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US 5,877,688 AGranted
Thermal object measuring apparatus
AssigneeMatsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
InventorsKatsuya Morinaka, Nobuyuki Yoshiike, Kazuhiko Hashimoto, Tetsuya Kawai
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Abstract
A thermal object detecting method and apparatus. According to the method and apparatus, a thermal image of a measuring space is obtained by a two-dimensional thermal image detecting device. Then, position information of an object in the measuring space is obtained by an object distance detecting device, which determines a distance between the apparatus and the object. The output of the two-dimensional thermal image detecting device can be corrected using the distance data from the object distance detecting device.
Claims12
A thermal object measuring apparatus, comprising:
- infrared ray detecting means for detecting infrared rays radiated from a thermal object within a measuring space, the infrared detecting means including at least one photo sensor,
- distance detecting means for detecting a distance to an object within the measuring space, the distance detecting means including at least one pair of an infrared emitter and a photo sensor, and
- sensor signal processing means for determining spatial temperature distributions and object distance distributions for the measuring space based upon outputs from the infrared ray detecting means and the distance detecting means, such that
- the sensor signal processing means determines a first object distance distribution for the measuring space,
- when the sensor signal processing means determines a spatial temperature distribution for the measuring space which includes a thermal object, the sensor signal processing means determines a second object distance distribution for the measuring space, and
- the sensor signal processing means compares a difference between the first object distance distribution and the second object distance distribution with the spatial temperature distribution to recognize if a distance from the thermal object to the thermal object measuring apparatus is to be measured.
3 more elements
A viewer survey system, comprising:
- a) a thermal object measuring apparatus which comprises:
- infrared ray detecting means for detecting infrared rays radiated from a thermal object within a measuring space, the infrared detecting means including at least one photo sensor,
- distance detecting means for detecting a distance to an object within the measuring space, the distance detecting means including at least one pair of an infrared emitter and a photo sensor, and
- sensor signal processing means for determining a spatial temperature distributions and object distance distributions for the measuring space based upon outputs from the infrared ray detecting means and the distance detecting means, such that
- the sensor signal processing means determines a first object distance distribution for the measuring space,
- when the sensor signal processing means determines a spatial temperature distribution for the measuring space which includes a thermal object, the sensor signal processing means determines a second object distance distribution for the measuring space, and
- the sensor signal processing means compares a difference between the first object distance distribution and the second object distance distribution with the spatial temperature distribution to recognize if a distance from the thermal object to the thermal object measuring apparatus is to be measured;
- wherein the sensor signal processing means determines a number, position and a moving condition of human bodies within said measuring space by analyzing said determined spatial temperature distributions and object distance distributions;
- b) and a human body presence counting means for counting a number of human bodies present within the measuring space,
- c) television information generating means for generating at least a channel and duration of a program being broadcast,
- d) judging means for
- 1) comparing an output from said human body presence counting means and an output from said thermal object measuring apparatus, and
- 2) judging whether said outputs match,
- e) warning means for warning of a result of said judgment, and
- f) transmitting means for transmitting said outputs from said human body presence counting means and said thermal object measuring apparatus.
12 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.