US 8,478,028 B2Granted

Method and system for converting at least one first-spectrum image into a second-spectrum image

AssigneeNederlandse Organisatie voor toegepast-natuurwetenschappelijk onderzoek TNO

InventorsMaarten Andreas Hogervorst, Alexander Toet, Frank Leonard Kooi

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Abstract

Method for converting at least one image of a first spectrum into an image of a second spectrum, comprising: —recording at least one first-spectrum reference image (NRI) of at least one reference scene (RS) with a first-spectrum recording apparatus (1), the first-spectrum reference image (NRI) comprising first image portions with corresponding first-spectrum sensor reference data (b1, b2); —providing corresponding second-spectrum reference information (RGB); —providing at least one set of reference data (T1, T2) from at least part of the first-spectrum sensor reference data (b1, b2) relating to the reference scene (RS), and at least a corresponding part of the second-spectrum information (RGB) relating to that reference scene (RS); —providing at least one target first-spectrum image (NTI) or target second-spectrum image; and —converting each target first-spectrum image (NTI) or target second-spectrum image into a respective second-spectrum image (CI) or first-spectrum image, respectively, using the set of reference data (T1, T2).

Claims19

Dependent claims

A method for converting at least one image of a first spectrum into an image of a second spectrum, comprising:

recording a first-spectrum reference image of a reference scene with a first-spectrum recording apparatus, the first-spectrum recording apparatus being a night-vision apparatus, the first-spectrum reference image comprising first image portions with corresponding first-spectrum sensor reference data;
providing corresponding second-spectrum reference information;
providing a set of reference data from at least part of the first-spectrum sensor reference data relating to the reference scene, and at least a corresponding part of the second-spectrum information relating to the reference scene;
providing a target first-spectrum image;
and
converting the target first-spectrum image into a second-spectrum image using the set of reference data,
wherein the first-spectrum sensor reference data comprises multi-band data, relating to at least two different parts of a light spectrum, and the second-spectrum reference information is true-color color information,
wherein the providing the set of reference data comprises:
selecting, for a same reference scene, a plurality of first, first-spectrum, image portions and corresponding second, second-spectrum, image portions, such that reference scene image coordinates of a first image portion substantially correspond to reference scene image coordinates of a corresponding second image portion of the same reference scene, and
creating an index containing the first-spectrum sensor reference data and the second-spectrum information for the same reference scene such that each entry in the index refers to the first-spectrum sensor reference data and the corresponding second-spectrum information associated with a selected first image portion and a corresponding second image portion of the same reference scene;
and
wherein the converting the target first-spectrum image into the second-spectrum image comprises:
finding, for individual portions of the target first-spectrum image, a closest matching entry in the index by comparing first-spectrum sensor data associated with the individual portions of the target first-spectrum image and the first-spectrum sensor reference data contained within entries of the index containing the first-spectrum reference data, and
replacing, for the individual portions of the target first-spectrum image, each target first-spectrum image portion with the second, second-spectrum, image portion, the second image portion being associated with the closest matching entry in the index for the individual portion of the target first-spectrum image.

11 more elements

A system for converting a first-spectrum image into a second-spectrum image, the system comprising:

a first-spectrum recording apparatus configured to generate first-spectrum sensor reference data relating to a reference scene, the first-spectrum recording apparatus being a night-vision apparatus, the first-spectrum sensor reference data comprising multi-band data relating to at least two different parts of the spectrum;
a second-spectrum information provider configured to provide second-spectrum reference information relating to the reference scene, the second-spectrum reference information being true-color color information;
a target image generator providing a first-spectrum target image of a target scene, wherein the target image generator is a night-vision apparatus;
a converter configured to convert the first-spectrum target image into a second-spectrum image using the first-spectrum sensor reference data in combination with a corresponding part of the second-spectrum reference information;
and
a data processor, configured to process the first-spectrum sensor reference data and the second-spectrum reference information to provide at least one set of reference data by:
selecting, for a same reference scene a plurality of first, first-spectrum, image portions from a first-spectrum reference image and corresponding second, second-spectrum, image portions, such that reference scene image coordinates of a first image portion substantially correspond to reference scene image coordinates of a corresponding second image portion of the same reference scene;
and
creating an index containing the first-spectrum sensor reference data and the second-spectrum reference information for the same reference scene such that each entry in the index refers to the first-spectrum sensor reference data and the corresponding second-spectrum reference information associated with a selected first image portion and a corresponding second image portion of the same reference scene;
and
wherein the converter is configured to convert the target first-spectrum image into the second-spectrum image by:
finding, for individual portions of the target first-spectrum image, a closest matching entry in the index by comparing first-spectrum sensor data associated with the individual portions of the target first-spectrum image and the first-spectrum sensor reference data contained within entries of the index containing the first-spectrum reference data, and
replacing, for the individual portions of the target first-spectrum image, each target first-spectrum image portion with the second, second-spectrum, image portion, the second image portion being associated with the closest matching entry in the index for the individual portion of the target first-spectrum image.

10 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.