Omnidirectional monitoring using near-infrared electromagnetic radiation

• US 8,188,430 B2
• Filed: 05/22/2009
• Issued: 05/29/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Electronic Machines Corp.
• Original Assignee: International Electronic Machines Corp.
• Inventors: Mian, Zahid F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Porta, David
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bryant, Casey
• Application Number:
  US12/470,518
• Publication Number:
  US 20090289187A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,103 Days
• Field of Search: 250/330
• US Class Current: 250/330
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/89 for mapping or imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/4814 of transmitters alone
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/4816 of receivers alone
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19628 of wide angled cameras and camera groups, e.g. omni-directional cameras, fish eye, single units having multiple cameras achieving a wide angle view
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/1965 the vehicle being an aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/11 for generating image signals from visible and infrared light wavelengths
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/21 from near infrared [NIR] radiation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/51 Housings
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/18 Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast

Abstract

A monitoring device includes an imaging device sensitive to visible and near-infrared electromagnetic radiation. The monitoring device is configured to concurrently direct omnidirectional visible and near-infrared electromagnetic radiation onto the imaging device without using any moving parts. The monitoring device also can include multiple sources of near-infrared electromagnetic radiation, which can be sequentially operated to illuminate regions of a monitored area to improve the imaged data. The monitoring device can acquire additional data, such as acoustic data or identification data of a target, and can process the acquired data to detect any targets that may be present and evaluate an alarm condition.

Claims

1. A monitoring device comprising:

an imaging device sensitive to visible and near-infrared electromagnetic radiation;

means for concurrently directing omnidirectional visible and near-infrared electromagnetic radiation onto the imaging device without using any moving parts;

a plurality of near-infrared illuminators, wherein each near-infrared illuminator is configured to emit near-infrared electromagnetic radiation in a unique region of the area around the monitoring device; and

a processing component configured to operate the plurality of near-infrared illuminators in synchronization with an imaging frame rate of the imaging device, wherein only a subset of the plurality of near-infrared illuminators emit near-infrared electromagnetic radiation for a frame of image data captured by the imaging device and a unique subset of the plurality of near-infrared illuminators emit near-infrared electromagnetic radiation for two consecutive frames of image data captured by the imaging device.

2. The monitoring device of claim 1, wherein the means for concurrently directing comprises:

a substantially transparent casing covering the imaging device; and

an omnidirectional mirror attached to the casing, wherein the omnidirectional mirror is located in relation to the imaging device to direct the omnidirectional electromagnetic radiation onto the imaging device.

3. The monitoring device of claim 1, further comprising:

a base, wherein the imaging device is attached to the base, wherein the processing component is disposed within the base, and wherein the processing component is further configured to process image data acquired by the imaging device and detect any targets present within an area around the monitoring device.

4. The monitoring device of claim 3, wherein the processing component is further configured to remove distortion from the image data acquired by the imaging device.

5. The monitoring device of claim 3, wherein the processing component is further configured to provide at least one of:

the processed image data or an alert for processing by a monitoring system.

6. The monitoring device of claim 1, wherein the processing component sequentially activates the plurality of near-infrared illuminators and wherein the processing component assembles the image data sequentially captured for each of the plurality of near-infrared illuminators into a full panorama image of the area.

7. The monitoring device of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of acoustic sensors, each acoustic sensor configured to detect sound emanating from a unique region around the monitoring device.

8. The monitoring device of claim 1, further comprising a component configured to acquire an identification of a target object from a wireless identification device associated with the target object.

9. The monitoring device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of near-infrared illuminators includes at least eight near-infrared illuminators, and each of the plurality of near-infrared illuminators emits electromagnetic radiation having a beam angle of substantially equal to sixty degrees.

10. The monitoring device of claim 1, wherein the monitoring device has an average draw of substantially equal to three watts during operation.

11. A method of monitoring an area, the method comprising:

concurrently directing omnidirectional visible and near-infrared electromagnetic radiation onto an imaging device sensitive to the visible and near-infrared electromagnetic radiation without using any moving parts;

emitting near-infrared electromagnetic radiation from at least one of a plurality of near-infrared illuminators, wherein each near-infrared illuminator is configured to emit near-infrared electromagnetic radiation in a unique region of the area around the monitoring device, and wherein at least one of the plurality of near-infrared illuminators is off;

capturing image data for the area concurrently with the emitting using the imaging device, wherein the emitting and capturing are repeated for each of a plurality of unique regions of the area around the monitoring device; and

processing the image data to detect any target objects present within the area using at least one computing device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the processing includes removing distortion from the image data.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the emitting uses one of the plurality of near-infrared illuminators.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the processing includes assembling the image data captured for each of the plurality of capturing into a full panorama image of the area using the at least one computing device.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

detecting sound using a plurality of acoustic sensors; and

processing the detected sound to evaluate a set of attributes of a source of the sound using the at least one computing device.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising evaluating an alert condition using the at least one computing device based on one of:

identification data received from the target object or a failure of the target object to provide identification data.

17. A monitoring system comprising:

a monitoring device, the monitoring device including;

an imaging device sensitive to visible and near-infrared electromagnetic radiation;

means for concurrently directing omnidirectional visible and near-infrared electromagnetic radiation onto the imaging device without using any moving parts; and

a plurality of near-infrared illuminators located around the imaging device, wherein each near-infrared illuminator is configured to emit near-infrared electromagnetic radiation in a unique region of the area around the monitoring device; and

at least one computing device configured to individually operate each of the plurality of near-infrared illuminators and process image data acquired by the imaging device to detect any target objects present within the area, wherein the at least one computing device is further configured to operate the plurality of near-infrared illuminators in synchronization with an imaging frame rate of the imaging device, wherein only a subset of the plurality of near-infrared illuminators emit near-infrared electromagnetic radiation for a frame of image data captured by the imaging device and a unique subset of the plurality of near-infrared illuminators emit near-infrared electromagnetic radiation for two consecutive frames of image data captured by the imaging device.

18. The monitoring system of claim 17, wherein the monitoring device further includes a component configured to acquire an identification of a target object from a wireless identification device associated with the target object, and wherein the at least one computing device is further configured to evaluate an alert condition based on one of:

identification data received from the target object or a failure of the target object to provide identification data.

19. The monitoring system of claim 17, wherein the monitoring device further includes a plurality of acoustic sensors located around the imaging device, and wherein the at least one computing device is further configured to evaluate a set of attributes of a source of a sound detected by at least one of the plurality of acoustic sensors.

20. The monitoring system of claim 17, further comprising a surveillance system configured to receive data from the monitoring device and present at least a portion of the data to a user.