Method and apparatus for integrated sensor to provide higher resolution, lower frame rate and lower resolution, higher frame rate imagery simultaneously

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9635287-B2
Application number	US-201113270557-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 11, 2011
Priority date	Oct 11, 2011
Publication date	Apr 25, 2017
Grant date	Apr 25, 2017

Abstract

Methods and apparatus to provide, from data from a single sensor, high-resolution imagery at a first frame rate, such as typical video frame rate, and lower-resolution imagery at a second frame rate, which is higher than the first rate. In one embodiment, the first frame rate data can be viewed by a user and the second frame rate data can be processed to identify an event of interest, such as pulsed light.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of processing data from a sensor, comprising:
processing data from a first pixel in a plurality of pixels at a first frequency by performing subframe averaging of the first pixel data over a first number of subframes to generate a first data stream at a first frame rate and a first resolution;
outputting the first data stream for viewing by a user;
aggregating data from at least two neighboring pixels to form aggregate pixel data which is read out at a subframe rate; and
integrating the aggregate pixel data and outputting the integrated aggregate pixel data at a second frequency higher than the first frequency to generate a second data stream simultaneously with the first data stream, the second data stream having a second resolution less than the first resolution and a second frame rate greater than the first frame rate.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further including processing the second data stream to identify an event of interest.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the event of interest is pulsing light.

4. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the event of interest is muzzle flash.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein integration times for the aggregate pixel data and the first pixel data are independently adjustable.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the sensor is a focal plane array.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the sensor is secured to a vehicle.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the vehicle comprises a helicopter.

9. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising integrating the aggregate pixel data on a first capacitor.

10. A sensor system, comprising:
a first signal path circuit to process data from a first pixel in a plurality of pixels at a first frequency by performing subframe averaging of the first pixel data over a first number of subframes to generate a first data stream at a first frame rate and a first resolution;
a first output to output the first data stream for viewing by a user;
a second signal path circuit to aggregate data from at least two neighboring pixels to form aggregate pixel data at a subframe rate and integrate the aggregate pixel data; and
a second output to output the integrated aggregate pixel data at a second frequency higher than the first frequency as a second data stream provided simultaneously with the first data stream, the second data stream having a second resolution less than the first resolution and a second frame rate greater than the first frame rate.

11. The system according to claim 10 , further including a processor to process the second data stream to identify an event of interest.

12. The system according to claim 11 , wherein the event of interest is pulsing light.

13. The system according to claim 11 , wherein the event of interest is muzzle flash.

14. The system according to claim 10 , wherein integration times for the aggregate pixel data and the first pixel data are independently adjustable.

15. The system according to claim 10 , wherein the sensor system comprises a focal plane array.

16. The system according to claim 10 , wherein the sensor system is secured to a vehicle.

17. The system according to claim 16 , wherein the vehicle comprises a helicopter.

18. The system according to claim 10 , wherein the aggregate pixel data is integrated on a first capacitor.

19. A sensor system including a sensor to obtain data, comprising:
a first means to process data from a first pixel in a plurality of pixels to generate a first data stream at a first frame rate and a first resolution;
a second means to aggregate data from at least two neighboring pixels to form aggregate pixel data at a subframe rate to generate a second data stream having a second resolution less than the first resolution and a second frame rate greater than the first frame rate.

20. The sensor system according to claim 19 , further including a third means to process the second data stream to identify an event of interest.

Assignees

• Wyles Richard H
• Asbrock James F
• Cook Ii Robert L
• Symeonidis Simeon
• Raytheon Co

Inventors

• Wyles Richard H
• Asbrock James F
• Cook Ii Robert L
• Symeonidis Simeon

Classifications

• H04N25/585

  with pixels having different sensitivities within the sensor, e.g. fast or slow pixels or pixels having different sizes · CPC title

• H04N25/42 Primary

  by switching between different modes of operation using different resolutions or aspect ratios, e.g. switching between interlaced and non-interlaced mode · CPC title

• H04N25/46 Primary

  by combining or binning pixels · CPC title

• H04N5/347 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04N5/35563

  Electricity · mapped topic