Seek Thermal, Inc.

Andreas Engberg

William J Parrish

Ross Williams

Jason Wolfe

Blake Henry

Jeffrey Lee

Derek Moran

Russ Mead

Romeo Chahine

Jeffery Lee

An ultra-small thermal imaging core, or micro-core. The design of the micro-core may include substrates for mounting optics and electronic connectors that are thermally matched to the imaging Focal Plane Array (FPA). Test fixtures for test and adjustment that allow for operation and image acquisition of multiple cores may also be provided. Tooling may be included to position the optics to set the core focus, either by moving the lens and lens holder as one or by pushing and/or pulling the lens against a lens positioning element within the lens holder, while observing a scene. Test procedures and fixtures that allow for full temperature calibration of each individual core, as well as providing data useful for uniformity correction during operation may also be included as part of the test and manufacture of the core.

Design, test, and operation of a small thermal imaging core

Imaging systems and methods are disclosed that use locally flat scenes to adjust image data. An imaging system includes an array of photodetectors configured to produce an array of intensity values corresponding to light intensity at the photodetectors. The imaging system can be configured to acquire a frame of intensity values, or an image frame, and analyze the image frame to determine if it is locally flat. If the image frame is locally flat, then that image data can be used to determine gradients present in the image frame. An offset mask can be determined from the image data and that offset mask can be used to adjust subsequently acquired image frames to reduce or remove gradients.

Image adjustment based on locally flat scenes

Contrast adjustment of a digital image can include using at least two signal processing paths to adjust a display-formatted pixel value to enhance the appearance of edges in displayed image data. A digital image can be filtered by producing an edge enhancement factor, &#x3b1;, per pixel from at least one look up table (LUT). Digital image data can also be adjusted using at least two signal processing paths, where the image data is adjusted if a pixel value and its neighboring pixel values are all within a smoothing range or where the pixel delta value is outside of a bad pixel range and its neighboring pixel delta values are all within the bad pixel range. In such cases, the image data can be adjusted by replacing the pixel value with an average or median value of the neighboring pixels.

Local contrast adjustment for digital images

A system and method for digitizing data from an imaging system includes sampling a signal from an optical detector with a first circuit having a first attenuation and with a second circuit having a second attenuation different than the first attenuation. The system and method further includes digitizing the sampled signal at a predetermined number of bits desired for an analog to digital conversion of the sampled signal by allocating a first portion of bits to digitizing a signal from the first circuit and allocating a second portion of bits to digitizing a signal from the second circuit. The system and method further includes encoding the first and second portion of bits into one monotonic digital word corresponding to a range of the sampled signal.

Data digitization and display for an imaging system

A method and an imaging system for adaptive shutter control wherein an imaging system can be configured to actuate a calibration element at various times and develop an offset correction or Non-Uniformity Correction (NUC). The system control processing units may acquire information derived from calibration data, regular imaging data or external data, which may be correlated with how fast the NUC is changing over time. How often calibration element is actuated may be adaptively determined from the correlating information and the actuation times may be adaptively controlled to optimally actuate as needed. In some embodiments the calibration element may be a shutter and calibration activation may include closing the shutter and providing a flat field image for calibration purposes.

Time based offset correction for imaging systems and adaptive calibration control

FPAs on a wafer can be tested prior to dicing the wafer into individual dies. A focal plane array (FPA) can comprise an array of photodetectors, such as microbolometers, on a semiconductor substrate or die. FPAs can be manufactured on a wafer to make multiple FPAs on a single wafer that can be later diced or divided into individual FPAs. Prior to dicing the wafer, the FPAs can be tested electrically and radiometrically in bulk to characterize individual FPAs, to identify bad pixels, to identify bad chips, to calibrate individual FPAs, and the like. These test results can be used to determine acceptable FPAs and can be used to provide initial settings for imaging systems with the tested and integrated FPA.

Radiometric test and configuration of an infrared focal plane array at wafer probe

Edge enhancement of a digital image can include using at least two signal processing paths to adjust a display-formatted pixel value to enhance the appearance of edges in displayed image data. A digital image can be filtered by producing an edge enhancement factor, &#x3b1;, per pixel from at least one look up table (LUT). Digital image data can also be adjusted using at least two signal processing paths, where the image data is adjusted if a pixel value and its neighboring pixel values are all within a smoothing range or where the pixel delta value is outside of a bad pixel range and its neighboring pixel delta values are all within the bad pixel range. In such cases, the image data can be adjusted by replacing the pixel value with an average or median value of the neighboring pixels.

Growing community of inventors

Santa Barbara, CA, United States of America

Andreas Engberg