Flash detection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9704058-B2
Application number	US-201514625210-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 18, 2015
Priority date	Feb 24, 2014
Publication date	Jul 11, 2017
Grant date	Jul 11, 2017

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a method comprising: memorizing a sequence of high-resolution images of a scene in a buffer; obtaining radiation emission readings from one or more photo detectors; detecting a suspected flash event based on processing the radiation emission readings from the one or more photo detectors, wherein said detecting occurs at a first instant; retrieving from the buffer high-resolution images of the scene including at least one image that was captured prior to said first instant; and processing the high-resolution images of the scene to determine a geolocation of the suspected flash event.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
continuously storing a high-resolution image of a scene in a buffer to form a sequence of the high-resolution images of the scene in the buffer;
obtaining radiation emission readings from one or more photo detectors;
detecting a suspected flash event based on processing the radiation emission readings obtained from the one or more photo detectors, wherein the detecting occurs at a first instant;
retrieving, from the buffer, high-resolution images of the scene including at least one image that was captured prior to the first instant; and
processing the high-resolution images of the scene to determine a geolocation of the suspected flash event, wherein the processing includes processing based on the at least one image that has been captured prior to the first instance.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising operating a high-resolution camera which captures the high-resolution images independently from the photodetectors, and independently from the detection of the suspected flash event.

3. The method according to claim 2 , further comprising capturing the high-resolution images continuously, regardless of the detection of the suspected flash event.

4. The method according to claim 2 , wherein capturing the high-resolution images comprises operating the high-resolution camera with an inter-exposure interval that is shorter than the shortest possible pulse duration of a suspected flash event.

5. The method according to claim 2 , wherein
capturing the high-resolution images comprises operating the high-resolution camera at a wavelength band which is different from a wavelength band at which any one of the one or more photo detectors operate,
the method further comprises determining whether the suspected flash event is an event of interest or not, and
the determining whether the suspected flash event is an event of interest or not includes cross wavelength band processing.

6. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising determining based on the processing of the radiation emission readings obtained from the one or more photo detectors, and based on a processing of the retrieved images, whether the suspected flash event is an event of interest or not.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the obtaining of the radiation emission readings from the one or more photo detectors comprises obtaining a plurality of radiation emission readings from the one or more photo detectors during a flash duration, and comparing attributes of the plurality of radiation emission readings to a library of flashes.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein
radiation from at least two field of views (FOVs) is superimposed to provide a single high-resolution image, and
the geolocation of the suspected flash event is determined using information about a rough geolocation obtained from the one or more photo detectors which provided the radiation emission readings.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein
the forming of the sequence of the high-resolution images includes storing a timestamp for each of the high-resolution images, and
the retrieving of the high-resolution images is based on the stored timestamps of the respective images to thereby obtain at least one image that was captured prior to the first instant.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one image that was captured prior to the first instant includes at least an image whose capturing is initiated prior to the first instant.

11. A system comprising:
a frame buffer configured to continuously store a high-resolution image of a scene to form a sequence of high-resolution images of the scene in the frame buffer;
one or more photodetectors configured to obtain radiation emission readings from the scene; and
a controller configured to:
detect a suspected flash event based on processing the radiation emission readings obtained from the one or more photo detectors, wherein the detecting occurs at a first instant;
retrieve, from the frame buffer, high-resolution images of the scene including at least one image that was captured prior to the first instant; and
process the high-resolution images of the scene to determine a geolocation of the suspected flash event, wherein the processing includes processing based on the at least one image that has been captured prior to the first instance.

12. The system according to claim 11 , further comprising a high-resolution camera which is configured to capture the high-resolution images independently from the photodetectors, and independently from the detection of the suspected flash event.

13. The system according to claim 12 , wherein the high-resolution camera is configured to capture the high-resolution images continuously, regardless of the detection of the suspected flash event.

14. The system according to claim 12 , wherein the high-resolution camera is configured to have an inter-exposure interval that is shorter than the shortest possible pulse duration of a suspected flash event.

15. The system according to claim 12 , wherein
the high-resolution camera is configured to operate at a wavelength band which is different from a wavelength band at which any one of the one or more photo detectors operate, and
the determining of the geolocation of the suspected flash event by the controller comprises cross wavelength band processing by the controller.

16. The system according to claim 11 , wherein the controller is further configured to determine, based on the processing of the radiation emission readings obtained from the one or more photo detectors, and based on a processing of the retrieved images, whether the suspected flash event is an event of interest or not.

17. The system according to claim 11 , wherein
each of the one or more photo detectors are configured to obtain a plurality of radiation emission readings from the one or more photo detectors during a flash duration, and
the controller is further configured to compare attributes of the plurality of radiation emission readings to a library of flashes.

18. The system according to claim 11 , wherein
radiation from at least two field of views (FOVs) is superimposed to provide a single high-resolution image, and
the controller is further configured to determine the geolocation of the suspected flash event using information about a rough geolocation obtained from the one or more photo detectors which provided the radiation emission readings from the scene.

19. The system according to claim 11 , wherein
the forming of the sequence of the high-resolution images includes storing a timestamps for each of the high-resolution images, and
the controller is further configured to retrieve the high-resolution images based on the stored timestamps of the respective images to thereby obtain said at least one image that was captured prior to the first instant.

Assignees

• Elta Systems Ltd

Inventors

• Aphek Ori

Classifications

• G06V20/52 Primary

  Surveillance or monitoring of activities, e.g. for recognising suspicious objects (recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69) · CPC title

• G06V10/143

  Sensing or illuminating at different wavelengths · CPC title

• H04N7/12

  Systems in which the television signal is transmitted via one channel or a plurality of parallel channels, the bandwidth of each channel being less than the bandwidth of the television signal (H04N7/24 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06T1/60

  Memory management · CPC title

• G06K9/2018

  Physics · mapped topic