmental information, to select a transformation from a plurality of transformations to apply to the infrared image data to convert the infrared image data to a lower resolution image and modify an image quality of the infrared image data.

2. The infrared camera system of claim 1, further comprising at least one sensor adapted to provide additional environmental information, and wherein the controller selects the transformation based on the environmental information determined from the infrared image data and based on the additional environmental information from the at least one sensor.

3. The infrared camera system of claim 2, wherein the infrared camera system is incorporated into a vehicle, and wherein the at least one sensor further provides environmental information as to an environment type.

4. The infrared camera system of claim 2, wherein the controller is further adapted to select a different transformation from the plurality of transformations based on changes to the environmental information provided by the at least one sensor and/or determined by the processing of the infrared image data.

5. The infrared camera system of claim 2, wherein the environmental information and the additional environmental information comprise at least one of a temperature, a light level, a humidity level, a type of environment, and a specific weather indication.

6. The infrared camera system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of transformations comprise at least one of a linear, a Rayleigh, a Sigmoid, a piece-wise linear, a Gaussian, and an inverse Sigmoid.

7. The infrared camera system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of transformations comprise at least one of a histogram specification, a histogram projection, a histogram regression, and a histogram equalization.

8. The infrared camera system of claim 1, further comprising a display adapted to show images based on the infrared image data, and wherein the controller is further adapted to select a display palette for the display based on at least one of the transformations selected and the environmental information.

9. The infrared camera system of claim 8, wherein the controller is further adapted to adjust at least one of a brightness, a contrast, and a gamma setting of the display based on at least one of the transformations selected and the environmental information.

10. The infrared camera system of claim 1, wherein interpolation is performed when switching from a first transformation to a second transformation from the plurality of transformations.

11. The infrared camera system of claim 10, wherein the infrared camera comprises a far infrared camera.

12. An infrared camera system comprising:

an infrared camera adapted to provide infrared image data;

means for processing the infrared image data to determine environmental conditions associated with the infrared image data, wherein the processing means further applies a first transformation to the infrared image data based on the information on the environmental conditions to modify an image quality of the infrared image data and convert the image data to a lower resolution image; and

means for displaying the infrared image data.

13. The infrared camera system of claim 12, further comprising means for providing information on the environmental conditions associated with the infrared image data to the processing means.

14. The infrared camera system of claim 13, wherein the information providing means comprises a wireless interface for receiving the information from at least one of a satellite, a radio broadcast, a cellular transmission, and a road side beacon, and wherein the information is used to determine an environment type.

15. The infrared camera system of claim 13, wherein the processing means selects from among a number of possible transformations to provide as the first transformation based on the information on the environmental conditions, and wherein the processing means further selects a different transformation to apply to the infrared image data based on changes to the information on the environmental conditions.

16. The infrared camera system of claim 12, further comprising means for adjusting at least one of a brightness, a contrast, a display palette, and a gamma setting of the displaying means based on the environmental conditions.

17. The infrared camera system of claim 12, wherein the environmental conditions comprises at least one of a temperature, a light level, a humidity level, and a specific weather condition, wherein the infrared camera system is incorporated into a vehicle, and wherein the processing means is further adapted to apply a high-pass filter to the infrared image data based on at least one of the information on the environmental conditions and a movement of the vehicle.

18. The infrared camera system of claim 12, wherein the processing means is further adapted to interpolate between the first transformation and a second transformation selected from a plurality of transformations to apply to the image data.

19. A method of transforming infrared camera data based on environmental conditions, the method comprising:

processing the infrared camera data to obtain information on the environmental conditions;

determining a first transformation to apply to the infrared camera data based on the environmental conditions; and

applying the first transformation to the infrared camera data to convert the infrared camera data to a lower resolution image and to improve an image appearance of the infrared camera data.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising receiving information based on the environmental conditions, and wherein the determining of the first transformation includes selecting the first transformation based on the environmental conditions from among a number of available transformations.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

determining an environment type for the environmental conditions based on the information received; and

applying high-pass filtering to the infrared camera data based on the environmental conditions.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the first transformation comprises at least one of a histogram specification, a histogram projection, a histogram regression, and a histogram equalization.

23. The method of claim 19, further comprising displaying the infrared camera data after the applying of the first transformation.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising adjusting at least one of a brightness setting, a contrast setting, a display palette, and a gamma setting for the infrared camera data being displayed based on the environmental conditions.

25. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

determining a second transformation to apply to the infrared camera data when the environmental conditions change;

applying the second transformation to the infrared camera data; and

interpolating from the first to the second transformation when the applying of the second transformation is performed.