Class / Patent application number | Description | Number of patent applications / Date published |
348216100 | Low light level | 36 |
20080278591 | Method and apparatus for improving low-light performance for small pixel image sensors - Method and apparatuses processing pixel values from a captured image include receiving an array of digital pixel values corresponding to a captured image, and computing a rolling sum of the array of pixel values. Computing a rolling sum includes selecting successive groupings of the pixel values, each grouping comprising N×M pixel values, summing pixel values in each of the successive groupings, and forming an output image using the summed pixel values. | 11-13-2008 |
20090219403 | COMPACT PASSIVE LOW-LIGHT IMAGING APPARATUS - A passive portable imaging system for generating a viewable image of a darkened or low-light environment including a sensor made of laser-treated semiconductor material that is sensitive to low-light radiation, in some cases radiation at wavelengths longer than those of traditional visible light imager ranges. The imaging system can be incorporated into a personal electronic product such as a cellular phone or similar compact apparatus, and can provide security to a user who moves in or wishes to view a dark area and doesn't have a light source to illuminate the dark area. | 09-03-2009 |
20100045807 | Optical reader - An optical reader includes an imaging device and an photographing optical system for reading images of an object such as a semiconductor wafer. An LED light source is provided as a dark field illumination light source for illuminating the object at an angle of illumination that deviates from the optical axis of the photographing optical system. The LED light source is supported by a swing-type support member having both ends secured to a housing of the optical reader using screws and nuts. This allows the angle and position of the dark field illumination light source to be adjusted so as to provide a first angle of illumination for illuminating the object directly with the illuminating light from the dark field illumination light source, or a second angle of illumination for illuminating the object by reflection from a half mirror that is disposed in an illumination optical system. | 02-25-2010 |
20100149357 | IMAGE CAPTURE DEVICE AND CONTROL METHOD THEREOF - An image capture device includes an image capture unit, a calculation unit, an assist unit, a determination unit, a storage unit, a processing unit and a first assist light control unit. The image capture unit captures information under current ambient illumination conditions. The calculation unit calculates brightness of the current ambient illumination conditions. The assist light compensates the current ambient illumination. The determination unit determines whether the current ambient illumination is sufficient and whether the current ambient illumination has been compensated. The storage unit stores a first control table. The processing unit activates the first assist light control unit when the current ambient illumination is insufficient. The first assist light control unit looks up a corresponding setting in the first control table using the calculated current ambient illumination, and controls the assist light using the acquired setting. | 06-17-2010 |
20100265345 | VEHICLE BASED NIGHT-VISION ARRANGEMENT AND METHOD FOR OPERATING THE SAME - A vehicle based night-vision arrangement includes a night-vision camera, an analyzer unit for analyzing image information collected by the night-vision camera and extracting a kind and/or position of a probable obstacle ahead in a driving direction of the vehicle; and a control unit to initiate producing a light spot on the display unit indicating the probable obstacle. A method for operating such a vehicle based night-vision arrangement is also provided. | 10-21-2010 |
20100289911 | IMAGE SENSOR AND PIXEL THAT HAS POSITIVE TRANSFER GATE VOLTAGE DURING INTEGRATION PERIOD - A pixel and image sensor formed in accordance with the present invention has two modes of operation: a normal mode and a low light mode. The present invention switches from a normal to a low light mode based upon the amount of illumination on the image sensor. Once the level of illumination is determined, a decision is made by comparing the level of illumination to a threshold whether to operate in normal mode or low light mode. In low light mode, the reset transistor (for a 3T pixel) or the transfer transistor (for a 4T pixel) is biased positive. | 11-18-2010 |
20110164142 | INFRARED LENS, INFRARED CAMERA, AND NIGHT VISION - An infrared lens | 07-07-2011 |
20110254968 | HYBRID IMAGING WITH VISIBLE AND QUANTUM ENTANGLEMENT IMAGES - A hybrid image of a scene is formed by obtaining a visible light image and a quantum entanglement image of the scene. Light intensity channel information is extracted from the visible light image of the scene, and a ghost image of the scene is constructed by cross-correlating the extracted light intensity channel information with the quantum entanglement image. The visible light image is thereafter fused with the ghost image so as to form a hybrid image of the scene. | 10-20-2011 |
20120081564 | HEAD-MOUNTED DISPLAY - A head-mounted display (HMD) that enables a wearer to favorably view and recognize images even in a very bright environment, has a HMD in which image display light emitted from a display element is guided to an eye of an observer via a visor, whereby a virtual image of an observed subject is formed in front of the observer. In the HMD, light source devices are a first light source, outputting light of a high intensity, and a second light source, outputting light of a. low intensity. The light source devices have a switch to switch between the first and second light sources. The display element, the visor and the second light source are attached to a mount, worn on the head of the observer. The first light source is installed in a moveable body with the observer, and is connected to the mount via light transmission paths. | 04-05-2012 |
20120086825 | AUTOMATIC ADJUSTMENT OF CAPTURE PARAMETERS BASED ON REFERENCE DATA - Reference data associated with an image capture device is collected while the image capture device is directed toward a scene area. A capture control on the image capture device is automatically adjusted based at least in part on the reference data. | 04-12-2012 |
20130010143 | IMAGING ASSEMBLY FOR MARINE USE - An imaging assembly for marine use. The imaging assembly includes a stand having a magnetic base adapted for releasably attaching the stand to a vessel. In use, the stand extending upward from the base to an upper portion. The assembly includes a night vision imaging device mounted on the stand for imaging a selected field of view and a power source mounted on the stand and operatively connected to the imaging device for providing power to the imaging device. The imaging assembly also includes a transmitter mounted on the stand and operatively connected to the imaging device for transmitting a signal corresponding to the selected field of view to a remote location. | 01-10-2013 |
20130057716 | IMAGING APPARATUS - An imaging apparatus capable of capturing a moving image with an imaging device is equipped with a first image-processing device that uses hardware to process images captured by the imaging device and a second image-processing device that processes captured images with software. The imaging apparatus includes an image-processing switching device that selectively operates one of either the first image-processing device or the second image-processing device. The imaging apparatus includes a light-detection device that detects the amount of light received by the imaging device and a sensitivity adjustment device that increases the sensitivity of the imaging device as the amount of light decreases. The image-processing switching device operates the first image-processing device when the sensitivity is lower than a predetermined value and operates the second image-processing device when the sensitivity is higher than the predetermined value. | 03-07-2013 |
20130076927 | EXPOSURE ADJUSTMENT METHOD FOR NIGHT-VISION CAMERA - An exposure adjustment method for night-vision camera includes the following steps. A first image and a second image are shot with an infrared light source of different intensity; the shot first image and second image are divided into a plurality of image blocks, in which positions of the image blocks in the first image are respectively corresponding to those in the second image; a light reflectivity of the image blocks of the first image is compared with a light reflectivity of the image blocks of the second image, and object distances of image objects are determined; the image object having greater object distance obtains a lower light measuring weight, and the image object having smaller object distance obtains a higher light measuring weight; and an exposure parameter of image images is adjusted according to the image weights of the two images and light measuring weights of the blocks. | 03-28-2013 |
20130300886 | VIDEO PROCESSING APPARATUS AND VIDEO PROCESSING METHOD - An imaging apparatus includes a histogram shape determination unit that acquires a histogram of luminance values from video captured by an image capturing unit and determines whether or not the captured video is a night scene from the shape of the histogram. The imaging apparatus also includes a point light source determination unit that acquires the maximum value of contrast for each horizontal line in the video as a line evaluation value and determines whether the captured video is a night scene based on whether or not the line evaluation value has a characteristic of an object as a point light source. If the histogram shape determination unit and the point light source determination unit determine that the captured video is a night scene, the imaging apparatus determines that the scene captured by the image capturing unit is a night scene. | 11-14-2013 |
20140055631 | IMAGE CAPTURE APPARATUS AND IMAGE CAPTURING METHOD - An image capture apparatus includes: an image capturing unit; a first image capture controller configured to control the image capturing unit to capture a set of a plurality of images while changing exposure time for each of the images; a second image capture controller configured to obtain a plurality of sets of the images; an addition combination section configured to perform image alignment on the images contained in each of the sets and to perform addition combination on the aligned images to generate a combined image; a combination controller configured to control the addition combination section to perform the image alignment and the addition combination for each of the sets to obtain a plurality of combined images; a selector configured to evaluate the combined images and to select one of the combined images most highly evaluated as a selected image; and a storage configured to store the selected image. | 02-27-2014 |
20140368680 | CONVERSION GAIN MODULATION USING CHARGE SHARING PIXEL - An image sensor including an array of pixel elements is operated according to two operation modes to modulate the conversion gain of the pixel to operate the image sensor based on the impinging light conditions. More specifically, an image sensor pixel element is operated in a high conversion gain mode for low light conditions and in a low conversion gain mode for bright light conditions. The low conversion gain mode implements charge sharing between the floating diffusion and the photodiode. The low conversion gain mode further implements partial reset where the photodiode and the floating diffusion are reset to the same potential and to a potential slightly less than the pinning voltage of the photodiode. | 12-18-2014 |
20150054972 | IMAGING APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD AND PROGRAM OF IMAGING APPARATUS - An imaging apparatus having an image formation optical system having a lens for focus adjustment of an optical image of an object and an imaging unit for picking up the formed optical image and generating a pixel signal from which a refocus image can be generated includes: a calculation unit for obtaining information of the object the optical image of which is picked up by the imaging unit and calculating, based on the obtained object information, a range of a lens position at which the refocus image of the object being in-focus can be generated; a prediction unit for predicting, based on the lens position range, a change of the calculated lens position at which the refocus image of the object being in-focus can be generated; and a determination unit for determining a drive position of the lens based on a prediction result. | 02-26-2015 |
20150124112 | IMAGING APPARATUS, CLIENT DEVICE, IMAGING SYSTEM, CONTROL METHOD OF IMAGING APPARATUS, CONTROL METHOD OF CLIENT DEVICE, AND CONTROL METHOD OF IMAGING SYSTEM - An imaging apparatus includes a control unit to perform insertion/retraction of an infrared cut filter into and from an optical path of an imaging optical system; a reception unit to receive a third command to cause the control unit to automatically control insertion/retraction of the infrared cut filter; and a determining unit configured to determine whether or not the third command includes additional information based on the output of the reception unit; wherein, in the event that the determining unit has determined that the third command includes additional information, the control unit controls insertion/retraction of the infrared cut filter based on the additional information, and in the event that the determining unit has determined that the third command does not include additional information, the control unit controls insertion/retraction of the infrared cut filter based on control information which the control unit has beforehand. | 05-07-2015 |
20150373245 | Processing Method Of Scene Image Of Device With Shooting Function, Device With Shooting Function And Storage Medium - One or more embodiments of the present application provide a processing method of a scene image of a device with a shooting function, the device with the shooting function and a storage medium. The method includes: determining first and second combined regions in a pre-shot image of a shot scene according to gray values of pixels in the pre-shot image; determining first and second exposures according to the determined first and second combined regions respectively; adjusting respectively gray values of pixels in a first image region corresponding to the first combined region in a first image shot at the first exposure, and gray values of pixels in a second image region corresponding to the second combined region in a second image shot at the second exposure; and splicing the two adjusted image regions together to obtain the scene image. | 12-24-2015 |
20160037109 | IMAGING SENSOR AND METHOD FOR COLOR NIGHT VISION - An imaging sensor for low light level color imaging includes an array of pixels. Each pixel has a first pixel portion that has a first photosensitive area and is responsive to light in a panchromatic spectral range and a second pixel portion that has a second photosensitive area and is responsive to light in a sub-band spectral range. The first photosensitive area is greater than the second photosensitive area and the sub-band spectral range is narrower than and contained within the panchromatic spectral range. The first and second pixel portions of each pixel are independently addressable. The imaging sensor is beneficial for applications requiring wide dynamic range, low light sensitivity and color discrimination, and enables improved object discrimination and scene interpretation. | 02-04-2016 |
20160073067 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CREATING FULL-COLOR IMAGE IN LOW LIGHT - Full-color images of low-light scenes are generated by the systems and methods described herein using only two light channels. An array of photosensitive pixels includes two sets of pixels, the first sensitive only to light associated with a first light channel, the second only to light associated with a second light channel. Thus the first set of pixels generate a first set of electrical signals in response to incident light within the first light channel, and the second set of pixels generate a second set of electrical signals in response to incident light within the second light channel. An image processor receives the first and second sets of electrical signals and generates a full-color image of the scene by processing only signals generated by the first and second sets of pixels. | 03-10-2016 |
20160080653 | METHOD FOR ENHANCING NOISE CHARACTERISTICS OF IMAGE AND ELECTRONIC DEVICE THEREOF - An electronic device is provided. The electronic device includes at least one image sensor, and a processor for generating a plurality of images having different noise characteristics through the at least one image sensor, and combining the plurality of images. | 03-17-2016 |
20160088202 | IMAGE MONITORING APPARATUS - An image monitoring apparatus includes a casing, a camera module in the casing, and a lighting module disposed on the casing and located above or under the camera module on a plane corresponding to a vertical angle of view of the camera module. A horizontal light-emitting plane of a LED of the lighting module is perpendicular to the plane corresponding to the vertical angle of view. A lens of the lighting module covers the LED and has a convex light-exit surface, a bottom surface, and a concave light-entrance surface. A long axis of the convex light-exit surface is located at the horizontal light-emitting plane. A section thickness of the lens from the concave light-entrance surface to the convex light-exit surface along the long axis is greater than a section thickness of the lens from the concave light-entrance surface to the convex light-exit surface along a normal of the bottom surface. | 03-24-2016 |
20160165156 | DEVICE FOR PICTURE TAKING IN LOW LIGHT AND CONNECTABLE TO A MOBILE TELEPHONE TYPE DEVICE - A picture taking device includes a sensor of resolution higher than thirteen megapixels and an objective lens open at minimum to f/2.0 for at least one focal length value. A diagonal dimension of the photosensitive surface of the sensor is greater than 15 mm. A digital processor to reduce noise while preserving the textures in at least one image captured by the sensor. The device has a power supply and a rigid connector to connect it to the mobile phone or tablet type device comprising a screen, and communicates and/or commands with the mobile phone or tablet type device. A picture taking method is provided using the picture taking device. | 06-09-2016 |
348217100 | With image intensifier | 12 |
20090033753 | IMAGING APPARATUS, IMAGING METHOD, STORAGE MEDIUM, AND INTEGRATED CIRCUIT - An imaging apparatus estimates a distance based on a reflectance value of a subject estimated with improved precision. An illumination unit illuminates a subject with illumination light. An imaging unit captures a plurality of images each under a different condition of the illumination unit. An illumination light element obtaining unit obtains an image formed with an element of the illumination light from the plurality of images. A reflectance estimation unit eliminates illumination variations from one of the plurality of images or from the image formed with the illumination light element, and estimates a reflectance of the subject corresponding to each pixel. A distance information estimation unit estimates a distance to the subject corresponding to each pixel based on the image formed with the illumination light element and the reflectance of the subject. | 02-05-2009 |
20090091634 | DIGITAL LOW-LIGHT VIEWING DEVICE - A low-light viewing device includes a housing, having mounted thereto: a lens, an electronic camera for receiving light focused by the lens and for providing an output signal; a display for receiving the output signal and displaying an image detected by the camera; a controller for controlling the camera and the display, and a user interface for operating the controller. The lens may be a fixed focus lens having an F number of less than about 1, and a T number of less than about 1.5. The display may have a resolution at least as great as the resolution of the camera. The device may have a processor programmed to provide control signals to the camera and display depending on a selected light environment. | 04-09-2009 |
20090147092 | Image capturing system and method for object image of low light intensity - An image capturing system for capturing an object image of low light intensity comprises an image capturing means, a motion value detection means, a motion value detection means, an image data memory, and a preview image display. The image capturing means outputs a first frame and multiple second frames of object image data. The motion value detection means detects motion values between the first frame and each second frame. The superposition/addition means superposes/adds each second frame to the first frame or a prior superposed/added frame shifting in a reverse direction of the motion value. The image data memory temporally stores image data of the superposed/added frames and sends the image data of a frame superposed/added by a predetermined number of second frames to a predetermined device. The preview image display displays the object image prior to a still image capturing according to the image data of the superposed/added frames. | 06-11-2009 |
20100128135 | MODULAR NIGHT VISION GOGGLES WITH PELLICLE - A night vision goggle system is shown, including optical modules, a heads-up display (HUD) module, and a camera module. Each module may be added to and removed from the system without structural, electrical, or optical damage to itself or the remaining modules. Each optical module takes input light at one end and provides an intensified image at the other. A heads-up display module (HUD) can provide an informational display in any of at least two of the optical modules or both. A camera module is capable of recording both the intensified image produced by a particular optical module, as well as the HUD information shown through that module with substantially no offset from the original display. Both the camera module and the HUD module are installable onto the same optical module at the same time, and can be installed on either (or in some embodiments, any) optical module. | 05-27-2010 |
20100177201 | EXPANDABLE NIGHT VISION GOGGLES - A night vision goggle system is shown, including optical modules, a heads-up display (HUD) module, and a camera module. Each module may be added to and removed from the system without structural, electrical, or optical damage to itself or the remaining modules. Each optical module takes input light at one end and provides an intensified image at the other. A heads-up display module (HUD) can provide an informational display in any of at least two of the optical modules or both. A camera module is capable of recording both the intensified image produced by a particular optical module, as well as the HUD information shown through that module with substantially no offset from the original display. Both the camera module and the HUD module are installable onto the same optical module at the same time, and can be installed on either (or in some embodiments, any) optical module. | 07-15-2010 |
20110205381 | TONE MAPPING FOR LOW-LIGHT VIDEO FRAME ENHANCEMENT - A technique is provided for generating sharp, well-exposed, color images from low-light images. A series of under-exposed images is acquired. A mean image is computed and a sum image is generated each based on the series of under-exposed images. Chrominance variables of pixels of the mean image are mapped to chrominance variables of pixels of the sum image. Chrominance values of pixels within the series of under-exposed images are replaced with chrominance values of the sum image. A set of sharp, well-exposed, color images is generated based on the series of under-exposed images with replaced chrominance values. | 08-25-2011 |
20120002064 | EXPANDABLE NIGHT VISION GOGGLES HAVING CONFIGURABLE ATTACHMENTS - A night vision goggle system is shown, including optical modules, a heads-up display (HUD) module, and a camera module. Each module may be added to and removed from the system without structural, electrical, or optical damage to itself or the remaining modules. Each optical module takes input light at one end and provides an intensified image at the other. A heads-up display module (HUD) can provide an informational display in any of at least two of the optical modules or both. A camera module is capable of recording both the intensified image produced by a particular optical module, as well as the HUD information shown through that module with substantially no offset from the original display. Both the camera module and the HUD module are installable onto the same optical module at the same time, and can be installed on either (or in some embodiments, any) optical module. | 01-05-2012 |
20140168456 | LIGHT SOURCE SENSING DEVICE AND LIGHT SOURCE SENSING METHOD THEREOF - A light source sensing device and a light source sensing method thereof are provided. The light source sensing device includes an optical sensor, a rod, a motor and a controller. The optical sensor is used for sensing lighting brightness emitted by the light source. The rod is disposed on a circular track which surrounds the optical sensor. When the light source irradiates the rod, a shadow is formed on a sensing surface of the optical sensor. The motor drives the rod to move along the circular track in a moving speed. The controller is coupled to the motor and the optical sensor, and controls the optical sensor to sample in a sampling frequency during a sampling period for obtaining a plurality of brightness values. The controller calculates and processes the brightness values for obtaining an irradiating angle of the light source. | 06-19-2014 |
20140354841 | IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS AND METHOD, AND IMAGE CAPTURING APPARATUS - An image processing apparatus comprising: an acquisition unit configured to acquire an image signal obtained by imaging an object by an image sensing unit; a generation unit configured to obtain a luminance distribution of the object based on the obtained image signal; a division unit configured to divide a region having a luminance lower than a predetermined luminance in the generated luminance distribution into a predetermined number of sub-regions, and obtain a most frequent region having a highest luminance frequency from the divided sub-regions; a selection unit configured to select a correction table corresponding to the obtained most frequent region from a plurality of correction tables stored in a storage unit; and a processing unit configured to perform a tone correction process on the image signal by using the selected correction table. | 12-04-2014 |
20150130958 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR COLOR IMAGING UNDER LOW LIGHT - A camera for enhanced color imaging in a low light environment including: one or more illuminators for illuminating a R, a G, and a B light at different time periods; an image sensor for capturing R G and B image frames; and a processor configured to generate an intermediate color frame from each of the R, G and B image frames; determine moving pixels in the each of the intermediate color frames; determine a true color for the moving pixels in each intermediate color frame; generate a true color frame for each intermediate color frame by substituting color of the moving pixels with respective true colors of the moving pixels, in intermediate color frame; calculate scene color metrics from the true color frame or intermediate color frame; and adaptively adjust illumination of one or more of the R, G, and B lights to enhance a next frame. | 05-14-2015 |
20150358520 | Systems and Methods for Supporting a Video Call in a Dark or Low Light Environment - Systems and methods for providing illumination for a video call in a low-lighting environment. The light source may be a hardware component integrated on the front of a mobile device. The light source may be implemented as one or more lit spaces on the device's screen. The intensity of the light from the light source may be based on ambient light levels measured by one or more sensors on the device. When the mobile device receives an incoming video call, the sensors may detect the level of ambient light and activate the light source to illuminate the face of the call recipient if he or she answers the incoming video call. The device may include an interface to allow the user to configure and adjust the intensity, coloring, and lighting pattern of the light during the video call. | 12-10-2015 |
20160165104 | LOCALIZED BRIGHT SOURCE SUPPRESSION - This invention discloses an apparatus and a method of use that permits localized bright sources in the field of view of night vision devices to be selective attenuated. This makes possible the observation of all objects in the device field of view regardless of their relative brightness. The invention results in a compact, lightweight, and low power addition to existing night vision devices that can be contained inside existing devices without modifying the case dimensions. The modified devices use a CCD camera display as the viewable output. The necessary parts to effect this conversion of existing devices can be furnished as a retro-fit kit. | 06-09-2016 |