Lockheed Martin Corporation

Lockheed Martin Corpora Tion

Mark D Goodwin

James S Howard

Thomas Musa

Santosh Kumar

Mathew S Hale

Methods and apparatus for detecting a blockage in the field-of-view of a camera in an image capture system by monitoring changes in the quality of images captured by the camera. As an image is acquired by the camera, intensity values for pixels in the acquired image are determined and stored in a data structure in memory of the camera. Image statistics are calculated based in part on the intensity values for pixels in the currently acquired image and at least some previous images acquired by the camera. If the image statistics satisfy at least one predetermined alert criterion, an alert is triggered. In response to triggering an alert, an alert sensor included as part of the camera is activated to indicate to a user of the image capture system that a possible blockage in the field-of-view of the camera has been detected.

Automatic detection of blocked field-of-view in camera systems

In one embodiment, an apparatus comprises a camera and a group of light emitting diodes configured and arranged to illuminate an object imaged by the camera. The group of LEDs comprises at least one first LED of a first type that emits light with a first spectrum profile and at least one second LED of a second type that emits light with a second spectrum profile that is substantially different than the first spectrum profile. The apparatus may further comprise an adjustment mechanism for adjusting of the relative amounts of illumination energy generated by the at least one first LED and the at least one second LED during each of a plurality of scan cycles of the camera.

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Apalachin, NY, United States of America

Mark D Goodwin