Infrared light source protective system

Abstract

A disclosed monitoring system includes infrared light sources that illuminate a subject in a sequenced manner and a camera that captures images of the subject during periods in which the subject is illuminated by one of the light sources. The system includes a processor that analyzes captured images to determine a brightness measure of the images, and a controller controls output power of the infrared light sources in response to the brightness measure. In response to the processor detecting a brightness measure below a predetermined brightness threshold, the controller is configured to switch off or reduce an output illumination intensity of one of the infrared light sources. A disclosed method further determines whether an emission source is occluded by modulating an intensity of an electromagnetic emission source, detecting whether the modulation pattern is present in captured images, and determining that the emission source is occluded based on the detected modulation.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.