KR100415051B1 - Infrared Thermal Imaging Device with 2D Array Detection - Google Patents

Abstract

end. The technical field to which the invention described in the claims belongs

An infrared thermal imaging apparatus.

I. The technical problem that the invention is trying to solve

The present invention provides an infrared thermal imaging device capable of screen reproduction without vertical / horizontal scanning.

All. Summary of Solution of the Invention

In the infrared thermal imaging apparatus, an infrared optical unit for detecting a subject and generating an infrared signal, a reflecting unit for deflecting an infrared signal output from the infrared optical unit, and an infrared signal deflected from the reflecting unit A detection unit configured of a two-dimensional vertical / horizontal pixel array capable of covering a vertical / horizontal line and detecting an infrared signal corresponding to the magnitude of each infrared signal, and an electrical analog detected by the detection unit And a video signal processor configured to process the signal into a video signal.

la. Important uses of the invention

Used for infrared thermal imaging device.

Description

Infrared Thermal Imaging Device with Two-Dimensional Array Detection

The present invention relates to an infrared thermal imaging apparatus, and more particularly, to an infrared thermal imaging apparatus having a two-dimensional array detection unit.

The operation of a general infrared thermal imaging apparatus detects an image according to a heat from an object to be imaged and applies the detection unit to convert the thermal image into an electrical analog signal by horizontally scanning the thermal image with a vertical scan. The electrical analog signal detected by the detector is converted into a digital signal, processed into a signal for image output, and then processed into an analog signal and outputted as an image. Infrared thermal imaging device has the same type of video output as RS170, so the effective vertical line should be 480 or more and horizontal pixels should be 600 or more. Like a typical Charge Couple Device (CCD) camera, when the number of pixels in the detector is greater than or equal to 480 × 600, the screen can be reproduced without a separate scanning device. However, since the detection unit for heat detection has only about 8 to 120 vertical lines and only parts having 1 to 8 pixels horizontally, it is necessary to scan vertically and horizontally within the frame frame playback time. You can get video output. In order to reproduce the screen with the number of pixels of 480 to 600, the general detection unit, 120 to 8 vertical / horizontal pixel lines are scanned 60 times horizontally in one vertical scan within the screen reproduction time. If you repeat the scan 4 times, you can get the desired video output. In other words, the thermal image of the object is detected, and the vertical syringe has to scan the TV screen and the horizontal image is scanned in synchronization with the vertical scan. The detector receives signals from each scan and stores them sequentially, Will produce the same signal.

Therefore, as described above, the conventional infrared thermal imaging apparatus needs to scan horizontally and vertically at high speed in order to adjust the scanning time to the screen frame time, thereby increasing the size of the system and increasing power consumption. To solve this problem, Korean patent application No. 96-48055 filed on September 22, 1997, entitled 'Infrared Imaging Device' by the applicant of the present application, has a detection unit that can cover a vertical line, and reproduces images using only horizontal scanning. An infrared thermal imaging apparatus is disclosed which makes this possible.

However, the 'infrared imaging apparatus' previously filed by the present applicant has a detection unit that can cover all the vertical lines, thereby removing the vertical syringe provided for vertical scanning in the infrared thermal imaging apparatus, thereby configuring the infrared thermal imaging apparatus. Although somewhat simpler, the size and power consumption of the system remain large because the horizontal scanning still needs to be performed at a high speed.

As described above, the conventional infrared thermal imaging apparatus still needs to perform horizontal scanning, which causes a problem that the size and power consumption of the system are not greatly reduced.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an infrared thermal imaging apparatus capable of greatly reducing the size and power consumption of a system by allowing an image to be reproduced without performing vertical / horizontal scanning.

1 is a block diagram of an infrared thermal imaging apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a detailed view of the detector of the device shown in FIG. 1; FIG.

In the infrared thermal imaging apparatus, an infrared optical unit for thermally detecting a subject to generate an infrared signal, a reflecting unit for deflecting an infrared signal output from the infrared optical unit, and the reflecting unit A detection unit configured to include two-dimensional vertical / horizontal pixel arrays capable of covering vertical / horizontal lines of the infrared signals deflected from and detecting the analog signals corresponding to the magnitudes of the infrared signals. And an image signal processor configured to process the electrical analog signal detected by the detector as an image signal.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Many specific details are set forth in the following description and in the accompanying drawings to provide a more general understanding of the invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. And a detailed description of known functions and configurations that may unnecessarily obscure the subject matter of the present invention will be omitted.

1 is a block diagram illustrating an infrared thermal imaging apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, the infrared thermal imaging apparatus detects heat provided from a subject and outputs an infrared signal according to thermal detection, and an infrared signal output from the infrared optical unit 100. Deflecting the reflector 102 and the infrared signal deflected from the reflector 102 are finely deflected (for example, about one pixel size, typically about several tens of micrometers) in synchronization with up, down, left and right. The two-dimensional vertical / horizontal pixel array to cover all the vertical / horizontal lines of the infrared signal with respect to the image of the subject scanned from the precision scanning unit 104. A detector 106 that detects the signal as an electric analog signal corresponding to the magnitude of each infrared signal, and a digital signal that detects the electrical analog signal detected by the detector 106. To selectively pass the digital signal converted by the analog-to-digital converter 110 by an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) 110 and a system timing control (STC) signal. A multiplexer (MUX) 112, a digital-analog converter (DAC) 114 for converting a digital signal selectively passed by the multiplexer 112 into an analog video signal, and the digital-analog The video signal processor 116 extracts only a video signal from the analog video signal converted by the converter 114, and the display unit 118 displays the video signal extracted from the video signal processor 116 on the screen. It consists of.

FIG. 2 is a detailed view of a detector of the infrared thermal imaging apparatus of FIG. 1 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, the operation of the infrared thermal imaging apparatus according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

An infrared thermal imaging apparatus is an apparatus that converts an image according to heat detected from an object into an electrical signal to image an object that is hardly visible at night. The infrared optical unit 100 detects infrared rays provided from a subject to be output as an image. The infrared optical unit 100 is a portion corresponding to the lens as compared to the charge coupled device camera, and does not pass visible light or ultraviolet rays provided from a subject, and passes only heat, that is, infrared light, to detect an image according to heat. The reflector 102 deflects the image of the subject due to the infrared rays detected by the infrared optical unit 100. The vertical / horizontal line of the general detection unit 106 is 480 × 600, and the vertical / horizontal line of the detection unit 106 according to the embodiment of the present invention is 240 × 320 (b) or 480 × as shown in FIG. 2. Since it is 640 (a), the screen can be reproduced without a separate vertical / horizontal scanner, so the vertical / horizontal line of the subject's thermal image by the infrared signal output from the infrared optical unit 100 is deflected using the reflector 102. Let's do it.

If the detector 106 has a vertical / horizontal pixel array configured in two dimensions of 240 × 320 (b), the image signal processor 120 may reproduce the screen in two ways. That is, when there is no precision scanning unit 104, the number of pixels is doubled and reproduced on the screen, and when there is the precision scanning unit 104, the number of pixels is not doubled, and the signal is processed and reproduced on the screen as it is. You can get the output.

The precision scanning unit 104 moves the image of the subject by the infrared signal deflected from the reflecting unit 102 finely (for example, about one pixel size, typically about several tens of microns). It is responsible for the precise injection in accordance with the motivation.

As described above, when the finely deflected infrared signal synchronized with the vertical scanning unit 104 in the up, down, left, and right directions is input to the detection unit 106 having the vertical / horizontal pixel arrangement in two dimensions of 240 × 320 (b), as a result, Since the detection unit 106 has the same effect as receiving the corresponding signal of 480 × 640 (a), the image signal processing unit 120 does not double the number of pixels, and processes the signal as it is and reproduces the image on the screen. You will get the output.

In addition, when the detector 106 has a vertical / horizontal pixel arrangement composed of two dimensions of 480 × 640 (a), the analog signal output from the detector 106 is processed as it is and reproduced on a screen. You can get the video output.

As a result, the detection unit 106 is 240 x 320 (b) as shown in FIG. 2 so as to cover both the vertical and horizontal lines of the infrared signal with respect to the thermal image of the subject which is deflected from the reflector 102. Or it consists of a two-dimensional vertical / horizontal pixel array of 480 × 640 (a) to detect the infrared signal as an electrical analog signal corresponding to the magnitude of the infrared signal. That is, in the conventional detection unit 106 composed of 480 × 4 pixel arrays, a vertical / horizontal pixel line of 480 × 4 is scanned vertically once within the screen reproduction time in order to reproduce the screen at 480 × 600, which is the number of pixels of the general detection unit. While the desired image output can be obtained by scanning 150 times horizontally, the detector 106 of the embodiment of the present invention performs a vertical / horizontal pixel arrangement of 240 × 320 (b) or 480 × 640 (a) as described above. This allows you to achieve the desired video output without the need for vertical and horizontal scanning.

In addition, since the signal input to the detector 106 is a signal according to the size of the infrared ray detected by the subject, the temperature is present. The detector 106 is displayed in the form of different colors according to the size of the infrared ray, that is, the temperature. The voltage is set according to the color from the subject to output an analog signal according to the color value. The amplifier 108 amplifies the electrical analog signal detected by the detector 106. In general, since the electric analog signal for the subject output from the detector 106 is not only weak but also mixed with noise, it is difficult to output an image signal. Accordingly, the amplification unit 108 is the detector 106 as described above. The electrical analog signal for the subject output from is amplified appropriately by a preset amount of amplification for use in subsequent signal processing. The analog-digital converter 110 converts the electrical analog signal amplified by the amplifier 108 into a digital signal.

The multiplexer 112 selectively passes the digital signal converted by the analog-digital converter by the system timing control signal. Therefore, even if an infrared ray of an unwanted object is input, the multiplexer 112 is controlled by the system timing control signal so that the infrared ray is not output as an image signal. The digital-analog converter 114 converts the digital signal selectively passed by the multiplexer 112 into an analog video signal and outputs the analog video signal. The video signal processor 116 extracts only the video signal from the analog video signal converted by the digital-analog converter 114. The video signal includes an audio signal and a video signal. In the present invention, since the desired signal is a video signal, only the video signal is extracted. The display unit 118 displays the video signal extracted by the video signal processor 116 on the screen.

As described above, the present invention eliminates the need for vertical / horizontal scanning when the screen is reproduced by using a detector configured to have a vertical / horizontal pixel number so that a general screen can be reproduced in the infrared thermal imaging device. It is possible to simplify the configuration of the system by eliminating the horizontal syringe and to reduce the power consumption.

Claims (4)

In the infrared thermal imaging device, An infrared optical unit for thermally detecting a subject to generate an infrared signal; A reflection unit for deflecting the infrared signal output from the infrared optical unit; A detector configured of a two-dimensional vertical / horizontal pixel array that can cover the vertical / horizontal lines of the infrared signals deflected from the reflector, and detecting the infrared signals as electrical analog signals corresponding to the magnitude of each infrared signal Wow, And an image signal processor configured to process the electrical analog signal detected by the detector as an image signal. The method of claim 1, When the detection unit has a vertical / horizontal pixel array composed of two dimensions of 240 × 320, the image signal processing unit doubles the number of pixels and reproduces them on the screen. The method of claim 1, When the detector has a vertical / horizontal pixel array composed of two dimensions of 240 × 320, the detector 480 × further includes a precision scan unit which finely deflects the infrared signal deflected from the reflector in synchronization with up, down, left and right. And an image processor for reproducing the image on the screen by processing the signal without doubling the number of pixels by allowing a signal corresponding to 640 to be received. The method of claim 1, When the detection unit has a vertical / horizontal pixel array composed of two dimensions of 480 × 640, the image signal processing unit reproduces an electrical analog signal output from the detection unit as it is and reproduces it on a screen. An infrared thermal imaging device having a detector.