Patent ID: 6456261
Filing Date: 2002-09-24
Classification: A42B,G02B,H04N

Abstract:
A passive/active infrared imaging system including apparatus for mounting on a head/helmet comprising:a passive infrared camera Head Pack having a removable narrow band filter cover, an objective lens, a beam splitter, an uncooled focal plane array (UFPA package, an interface board, and a display unit, with forward/back, up/down, and tilt adjustment functions fitting any mask, mounted in the front of said head/helmet for converting infrared light images into from different types of object in an external scene electronic signals; electronic means coupled between the UFPA of the infrared camera and the display unit, including controller means, for processing video signals from the infrared camera and supplying them to the display unit; wherein the electronic means includes a wireless video & audio transceiver, a piezoelectric microphone, a voice controller, and a neural network pattern recognition chip; said display unit being inside the head pack and mounted on said head/helmet for converting electronic signals into visible light images; so that it is in front of eyes of a user, so that the user can directly view the external scene without blocking his normal vision, if the optical axis of the display unit is aligned with the optical axis of the objective lens, the system parallax is eliminated; the arrangement of the display unit being such the user can view the same external scene either directly or on the display unit by a simple eye movement; a Battery Pack having video controller board and battery mounted on the rear of said head/helmet so that it fives the video output and power to the infrared system; an eye-safe near infrared laser diode with corresponding optical and electronic attachments mounted on said head/helmet to illuminated targets to get images through same passive infrared system, the narrow band filter being used to pass infrared radiation in a band corresponding to that of the laser diode.