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US 7,541,581 B2Granted
Clip-on infrared imager
AssigneeInsight Technology, Inc.
InventorsMatthew W. Reed, Sheldon Schwartz, II, Joseph C. Ottney
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A clip-on infrared imager may be coupled and decoupled to an existing night vision system to add infrared imaging to provide a fused image through at least one of the night vision system eyepieces.
Claims24
A scene imager, comprising:
- a housing having a portion adapted to be coupled to an image intensification channel of a night vision system,
- a first channel at least partially disposed within the housing for sensing scene information in a first range of wavelengths;
- a processor for processing the scene information;
- a display for displaying the scene information;
- a corrector lens aligned with the display;
- and
- a light turning element aligned with the corrector lens, the light turning element being coupled to the portion of the housing adapted to be aligned with the image intensification channel for viewing of a fused image by an operator, wherein the light turning element is coupled to the portion of the housing adapted to be coupled to the image intensification channel and occupies less than 15% of a collection area of an image intensifier system objective of the night vision system.
4 more elements
A fusion night vision system, comprising:
- a first housing having a first channel for processing scene information in a first range of wavelengths;
- a second housing having a second channel for sensing scene information in a second range of wavelengths;
- a display coupled to the second channel for displaying the sensed scene information;
- a corrector lens aligned with the display;
- and
- a light turning element optically aligned with the corrector lens, the light turning element being coupled to a portion of the second housing adapted to be aligned with the first channel for viewing of a fused image by an operator, wherein the light turning element is coupled to the portion of the second housing adapted to be aligned with the first channel and occupies less than 15% of a collection area of a first channel objective of the fusion night vision system.
3 more elements
A scene imager, comprising:
- a housing having a portion adapted to be aligned with an input end of an image intensification channel of a night vision system,
- a first channel at least partially disposed within the housing for sensing scene information in a first range of wavelengths;
- a processor for processing the scene information;
- a display for displaying the scene information;
- and
- a light turning element aligned with the display, the light turning element being coupled to the portion of the housing adapted to be aligned with the input end of the image intensification channel for viewing of a fused image by an operator, wherein the light turning element is a selected one of a mirror, a beam splitter and a prism and wherein the light turning element is coupled to the portion of the housing adapted to be aligned with the input end of the image intensification channel and occupies less than 15% of a collection area of an image intensifier system objective of the image intensification channel.
3 more elements
A fusion night vision system, comprising:
- a first housing having a first channel for processing scene information in a first range of wavelengths;
- a second housing having a second channel for sensing scene information in a second range of wavelengths;
- a display coupled to the second channel for displaying the sensed scene information;
- and a light turning element optically aligned with the display and an input to the first channel, the light turning element being coupled to a portion of the second housing adapted to be aligned with the first channel for viewing of a fused image by an operator, wherein the light turning element is a selected one of a mirror, a beam splitter and a prism and wherein the light turning element is coupled to the portion of the second housing adapted to be aligned with the first channel and occupies less than 15% of a collection area of a first channel objective of the image intensification channel.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.