JPH029698B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a thermography device whose operation can be simplified.

Generally, in a thermography device, infrared rays generated from each point within the field of view are scanned and focused, introduced into an infrared detector, and the obtained detection signal is sent to a cathode ray tube as a luminance signal to distribute the temperature distribution of the object within the field of view. I'm getting a statue. In such thermography devices, the temperature range of the subject is narrower than the measurable range, so there is a knob that changes the temperature range to be displayed, and a center temperature or upper limit (lower limit) temperature (reference temperature) of the temperature range.
It was necessary for the operator to operate the two knobs to adjust the temperature distribution image of the object to be properly displayed on the cathode ray tube.
In particular, adjusting the reference temperature was troublesome because it had to be done by operating a knob each time the user wanted to change the field of view and observe a different object.

By the way, a thermography apparatus usually displays a gray scale at the same time as a temperature distribution image.
This gray scale is displayed as a band-shaped area whose brightness changes continuously or stepwise from black to white, and the black level corresponds to the lower limit of the temperature range, and the white level corresponds to the upper limit. This makes it possible to determine the temperature of a portion of a specific brightness in a temperature distribution image by referring to the brightness between the white level and the white level. In this way, the total length of the gray scale corresponds to the temperature range displayed as a temperature distribution image, so this gray scale can be used as a potentiometer, for example, by using a position specifying means such as a light pen. When a point on the gray scale is specified, the position occupied by the point on the gray scale can be converted into a temperature value.
Then, by resetting the reference temperature based on this temperature value, the temperature range can be varied.

The present invention has been made based on the above-mentioned idea, and one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, in which 1 is an infrared detector, 2 is an optical scanner for forming an image of the detector on a subject and performing raster scanning, and 3 is a reference blackbody for allowing reference infrared rays to enter the detector every time the optical scanner 2 scans horizontally. Infrared rays from the field of view are sequentially incident on the detector 1 based on raster scanning by the optical scanner 2, and the obtained detection signal is sent via an amplifier 4 to a processing circuit 5 having an absolute temperature reproducing circuit, a linearizer, etc. is converted into a temperature signal corresponding to the absolute temperature of the subject. The temperature signal is converted into a digital signal by an A-D converter 6, and then sent to an image memory 8 via a write control circuit 7 and stored therein.

9 is a temperature range setting circuit that calculates the temperature range to be displayed based on the signal a specifying the center temperature and the signal b specifying the temperature range; 10 is a setting circuit that reads image data stored in the image memory 8; 9, the extracted pixel data is transferred to the display image memory 12 in a form that falls within the gradation range of the monitor cathode ray tube display device 11. is stored in The pixel data stored in the memory 12 is read out together with the character information pattern data stored in the character display memory 13, and then added together by the adder 14, and then sent to the switching circuit 15, the DA converter 16, The signal is sent to the monitor cathode ray tube display device 11 via the television signal conversion circuit 17. Further, the data in the gray scale display memory 18 is also read out at the same time, and the data is also read out from the display device 11 via the switching circuit 15.
Therefore, as shown in Figure 2, the temperature distribution image Z and information related to the image Z, such as CT (center temperature) and TW (temperature width), are displayed superimposed on the screen of the display device, and at the same time the temperature distribution image Z is displayed on the screen. Grayscale G is displayed at the bottom of the screen.

19 is a synchronization signal generation circuit that generates standard television synchronization signals H and V to be supplied to the television signal conversion circuit 17, and 20 is a pixel clock signal that divides one raster into 256 pixels based on the synchronization signal H. 21 is a counter that counts the clock signal to generate a horizontal scanning signal, and 22 is a counter that counts the synchronizing signal H to generate a vertical scanning signal. Data is read from the memories 12 and 13 based on the horizontal and vertical scanning signals from the two counters, and data is read from the memory 18 based on the horizontal scanning signal from the counter 21. A comparator 23 generates a switching signal g when the vertical scanning signal exceeds a predetermined value, sends it to the switching circuit 15, and switches the circuit.

24 is a light pen; 25 is a position determination circuit that determines the indicated position of the light pen based on the signal from the light pen and the horizontal and vertical scanning signals from the counters 19 and 20; 26 is a position sent from the determination circuit 25; An arithmetic circuit 27 for calculating a new center temperature from data, a signal a specifying the center temperature, and a signal b specifying the temperature range, holds the center temperature value obtained by the arithmetic circuit 26, and sets the temperature range. A register 28 for sending data to the circuit 9 is a character writing circuit for writing the center temperature value and temperature range into the character display memory 13.

In the above configuration, the image memory 8 has 256 pixels in the horizontal direction and 256 pixels in the vertical direction, as shown in FIG.
A storage area of 240 lines and, for example, 12 bits in the depth direction is set, and the temperature data of each pixel obtained by horizontally and vertically scanning the detector image with the optical scanner 2 is stored at the corresponding position. Stored. Image display memory 12, character display memory 1
In addition to the storage area for 256 x 240 pixels, 3 has a storage area for 256 x 16 pixels for gray scale, and the storage area is set for a total of 256 x 256 pixels, but in the depth direction 6 bits (64 gradations) in image display memory 12, 1 in character display memory 13
Bit (two gradations of white and black).

Now, if the center temperature (CT) is specified as 35.0℃ and the temperature width (TW) is specified as 3.00℃, then
The temperature range setting circuit 9 calculates CT±TW/2,
The lower limit temperature (33.5°C) and upper limit temperature (36.5°C) are specified to the read selection circuit 10. The read selection circuit 1
0 is from all pixels stored in image memory 8
Extract those above 33.5℃ and below 36.5℃, Part 3
The temperature range of 0.degree. C. is classified into 62 levels from 1 to 62, and the numerical values are written into the corresponding positions of the image display memory 12. In addition, “0” (black level) is applied to pixels below 33.5℃.
However, "63" (white level) is assigned to each pixel with a temperature of 36.5 degrees Celsius or higher, making a total of 64 gradations.

Further, the character writing circuit 28 controls the character generator based on the signal a specifying the center temperature and the signal b specifying the temperature range, and writes the character display memory 13
A pattern of letters and numbers "CT35.0TW3.00" is written in the upper part of the 256 x 240 storage area in the form of, for example, a 5 x 7 dot matrix. In this case, since it is sufficient to indicate the presence or absence of a pattern, the memory 13 only needs to have one bit in the depth direction.

Furthermore, the memory 18 has a depth of 6 for 1 x 256 pixels.
A bit storage area is set, and values from "0" to "63" are stored therein, which sequentially designate 64 gradations of brightness for the gray scale shown in FIG.

The image data and character data written separately in the memory 12 and memory 13 in this way are processed by the horizontal scanning signals (0 to 255) generated from the counters 19 and 20.
and vertical scanning signal (0 to 255) to display device 1.
1 is simultaneously read out in synchronization with the screen scan of 1 and sent to the display device 11 via the adder 14, switching circuit 15, D-A converter 16, and conversion circuit 17, so that the screen shown in FIG. The temperature distribution image Z and the words "CT35.0TW3.00" are displayed. In addition, since the data read from the character display memory 13 is weighted during addition, the brightness of the characters is at the white level.

Further, the grayscale data stored in the memory 18 is also read out repeatedly by the horizontal scanning signal, but the data is transferred to the display device via the switching circuit 15 in which the vertical scanning signal is switched to the memory 18 side between 240 and 255. 11, a gray scale is drawn on the screen of the display device 11 using 16 rasters from the 241st to the 256th raster.

In the present invention, when the image and gray scale are displayed in this way, the total length of the gray scale corresponds to the temperature range between the lower limit temperature and the upper limit temperature,
Focusing on the fact that the position on the gray scale has temperature information, if you specify a desired point on the gray scale with a position specifying means such as a light pen, the temperature information that point has according to its position on the gray scale will be displayed. The center temperature is newly set based on the above, and an image corresponding to the center temperature is displayed.

In other words, when an image Z in the range of 33.5°C to 36.5°C is displayed as shown in Figure 2, the gray scale displayed at the same time is 33.5°C at the left end and 33.5°C at the right end.
36.5℃, the center position corresponds to the center temperature of 36.0℃. Here, we set a slightly lower temperature as the center temperature,
For example, if the center temperature is around 34.0° C. and the operator wishes to observe lower temperatures, the operator first presses the light pen 24 against the letters CT on the screen and presses the switch on the light pen 24. While the switch is pressed, a pulse is generated from the light pen at the timing when the character CT is displayed (glows). Based on the scanning signal, it is determined that CT has been instructed, and a determination signal c is generated. Arithmetic circuit 26
is activated by the signal c.

Next, the operator presses the light pen 24 to a point P near 34.0°C, which is about 1/6 of the total length of the grayscale from the left end (33.5°C) of the gray scale G.
Press the switch again. A pulse synchronized with the display of point P is obtained from the light pen, and the position discrimination circuit 25
holds the horizontal scanning signal at the time when the pulse is generated, and sends the signal value to the arithmetic circuit 26 as the horizontal position signal of point P. The arithmetic circuit 26 calculates, based on the position signal value, a signal a indicating the center temperature at that time, and a signal b indicating the temperature width, the point P corresponds to what point in the temperature range indicated by the gray scale. demand. As mentioned earlier, the temperature at this point P is determined by proportional calculation between the left end of the gray scale, which corresponds to the lower limit temperature of the temperature range, and the right end, which corresponds to the upper limit temperature of the temperature range, according to the position signal. It can be easily obtained by doing this. The obtained temperature data at point P is held in the register 27 and sent to the temperature range setting circuit 9 and character writing circuit 28 as a new signal a specifying the center temperature.

If the newly sent signal a is, for example, 34.1°C, the setting circuit 9 calculates the above-mentioned CT±
Perform the calculation of TW/2, and the new upper limit temperature is 35.6℃,
Set a temperature range with a lower limit temperature of 32.6℃. Based on the upper limit temperature and lower limit temperature, the readout selection circuit 10 extracts only pixel data within the set temperature range and stores it in the image display memory 12, in exactly the same manner as described above.
A temperature distribution image with a temperature range of 34.1℃ and a temperature width of 3.00℃ will be displayed. The signal a is also sent to the character writing circuit 28, which writes the memory 13.
Since the numerical value of CT in the figure is rewritten as "34.1", the numerical value displayed on the screen of the display device 11 also becomes "CT34.1TW3.00", which correctly represents the display conditions of the temperature distribution image.

As mentioned above, in the present invention, simply by specifying a specific point on the gray scale, the temperature corresponding to the position of that point on the gray scale becomes the new center temperature. No settings are required, and operability is significantly improved.

Note that in the above-mentioned embodiments, in order to facilitate understanding, a device composed of individual blocks was illustrated.
In fact, it is possible to replace the functions of the position determination circuit 25, arithmetic circuit 26, temperature range setting circuit 9, readout circuit, etc. with a computer.

Furthermore, in the above-described embodiments, the present invention was implemented in an apparatus that uses the center temperature as the reference temperature necessary for specifying a temperature range, but the lower limit temperature and temperature range or the upper limit temperature and temperature range are used to specify the temperature range. It goes without saying that the present invention can be carried out in exactly the same manner with respect to an apparatus using the same.

Further, in the above embodiment, the position of the point specified by the light pen was determined by proportional calculation between the upper limit temperature and the lower limit temperature, but the present invention is not limited to this. When the right side is specified, the center temperature is increased by TW/2,
On the other hand, if you specify the left side, the center temperature will be lowered by TW/2, so you can limit the position specification on the gray scale to two types.

Furthermore, in the above-mentioned embodiment, a light pen is used as a position specifying means, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a sheet on which transparent electrodes are arranged is brought into close contact with the screen, and by pressing the sheet with a finger or the like, an arbitrary position on the screen can be specified. It goes without saying that other position specifying means, such as a so-called touch sensor that can specify the position of , may also be used.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the display state of the screen, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the arrangement of pixels. 8: Image memory, 9: Temperature width setting circuit, 10:
Read selection circuit, 11: cathode ray tube display device for monitor, 12: memory for image display, 13: memory for character display, 14: adder, 15: switching circuit, 16: D
-A converter, 17: TV signal conversion circuit, 18:
Grayscale memory, 19: Synchronization signal generation circuit, 20: Pixel clock oscillator, 21, 22: Counter, 24: Light pen, 25: Position discrimination circuit, 26: Arithmetic circuit, 27: Register, 28: Character writing circuit .

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A means for storing temperature data of pixels constituting a field of view obtained by detecting infrared rays from a subject, and a temperature range determined by a specified reference temperature and temperature range among the temperature data stored in the storage means. a reading means for reading out what is inside; a display means for displaying a temperature distribution image of the subject based on the read temperature data; means for simultaneously displaying a strip-shaped region corresponding to the temperature range; a position specifying means for specifying an arbitrary position on the screen of the display means; and means for generating a position signal corresponding to the position occupied by the point on the strip area when specified by the position specifying means, and resetting the reference temperature based on the position signal. A thermography device featuring: