The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 09, 1992
Filed:
May. 01, 1991
Brett A Spivey, Encinitas, CA (US);
Paul A Johnson, San Diego, CA (US);
Alex Shek, San Diego, CA (US);
Chester Phillips, Columbia, MD (US);
Thermo Electron Technologies Corp., San Diego, CA (US);
Abstract
A camera system in which microwave radiation from objects in a field-of-view is collected by an antenna having a beam direction which is a function of the beam frequency. The collected radiation is analyzed to produce an image of the objects in the field-of-view. In a simple embodiment of the invention a one dimensional image is produced. This one dimensional image can be converted to a two dimensional image by rotating the camera system or mounting the camera on a moving platform. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention the microwave radiation collected by the antenna is converted into electronic acoustic signals which sets up a diffraction pattern in a Bragg cell to diffract a laser beam which is focused on a television camera to produce one dimensional image of the field-of-view. The antenna can be scanned to produce a two dimensional image. In another preferred embodiment an array of antennas and a multi-channel Bragg cell is used to produce a two dimensional real time image. The camera is capable of imaging objects through media such as wooden walls which are transparent to microwaves but are opaque to visible light.