Infrared camera systems and methods for dual sensor applications

• US 9,083,897 B2
• Filed: 06/09/2014
• Issued: 07/14/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Teledyne FLIR LLC (Teledyne Technologies Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: FLIR Systems, Inc. (Teledyne Technologies Incorporated)
• Inventors: Hgasten, Nicholas, Scott, Jeffrey S., Richardson, Patrick B., Frank, Jeffrey D., Richards, Austin A., Woolaway, James T.
• Primary Examiner(s): TRUONG, LAN DAI T
• Application Number:
  US14/299,987
• Publication Number:
  US 20140285672A1
• Time in Patent Office: 400 Days
• Field of Search: 348/164, 348/175, 348/177, 348/179, 348/191, 348/211.1, 348/224.1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/11 for generating image signals from visible and infrared light wavelengths
• 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 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources

Abstract

Systems and methods disclosed herein provide for infrared camera systems and methods for dual sensor applications. For example, in one embodiment, an enhanced vision system comprises an image capture component having a visible light sensor to capture visible light images and an infrared sensor to capture infrared images. The system comprises a first control component adapted to provide a plurality of selectable processing modes to a user, receive a user input corresponding to a user selected processing mode, and generate a control signal indicative of the user selected processing mode, wherein the plurality of selectable processing modes includes a visible light only mode, infrared only mode, and a combined visible-infrared mode. The system comprises a processing component adapted to receive the generated control signal from the control component, process the captured visible light images and the captured infrared images according to the user selected processing mode, and generate processed images based on the processing mode selected by the user. The system comprises a display component adapted to display the processed images based on the processing mode selected by the user.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving visible light sensor data corresponding to a visible light image;

receiving infrared sensor data corresponding to an infrared image comprising thermal information from an infrared wavelength spectrum;

receiving a control parameter;

scaling a luminance data part of the visible light sensor data by a first amount using the control parameter;

scaling a luminance data part of the infrared sensor data by a second amount using the control parameter; and

generating output image data by combining the scaled luminance data parts.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting the received control parameter prior to the scaling of at least one of the luminance data parts.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the visible light image and the infrared image comprise a plurality of pixels, the method further comprising selectively scaling at least one of the luminance data parts on a per pixel basis.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the selectively scaling comprises:

determining a color measurement associated with each pixel of the visible light sensor data; and

selectively increasing the luminance data of each pixel of the visible light sensor data based on the determined color measurement associated with the pixel.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the selective increase is performed for each pixel having a color measurement above a threshold.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the amount of the selective increase for each pixel is proportional to the color measurement.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the selective increase in luminance and the color measurement have a nonlinear relationship.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the control parameter is a user selected control parameter, the method further comprising:

receiving a control signal identifying one of a plurality of selectable processing modes including at least one of a night docking mode, a man overboard bode, a night cruising mode, a day cruising mode, a hazy conditions mode, or a shoreline mode; and

processing the visible light sensor data and the infrared sensor data in accordance with the selected processing mode.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating further comprises merging a chrominance data part of the visible light sensor data with the scaled luminance data parts, the method further comprising displaying an output image based on the output image data.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium on which is stored information for performing the method of claim 1.

11. A system comprising a processing component adapted to perform the method of claim 1.

12. A system comprising:

a visible light sensor adapted to capture a visible light image;

an infrared sensor adapted to capture an infrared image comprising thermal information from an infrared wavelength spectrum;

a control component adapted to receive a user input corresponding to a user selected control parameter; and

a processing component adapted to;

receive visible light sensor data corresponding to the visible light image,

receive infrared sensor data corresponding to the infrared image,

receive the user selected control parameter,

scale a luminance data part of the visible light sensor data by a first amount using the control parameter,

scale a luminance data part of the infrared sensor data by a second amount using the control parameter, and

generate output image data by combining the scaled luminance data parts.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the processing component is further adapted to adjust the received control parameter prior to the scaling of at least one of the luminance data parts.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the visible light image and the infrared image comprise a plurality of pixels, wherein the processing component is further adapted to selectively scale at least one of the luminance data parts on a per pixel basis.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the processor is further adapted to:

determine a color measurement associated with each pixel of the visible light sensor data; and

selectively increase the luminance data of each pixel of the visible light sensor data based on the determined color measurement associated with the pixel to perform the selective scaling.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor is further adapted to perform the selective increase for each pixel of the visible light sensor data having a color measurement above a threshold.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the amount of the selective increase for each pixel is proportional to the color measurement.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the selective increase in luminance and the color measurement have a nonlinear relationship.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein the control parameter is a user selected control parameter, wherein the processor is further adapted to:

receive a control signal identifying one of a plurality of selectable processing modes including at least one of a night docking mode, a man overboard bode, a night cruising mode, a day cruising mode, a hazy conditions mode, or a shoreline mode; and

process the visible light sensor data and the infrared sensor data in accordance with the selected processing mode.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein the processing component is further adapted to merge a chrominance data part of the visible light sensor data with the scaled luminance data parts to generate the output image data, the system further comprising a display component adapted to display an output image based on the output image data.