Patent Publication Number: US-10321031-B2

Title: Device attachment with infrared imaging sensor

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/281,883 filed May 19, 2014 and entitled “DEVICE ATTACHMENT WITH INFRARED IMAGING SENSOR,” and a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/747,202 filed Jun. 23, 2015 and entitled “DEVICE ATTACHMENT WITH INFRARED IMAGING SENSOR,” both of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/281,883 is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/841,036 filed Aug. 20, 2007 issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,727,608 on May 20, 2014 and entitled “MOISTURE METER WITH NON-CONTACT INFRARED THERMOMETER,” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/841,036 is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/189,122 filed Jul. 25, 2005 issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,452,127 on Nov. 18, 2008 and entitled “ANEMOMETER WITH NON-CONTACT TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT,” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/841,036 is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/039,653 filed Jan. 19, 2005 issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,168,316 on Jan. 30, 2007 and entitled “HUMIDITY METER WITH NON-CONTACT TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT,” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/841,036 is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/910,894 filed Aug. 4, 2004 issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,163,336 on Jan. 16, 2007 and entitled “INSTRUMENT FOR NON-CONTACT INFRARED TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT HAVING CURRENT CLAMP METER FUNCTIONS,” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/841,036 is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/911,177 filed Aug. 4, 2004 issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,111,981 on Sep. 26, 2006 and entitled “INSTRUMENT FOR NON-CONTACT INFRARED TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT COMBINED WITH TACHOMETER FUNCTIONS,” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/841,036 is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/654,851 filed Sep. 4, 2003 issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,056,012 on Jun. 6, 2006 and entitled “MULTIMETER WITH NON-CONTACT TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT,” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/281,883 claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/938,388 filed Feb. 11, 2014 and entitled “MEASUREMENT DEVICE WITH THERMAL IMAGING CAPABILITIES AND RELATED METHODS,” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/281,883 is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/034,493 filed Sep. 23, 2013 and entitled “MEASUREMENT DEVICE FOR ELECTRICAL INSTALLATIONS AND RELATED METHODS,” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/034,493 is a continuation-in-part of International Patent Application No. PCT/US13/059831 filed Sep. 13, 2013 and entitled “MEASUREMENT DEVICE FOR ELECTRICAL INSTALLATIONS AND RELATED METHODS,” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     International Patent Application No. PCT/US13/059831 claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/701,292 filed Sep. 14, 2012 and entitled “MEASUREMENT DEVICE FOR ELECTRICAL INSTALLATIONS AND RELATED METHODS,” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     International Patent Application No. PCT/US13/059831 also claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/748,018 filed Dec. 31, 2012 and entitled “COMPACT MULTI-SPECTRUM IMAGING WITH FUSION,” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/281,883 is also a continuation-in-part of International Patent Application No. PCT/US2013/062433 filed Sep. 27, 2013 and entitled “DEVICE ATTACHMENT WITH INFRARED IMAGING SENSOR,” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     International Patent Application No. PCT/US2013/062433 claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/880,827 filed Sep. 20, 2013 and entitled “DEVICE ATTACHMENT WITH INFRARED IMAGING SENSOR,” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     International Patent Application No. PCT/US2013/062433 is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/901,428 filed May 23, 2013 and entitled “DEVICE ATTACHMENT WITH INFRARED IMAGING SENSOR,” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/281,883 is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/101,245 filed Dec. 9, 2013 and entitled “LOW POWER AND SMALL FORM FACTOR INFRARED IMAGING” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/101,245 is a continuation of International Patent Application No. PCT/US2012/041744 filed Jun. 8, 2012 and entitled “LOW POWER AND SMALL FORM FACTOR INFRARED IMAGING” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     International Patent Application No. PCT/US2012/041744 claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/656,889 filed Jun. 7, 2012 and entitled “LOW POWER AND SMALL FORM FACTOR INFRARED IMAGING” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     International Patent Application No. PCT/US2012/041744 claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/545,056 filed Oct. 7, 2011 and entitled “NON-UNIFORMITY CORRECTION TECHNIQUES FOR INFRARED IMAGING DEVICES” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     International Patent Application No. PCT/US2012/041744 claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/495,873 filed Jun. 10, 2011 and entitled “INFRARED CAMERA PACKAGING SYSTEMS AND METHODS” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     International Patent Application No. PCT/US2012/041744 claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/495,879 filed Jun. 10, 2011 and entitled “INFRARED CAMERA SYSTEM ARCHITECTURES” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     International Patent Application No. PCT/US2012/041744 claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/495,888 filed Jun. 10, 2011 and entitled “INFRARED CAMERA CALIBRATION TECHNIQUES” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/281,883 is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/099,818 filed Dec. 6, 2013 and entitled “NON-UNIFORMITY CORRECTION TECHNIQUES FOR INFRARED IMAGING DEVICES” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/099,818 is a continuation of International Patent Application No. PCT/US2012/041749 filed Jun. 8, 2012 and entitled “NON-UNIFORMITY CORRECTION TECHNIQUES FOR INFRARED IMAGING DEVICES” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     International Patent Application No. PCT/US2012/041749 claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/545,056 filed Oct. 7, 2011 and entitled “NON-UNIFORMITY CORRECTION TECHNIQUES FOR INFRARED IMAGING DEVICES” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     International Patent Application No. PCT/US2012/041749 claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/495,873 filed Jun. 10, 2011 and entitled “INFRARED CAMERA PACKAGING SYSTEMS AND METHODS” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     International Patent Application No. PCT/US2012/041749 claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/495,879 filed Jun. 10, 2011 and entitled “INFRARED CAMERA SYSTEM ARCHITECTURES” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     International Patent Application No. PCT/US2012/041749 claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/495,888 filed Jun. 10, 2011 and entitled “INFRARED CAMERA CALIBRATION TECHNIQUES” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/281,883 is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/101,258 filed Dec. 9, 2013 and entitled “INFRARED CAMERA SYSTEM ARCHITECTURES” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/101,258 is a continuation of International Patent Application No. PCT/US2012/041739 filed Jun. 8, 2012 and entitled “INFRARED CAMERA SYSTEM ARCHITECTURES” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     International Patent Application No. PCT/US2012/041739 claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/495,873 filed Jun. 10, 2011 and entitled “INFRARED CAMERA PACKAGING SYSTEMS AND METHODS” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     International Patent Application No. PCT/US2012/041739 claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/495,879 filed Jun. 10, 2011 and entitled “INFRARED CAMERA SYSTEM ARCHITECTURES” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     International Patent Application No. PCT/US2012/041739 claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/495,888 filed Jun. 10, 2011 and entitled “INFRARED CAMERA CALIBRATION TECHNIQUES” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/281,883 is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/437,645 filed Apr. 2, 2012 and entitled “INFRARED RESOLUTION AND CONTRAST ENHANCEMENT WITH FUSION” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/437,645 is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/105,765 filed May 11, 2011 and entitled “INFRARED RESOLUTION AND CONTRAST ENHANCEMENT WITH FUSION” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/437,645 also claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/473,207 filed Apr. 8, 2011 and entitled “INFRARED RESOLUTION AND CONTRAST ENHANCEMENT WITH FUSION” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/437,645 is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/766,739 filed Apr. 23, 2010 and entitled “INFRARED RESOLUTION AND CONTRAST ENHANCEMENT WITH FUSION” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/105,765 is a continuation of International Patent Application No. PCT/EP2011/056432 filed Apr. 21, 2011 and entitled “INFRARED RESOLUTION AND CONTRAST ENHANCEMENT WITH FUSION” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/105,765 is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/766,739 which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     International Patent Application No. PCT/EP2011/056432 is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/766,739 which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     International Patent Application No. PCT/EP2011/056432 also claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/473,207 which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/281,883 is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/138,058 filed Dec. 21, 2013 and entitled “COMPACT MULTI-SPECTRUM IMAGING WITH FUSION” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/138,058 claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/748,018 filed Dec. 31, 2012 and entitled “COMPACT MULTI-SPECTRUM IMAGING WITH FUSION” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/281,883 is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/477,828 filed Jun. 3, 2009 and entitled “INFRARED CAMERA SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DUAL SENSOR APPLICATIONS” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/281,883 is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/138,040 filed Dec. 21, 2013 and entitled “TIME SPACED INFRARED IMAGE ENHANCEMENT” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/138,040 claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/792,582 filed Mar. 15, 2013 and entitled “TIME SPACED INFRARED IMAGE ENHANCEMENT” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/138,040 also claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/746,069 filed Dec. 26, 2012 and entitled “TIME SPACED INFRARED IMAGE ENHANCEMENT” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/281,883 is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/138,052 filed Dec. 21, 2013 and entitled “INFRARED IMAGING ENHANCEMENT WITH FUSION” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/138,052 claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/793,952 filed Mar. 15, 2013 and entitled “INFRARED IMAGING ENHANCEMENT WITH FUSION” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/138,052 also claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/746,074 filed Dec. 26, 2012 and entitled “INFRARED IMAGING ENHANCEMENT WITH FUSION” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/747,202 is a continuation of International Patent Application No. PCT/US2013/062433 filed Sep. 27, 2013 and entitled “DEVICE ATTACHMENT WITH INFRARED IMAGING SENSOR” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/747,202 is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/901,428 filed May 23, 2013 and entitled “DEVICE ATTACHMENT WITH INFRARED IMAGING SENSOR” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/901,428 claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/652,075 filed May 25, 2012 and entitled “DEVICE ATTACHMENT WITH INFRARED IMAGING SENSOR” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/901,428 is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Design patent application No. 29/423,027 filed May 25, 2012 and entitled “DEVICE ATTACHMENT WITH CAMERA” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/901,428 is a continuation-in-part of International Patent Application No. PCT/US2012/041744 filed Jun. 8, 2012 and entitled “LOW POWER AND SMALL FORM FACTOR INFRARED IMAGING,” which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/901,428 is a continuation-in-part of International Patent Application No. PCT/US2012/041749 filed Jun. 8, 2012 and entitled “NON-UNIFORMITY CORRECTION TECHNIQUES FOR INFRARED IMAGING DEVICES,” which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/901,428 is a continuation-in-part of International Patent Application No. PCT/US2012/041739 filed Jun. 8, 2012 and entitled “INFRARED CAMERA SYSTEM ARCHITECTURES,” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/901,428 is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/622,178 filed Sep. 18, 2012 and entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROCESSING INFRARED IMAGES,” which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/529,772 filed Jun. 21, 2012 and entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROCESSING INFRARED IMAGES,” which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/396,340 filed Mar. 2, 2009 and entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROCESSING INFRARED IMAGES,” which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. 
     International Patent Application No. PCT/US2013/062433 claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/792,582 filed Mar. 15, 2013 and entitled “TIME SPACED INFRARED IMAGE ENHANCEMENT” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     International Patent Application No. PCT/US2013/062433 claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/748,018 filed Dec. 31, 2012 and entitled “COMPACT MULTI-SPECTRUM IMAGING WITH FUSION” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     International Patent Application No. PCT/US2013/062433 claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/746,069 filed Dec. 26, 2012 and entitled “TIME SPACED INFRARED IMAGE ENHANCEMENT” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     One or more embodiments of the invention relate generally to infrared imaging devices and more particularly, for example, to infrared imaging devices for portable equipments and, for example, to systems and methods for multi-spectrum imaging using infrared imaging devices. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Various types of portable electronic devices, such as smart phones, cell phones, tablet devices, portable media players, portable game devices, digital cameras, and laptop computers, are in widespread use. These devices typically include a visible-light image sensor or camera that allows users to take a still picture or a video clip. One of the reasons for the increasing popularity of such embedded cameras may be the ubiquitous nature of mobile phones and other portable electronic devices. That is, because users may already be carrying mobile phones and other portable electronic devices, such embedded cameras are always at hand when users need one. Another reason for the increasing popularity may be the increasing processing power, storage capacity, and/or display capability that allow sufficiently fast capturing, processing, and storage of large, high quality images using mobile phones and other portable electronic devices. 
     However, image sensors used in these portable electronic devices are typically CCD-based or CMOS-based sensors limited to capturing visible light images. As such, these sensors may at best detect only a very limited range of visible light or wavelengths close to visible light (e.g., near infrared light when objects are actively illuminated with infrared light). In contrast, true infrared image sensors can capture images of thermal energy radiation emitted from all objects having a temperature above absolute zero, and thus can be used to produce infrared images (e.g., thermograms) that can be beneficially used in a variety of situations, including viewing in a low or no light condition, detecting body temperature anomalies in people (e.g., for detecting illness), detecting invisible gases, inspecting structures for water leaks and damaged insulation, detecting electrical and mechanical equipment for unseen damages, and other situations where true infrared images may provide useful information. Even though mobile phones and other portable electronic devices capable of processing, displaying, and storing infrared images are in widespread daily use, these devices are not being utilized for infrared imaging due to a lack of a true infrared imaging sensor. 
     SUMMARY 
     Various techniques are disclosed for providing a device attachment configured to releasably attach to and provide infrared imaging functionality to mobile phones or other portable electronic devices. For example, a device attachment may include a housing with a partial enclosure (e.g., a tub or cutout) on a rear surface thereof shaped to at least partially receive a user device, an infrared sensor assembly disposed within the housing and configured to capture thermal infrared image data, and a processing module communicatively coupled to the infrared sensor assembly and configured to transmit the thermal infrared image data to the user device. Thermal infrared image data may be captured by the infrared sensor assembly and transmitted to the user device by the processing module in response to a request transmitted by an application program or other software/hardware routines running on the user device. The thermal infrared image data may be transmitted to the user device via a device connector or a wireless connection. 
     In one embodiment, a device attachment includes a housing configured to releasably attach to a user device; an infrared sensor assembly within the housing, the infrared sensor assembly configured to capture thermal infrared image data; and a processing module communicatively coupled to the infrared sensor assembly and configured to transmit the thermal infrared image data to the user device. 
     In another embodiment, a method of providing infrared imaging functionality for a user device includes releasably attaching to the user device a device attachment comprising an infrared sensor assembly and a processing module; capturing thermal infrared image data at the infrared sensor assembly; and transmitting the thermal infrared image data to the user device using the processing module. 
     The scope of the invention is defined by the claims, which are incorporated into this section by reference. A more complete understanding of embodiments of the invention will be afforded to those skilled in the art, as well as a realization of additional advantages thereof, by a consideration of the following detailed description of one or more embodiments. Reference will be made to the appended sheets of drawings that will first be described briefly. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  illustrates an infrared imaging module configured to be implemented in a host device in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates an assembled infrared imaging module in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 3  illustrates an exploded view of an infrared imaging module juxtaposed over a socket in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 4  illustrates a block diagram of an infrared sensor assembly including an array of infrared sensors in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 5  illustrates a flow diagram of various operations to determine NUC terms in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 6  illustrates differences between neighboring pixels in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 7  illustrates a flat field correction technique in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 8  illustrates various image processing techniques of  FIG. 5  and other operations applied in an image processing pipeline in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 9  illustrates a temporal noise reduction process in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 10  illustrates particular implementation details of several processes of the image processing pipeline of  FIG. 6  in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 11  illustrates spatially correlated FPN in a neighborhood of pixels in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 12  illustrates a rear-left-bottom perspective view of a device attachment having an infrared sensor assembly in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 13  illustrates a rear-left-bottom perspective view of a device attachment having an infrared sensor assembly, showing a user device releasably attached thereto in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 14  illustrates a front elevational view of a device attachment having an infrared sensor assembly in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 15  illustrates a rear elevational view of a device attachment having an infrared sensor assembly in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 16  illustrates a left side elevational view of a device attachment having an infrared sensor assembly in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 17  illustrates a right side elevational view of a device attachment having an infrared sensor assembly in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 18  illustrates a top plan view of a device attachment having an infrared sensor assembly in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 19  illustrates a bottom plan view of a device attachment having an infrared sensor assembly in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 20  illustrates a front-left-top perspective view of a device attachment having an infrared sensor assembly in accordance with another embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 21  illustrates a rear-left-bottom perspective view of a device attachment having an infrared sensor assembly in accordance with another embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 22  illustrates a rear view of a device attachment having an infrared sensor assembly, showing a user device releasably attached thereto in accordance with another embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 23  illustrates a flow diagram showing how thermal images and non-thermal images can be combined to form processed images in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 24  illustrates a block diagram of a device and a device attachment showing how non-thermal images from a non-thermal camera module in the device may be combined with thermal images from the device attachment using a processor of the device in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 25  illustrates a block diagram of a device and a device attachment showing how non-thermal images from a non-thermal camera module in the device may be combined with thermal images from the device attachment using a processor of the device attachment in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 26  illustrates a block diagram of a device and a device attachment showing how non-thermal images from a non-thermal camera module in the device attachment may be combined with thermal images from the device attachment in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 27  illustrates a process for capturing and combining thermal and non-thermal images using a device and a device attachment in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 28  illustrates a front perspective view of a device attachment in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 29  illustrates a rear perspective view of a device attachment in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 30  illustrates a front perspective view of a device attachment in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 31  illustrates a rear perspective view of a device attachment in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 32  illustrates a block diagram of another implementation of an infrared sensor assembly including an array of infrared sensors and a low-dropout regulator in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 33  illustrates a circuit diagram of a portion of the infrared sensor assembly of  FIG. 32  in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 34  illustrates a block diagram of an imaging system adapted to image a scene in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 35  illustrates a flow diagram of various operations to enhance infrared imaging of a scene in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 36  illustrates a flow diagram of various operations to combine thermal images and non-thermal images in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 37  illustrates a block diagram of an imaging system adapted to image a scene in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 38  illustrates a block diagram of a mounting system for imaging modules adapted to image a scene in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 39  illustrates a block diagram of an arrangement of an imaging module adapted to image a scene in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 40  illustrates a block diagram of an arrangement of an imaging module adapted to image a scene in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. 
     
    
    
     Embodiments of the invention and their advantages are best understood by referring to the detailed description that follows. It should be appreciated that like reference numerals are used to identify like elements illustrated in one or more of the figures. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       FIG. 1  illustrates an infrared imaging module  100  (e.g., an infrared camera or an infrared imaging device) configured to be implemented in a host device  102  in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. Infrared imaging module  100  may be implemented, for one or more embodiments, with a small form factor and in accordance with wafer level packaging techniques or other packaging techniques. 
     In one embodiment, infrared imaging module  100  may be configured to be implemented in a small portable host device  102 , such as a mobile telephone, a tablet computing device, a laptop computing device, a personal digital assistant, a visible light camera, a music player, or any other appropriate mobile device (e.g., any type of mobile personal electronic device). In this regard, infrared imaging module  100  may be used to provide infrared imaging features to host device  102 . For example, infrared imaging module  100  may be configured to capture, process, and/or otherwise manage infrared images and provide such infrared images to host device  102  for use in any desired fashion (e.g., for further processing, to store in memory, to display, to use by various applications running on host device  102 , to export to other devices, or other uses). 
     In various embodiments, infrared imaging module  100  may be configured to operate at low voltage levels and over a wide temperature range. For example, in one embodiment, infrared imaging module  100  may operate using a power supply of approximately 2.4 volts, 2.5 volts, 2.8 volts, or lower voltages, and operate over a temperature range of approximately −20 degrees C. to approximately +60 degrees C. (e.g., providing a suitable dynamic range and performance over an environmental temperature range of approximately 80 degrees C.). In one embodiment, by operating infrared imaging module  100  at low voltage levels, infrared imaging module  100  may experience reduced amounts of self heating in comparison with other types of infrared imaging devices. As a result, infrared imaging module  100  may be operated with reduced measures to compensate for such self heating. 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , host device  102  may include a socket  104 , a shutter  105 , motion sensors  194 , a processor  195 , a memory  196 , a display  197 , and/or other components  198 . Socket  104  may be configured to receive infrared imaging module  100  as identified by arrow  101 . In this regard,  FIG. 2  illustrates infrared imaging module  100  assembled in socket  104  in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. 
     Motion sensors  194  may be implemented by one or more accelerometers, gyroscopes, or other appropriate devices that may be used to detect movement of host device  102 . Motion sensors  194  may be monitored by and provide information to processing module  160  or processor  195  to detect motion. In various embodiments, motion sensors  194  may be implemented as part of host device  102  (as shown in  FIG. 1 ), infrared imaging module  100 , or other devices attached to or otherwise interfaced with host device  102 . 
     Processor  195  may be implemented as any appropriate processing device (e.g., logic deice, microcontroller, processor, application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or other device) that may be used by host device  102  to execute appropriate instructions, such as software instructions provided in memory  196 . Display  197  may be used to display captured and/or processed infrared images and/or other images, data, and information. Other components  198  may be used to implement any features of host device  102  as may be desired for various applications (e.g., clocks, temperature sensors, a visible light camera, or other components). In addition, a machine readable medium  193  may be provided for storing non-transitory instructions for loading into memory  196  and execution by processor  195 . 
     In various embodiments, infrared imaging module  100  and socket  104  may be implemented for mass production to facilitate high volume applications, such as for implementation in mobile telephones or other devices (e.g., requiring small form factors). In one embodiment, the combination of infrared imaging module  100  and socket  104  may exhibit overall dimensions of approximately 8.5 mm by 8.5 mm by 5.9 mm while infrared imaging module  100  is installed in socket  104 . 
       FIG. 3  illustrates an exploded view of infrared imaging module  100  juxtaposed over socket  104  in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. Infrared imaging module  100  may include a lens barrel  110 , a housing  120 , an infrared sensor assembly  128 , a circuit board  170 , a base  150 , and a processing module  160 . 
     Lens barrel  110  may at least partially enclose an optical element  180  (e.g., a lens) which is partially visible in  FIG. 3  through an aperture  112  in lens barrel  110 . Lens barrel  110  may include a substantially cylindrical extension  114  which may be used to interface lens barrel  110  with an aperture  122  in housing  120 . 
     Infrared sensor assembly  128  may be implemented, for example, with a cap  130  (e.g., a lid) mounted on a substrate  140 . Infrared sensor assembly  128  may include a plurality of infrared sensors  132  (e.g., infrared detectors) implemented in an array or other fashion on substrate  140  and covered by cap  130 . For example, in one embodiment, infrared sensor assembly  128  may be implemented as a focal plane array (FPA). Such a focal plane array may be implemented, for example, as a vacuum package assembly (e.g., sealed by cap  130  and substrate  140 ). In one embodiment, infrared sensor assembly  128  may be implemented as a wafer level package (e.g., infrared sensor assembly  128  may be singulated from a set of vacuum package assemblies provided on a wafer). In one embodiment, infrared sensor assembly  128  may be implemented to operate using a power supply of approximately 2.4 volts, 2.5 volts, 2.8 volts, or similar voltages. 
     Infrared sensors  132  may be configured to detect infrared radiation (e.g., infrared energy) from a target scene including, for example, mid wave infrared wave bands (MWIR), long wave infrared wave bands (LWIR), and/or other thermal imaging bands as may be desired in particular implementations. In one embodiment, infrared sensor assembly  128  may be provided in accordance with wafer level packaging techniques. 
     Infrared sensors  132  may be implemented, for example, as microbolometers or other types of thermal imaging infrared sensors arranged in any desired array pattern to provide a plurality of pixels. In one embodiment, infrared sensors  132  may be implemented as vanadium oxide (VOx) detectors with a 17 μm pixel pitch. In various embodiments, arrays of approximately 32 by 32 infrared sensors  132 , approximately 64 by 64 infrared sensors  132 , approximately 80 by 64 infrared sensors  132 , or other array sizes may be used. 
     Substrate  140  may include various circuitry including, for example, a read out integrated circuit (ROTC) with dimensions less than approximately 5.5 mm by 5.5 mm in one embodiment. Substrate  140  may also include bond pads  142  that may be used to contact complementary connections positioned on inside surfaces of housing  120  when infrared imaging module  100  is assembled as shown in  FIGS. 5A, 5B, and 5C . In one embodiment, the ROIC may be implemented with low-dropout regulators (LDO) to perform voltage regulation to reduce power supply noise introduced to infrared sensor assembly  128  and thus provide an improved power supply rejection ratio (PSRR). Moreover, by implementing the LDO with the ROTC (e.g., within a wafer level package), less die area may be consumed and fewer discrete die (or chips) are needed. 
       FIG. 4  illustrates a block diagram of infrared sensor assembly  128  including an array of infrared sensors  132  in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. In the illustrated embodiment, infrared sensors  132  are provided as part of a unit cell array of a ROIC  402 . ROIC  402  includes bias generation and timing control circuitry  404 , column amplifiers  405 , a column multiplexer  406 , a row multiplexer  408 , and an output amplifier  410 . Image frames (e.g., thermal images) captured by infrared sensors  132  may be provided by output amplifier  410  to processing module  160 , processor  195 , and/or any other appropriate components to perform various processing techniques described herein. Although an 8 by 8 array is shown in  FIG. 4 , any desired array configuration may be used in other embodiments. Further descriptions of ROICs and infrared sensors (e.g., microbolometer circuits) may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,028,309 issued Feb. 22, 2000, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
     Infrared sensor assembly  128  may capture images (e.g., image frames) and provide such images from its ROIC at various rates. Processing module  160  may be used to perform appropriate processing of captured infrared images and may be implemented in accordance with any appropriate architecture. In one embodiment, processing module  160  may be implemented as an ASIC. In this regard, such an ASIC may be configured to perform image processing with high performance and/or high efficiency. In another embodiment, processing module  160  may be implemented with a general purpose central processing unit (CPU) which may be configured to execute appropriate software instructions to perform image processing, coordinate and perform image processing with various image processing blocks, coordinate interfacing between processing module  160  and host device  102 , and/or other operations. In yet another embodiment, processing module  160  may be implemented with a field programmable gate array (FPGA). Processing module  160  may be implemented with other types of processing and/or logic circuits in other embodiments as would be understood by one skilled in the art. 
     In these and other embodiments, processing module  160  may also be implemented with other components where appropriate, such as, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, and/or one or more interfaces (e.g., infrared detector interfaces, inter-integrated circuit (I2C) interfaces, mobile industry processor interfaces (MIPI), joint test action group (JTAG) interfaces (e.g., IEEE 1149.1 standard test access port and boundary-scan architecture), and/or other interfaces). 
     In some embodiments, infrared imaging module  100  may further include one or more actuators  199  which may be used to adjust the focus of infrared image frames captured by infrared sensor assembly  128 . For example, actuators  199  may be used to move optical element  180 , infrared sensors  132 , and/or other components relative to each other to selectively focus and defocus infrared image frames in accordance with techniques described herein. Actuators  199  may be implemented in accordance with any type of motion-inducing apparatus or mechanism, and may positioned at any location within or external to infrared imaging module  100  as appropriate for different applications. 
     When infrared imaging module  100  is assembled, housing  120  may substantially enclose infrared sensor assembly  128 , base  150 , and processing module  160 . Housing  120  may facilitate connection of various components of infrared imaging module  100 . For example, in one embodiment, housing  120  may provide electrical connections  126  to connect various components as further described. 
     Electrical connections  126  (e.g., conductive electrical paths, traces, or other types of connections) may be electrically connected with bond pads  142  when infrared imaging module  100  is assembled. In various embodiments, electrical connections  126  may be embedded in housing  120 , provided on inside surfaces of housing  120 , and/or otherwise provided by housing  120 . Electrical connections  126  may terminate in connections  124  protruding from the bottom surface of housing  120  as shown in  FIG. 3 . Connections  124  may connect with circuit board  170  when infrared imaging module  100  is assembled (e.g., housing  120  may rest atop circuit board  170  in various embodiments). Processing module  160  may be electrically connected with circuit board  170  through appropriate electrical connections. As a result, infrared sensor assembly  128  may be electrically connected with processing module  160  through, for example, conductive electrical paths provided by: bond pads  142 , complementary connections on inside surfaces of housing  120 , electrical connections  126  of housing  120 , connections  124 , and circuit board  170 . Advantageously, such an arrangement may be implemented without requiring wire bonds to be provided between infrared sensor assembly  128  and processing module  160 . 
     In various embodiments, electrical connections  126  in housing  120  may be made from any desired material (e.g., copper or any other appropriate conductive material). In one embodiment, electrical connections  126  may aid in dissipating heat from infrared imaging module  100 . 
     Other connections may be used in other embodiments. For example, in one embodiment, sensor assembly  128  may be attached to processing module  160  through a ceramic board that connects to sensor assembly  128  by wire bonds and to processing module  160  by a ball grid array (BGA). In another embodiment, sensor assembly  128  may be mounted directly on a rigid flexible board and electrically connected with wire bonds, and processing module  160  may be mounted and connected to the rigid flexible board with wire bonds or a BGA. 
     The various implementations of infrared imaging module  100  and host device  102  set forth herein are provided for purposes of example, rather than limitation. In this regard, any of the various techniques described herein may be applied to any infrared camera system, infrared imager, or other device for performing infrared/thermal imaging. 
     Substrate  140  of infrared sensor assembly  128  may be mounted on base  150 . In various embodiments, base  150  (e.g., a pedestal) may be made, for example, of copper formed by metal injection molding (MIM) and provided with a black oxide or nickel-coated finish. In various embodiments, base  150  may be made of any desired material, such as for example zinc, aluminum, or magnesium, as desired for a given application and may be formed by any desired applicable process, such as for example aluminum casting, MIM, or zinc rapid casting, as may be desired for particular applications. In various embodiments, base  150  may be implemented to provide structural support, various circuit paths, thermal heat sink properties, and other features where appropriate. In one embodiment, base  150  may be a multi-layer structure implemented at least in part using ceramic material. 
     In various embodiments, circuit board  170  may receive housing  120  and thus may physically support the various components of infrared imaging module  100 . In various embodiments, circuit board  170  may be implemented as a printed circuit board (e.g., an FR4 circuit board or other types of circuit boards), a rigid or flexible interconnect (e.g., tape or other type of interconnects), a flexible circuit substrate, a flexible plastic substrate, or other appropriate structures. In various embodiments, base  150  may be implemented with the various features and attributes described for circuit board  170 , and vice versa. 
     Socket  104  may include a cavity  106  configured to receive infrared imaging module  100  (e.g., as shown in the assembled view of  FIG. 2 ). Infrared imaging module  100  and/or socket  104  may include appropriate tabs, arms, pins, fasteners, or any other appropriate engagement members which may be used to secure infrared imaging module  100  to or within socket  104  using friction, tension, adhesion, and/or any other appropriate manner. Socket  104  may include engagement members  107  that may engage surfaces  109  of housing  120  when infrared imaging module  100  is inserted into a cavity  106  of socket  104 . Other types of engagement members may be used in other embodiments. 
     Infrared imaging module  100  may be electrically connected with socket  104  through appropriate electrical connections (e.g., contacts, pins, wires, or any other appropriate connections). For example, socket  104  may include electrical connections  108  which may contact corresponding electrical connections of infrared imaging module  100  (e.g., interconnect pads, contacts, or other electrical connections on side or bottom surfaces of circuit board  170 , bond pads  142  or other electrical connections on base  150 , or other connections). Electrical connections  108  may be made from any desired material (e.g., copper or any other appropriate conductive material). In one embodiment, electrical connections  108  may be mechanically biased to press against electrical connections of infrared imaging module  100  when infrared imaging module  100  is inserted into cavity  106  of socket  104 . In one embodiment, electrical connections  108  may at least partially secure infrared imaging module  100  in socket  104 . Other types of electrical connections may be used in other embodiments. 
     Socket  104  may be electrically connected with host device  102  through similar types of electrical connections. For example, in one embodiment, host device  102  may include electrical connections (e.g., soldered connections, snap-in connections, or other connections) that connect with electrical connections  108  passing through apertures  190 . In various embodiments, such electrical connections may be made to the sides and/or bottom of socket  104 . 
     Various components of infrared imaging module  100  may be implemented with flip chip technology which may be used to mount components directly to circuit boards without the additional clearances typically needed for wire bond connections. Flip chip connections may be used, as an example, to reduce the overall size of infrared imaging module  100  for use in compact small form factor applications. For example, in one embodiment, processing module  160  may be mounted to circuit board  170  using flip chip connections. For example, infrared imaging module  100  may be implemented with such flip chip configurations. 
     In various embodiments, infrared imaging module  100  and/or associated components may be implemented in accordance with various techniques (e.g., wafer level packaging techniques) as set forth in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/844,124 filed Jul. 27, 2010, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/469,651 filed Mar. 30, 2011, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Furthermore, in accordance with one or more embodiments, infrared imaging module  100  and/or associated components may be implemented, calibrated, tested, and/or used in accordance with various techniques, such as for example as set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 7,470,902 issued Dec. 30, 2008, U.S. Pat. No. 6,028,309 issued Feb. 22, 2000, U.S. Pat. No. 6,812,465 issued Nov. 2, 2004, U.S. Pat. No. 7,034,301 issued Apr. 25, 2006, U.S. Pat. No. 7,679,048 issued Mar. 16, 2010, U.S. Pat. No. 7,470,904 issued Dec. 30, 2008, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/202,880 filed Sep. 2, 2008, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/202,896 filed Sep. 2, 2008, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. 
     Referring again to  FIG. 1 , in various embodiments, host device  102  may include shutter  105 . In this regard, shutter  105  may be selectively positioned over socket  104  (e.g., as identified by arrows  103 ) while infrared imaging module  100  is installed therein. In this regard, shutter  105  may be used, for example, to protect infrared imaging module  100  when not in use. Shutter  105  may also be used as a temperature reference as part of a calibration process (e.g., a NUC process or other calibration processes) for infrared imaging module  100  as would be understood by one skilled in the art. 
     In various embodiments, shutter  105  may be made from various materials such as, for example, polymers, glass, aluminum (e.g., painted or anodized) or other materials. In various embodiments, shutter  105  may include one or more coatings to selectively filter electromagnetic radiation and/or adjust various optical properties of shutter  105  (e.g., a uniform blackbody coating or a reflective gold coating). 
     In another embodiment, shutter  105  may be fixed in place to protect infrared imaging module  100  at all times. In this case, shutter  105  or a portion of shutter  105  may be made from appropriate materials (e.g., polymers or infrared transmitting materials such as silicon, germanium, zinc selenide, or chalcogenide glasses) that do not substantially filter desired infrared wavelengths. In another embodiment, a shutter may be implemented as part of infrared imaging module  100  (e.g., within or as part of a lens barrel or other components of infrared imaging module  100 ), as would be understood by one skilled in the art. 
     Alternatively, in another embodiment, a shutter (e.g., shutter  105  or other type of external or internal shutter) need not be provided, but rather a NUC process or other type of calibration may be performed using shutterless techniques. In another embodiment, a NUC process or other type of calibration using shutterless techniques may be performed in combination with shutter-based techniques. 
     Infrared imaging module  100  and host device  102  may be implemented in accordance with any of the various techniques set forth in U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/495,873 filed Jun. 10, 2011, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/495,879 filed Jun. 10, 2011, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/495,888 filed Jun. 10, 2011, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. 
     In various embodiments, the components of host device  102  and/or infrared imaging module  100  may be implemented as a local or distributed system with components in communication with each other over wired and/or wireless networks. Accordingly, the various operations identified in this disclosure may be performed by local and/or remote components as may be desired in particular implementations. 
       FIG. 5  illustrates a flow diagram of various operations to determine NUC terms in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. In some embodiments, the operations of  FIG. 5  may be performed by processing module  160  or processor  195  (both also generally referred to as a processor) operating on image frames captured by infrared sensors  132 . 
     In block  505 , infrared sensors  132  begin capturing image frames of a scene. Typically, the scene will be the real world environment in which host device  102  is currently located. In this regard, shutter  105  (if optionally provided) may be opened to permit infrared imaging module to receive infrared radiation from the scene. Infrared sensors  132  may continue capturing image frames during all operations shown in  FIG. 5 . In this regard, the continuously captured image frames may be used for various operations as further discussed. In one embodiment, the captured image frames may be temporally filtered (e.g., in accordance with the process of block  826  further described herein with regard to  FIG. 8 ) and be processed by other terms (e.g., factory gain terms  812 , factory offset terms  816 , previously determined NUC terms  817 , column FPN terms  820 , and row FPN terms  824  as further described herein with regard to  FIG. 8 ) before they are used in the operations shown in  FIG. 5 . 
     In block  510 , a NUC process initiating event is detected. In one embodiment, the NUC process may be initiated in response to physical movement of host device  102 . Such movement may be detected, for example, by motion sensors  194  which may be polled by a processor. In one example, a user may move host device  102  in a particular manner, such as by intentionally waving host device  102  back and forth in an “erase” or “swipe” movement. In this regard, the user may move host device  102  in accordance with a predetermined speed and direction (velocity), such as in an up and down, side to side, or other pattern to initiate the NUC process. In this example, the use of such movements may permit the user to intuitively operate host device  102  to simulate the “erasing” of noise in captured image frames. 
     In another example, a NUC process may be initiated by host device  102  if motion exceeding a threshold value is exceeded (e.g., motion greater than expected for ordinary use). It is contemplated that any desired type of spatial translation of host device  102  may be used to initiate the NUC process. 
     In yet another example, a NUC process may be initiated by host device  102  if a minimum time has elapsed since a previously performed NUC process. In a further example, a NUC process may be initiated by host device  102  if infrared imaging module  100  has experienced a minimum temperature change since a previously performed NUC process. In a still further example, a NUC process may be continuously initiated and repeated. 
     In block  515 , after a NUC process initiating event is detected, it is determined whether the NUC process should actually be performed. In this regard, the NUC process may be selectively initiated based on whether one or more additional conditions are met. For example, in one embodiment, the NUC process may not be performed unless a minimum time has elapsed since a previously performed NUC process. In another embodiment, the NUC process may not be performed unless infrared imaging module  100  has experienced a minimum temperature change since a previously performed NUC process. Other criteria or conditions may be used in other embodiments. If appropriate criteria or conditions have been met, then the flow diagram continues to block  520 . Otherwise, the flow diagram returns to block  505 . 
     In the NUC process, blurred image frames may be used to determine NUC terms which may be applied to captured image frames to correct for FPN. As discussed, in one embodiment, the blurred image frames may be obtained by accumulating multiple image frames of a moving scene (e.g., captured while the scene and/or the thermal imager is in motion). In another embodiment, the blurred image frames may be obtained by defocusing an optical element or other component of the thermal imager. 
     Accordingly, in block  520  a choice of either approach is provided. If the motion-based approach is used, then the flow diagram continues to block  525 . If the defocus-based approach is used, then the flow diagram continues to block  530 . 
     Referring now to the motion-based approach, in block  525  motion is detected. For example, in one embodiment, motion may be detected based on the image frames captured by infrared sensors  132 . In this regard, an appropriate motion detection process (e.g., an image registration process, a frame-to-frame difference calculation, or other appropriate process) may be applied to captured image frames to determine whether motion is present (e.g., whether static or moving image frames have been captured). For example, in one embodiment, it can be determined whether pixels or regions around the pixels of consecutive image frames have changed more than a user defined amount (e.g., a percentage and/or threshold value). If at least a given percentage of pixels have changed by at least the user defined amount, then motion will be detected with sufficient certainty to proceed to block  535 . 
     In another embodiment, motion may be determined on a per pixel basis, wherein only pixels that exhibit significant changes are accumulated to provide the blurred image frame. For example, counters may be provided for each pixel and used to ensure that the same number of pixel values are accumulated for each pixel, or used to average the pixel values based on the number of pixel values actually accumulated for each pixel. Other types of image-based motion detection may be performed such as performing a Radon transform. 
     In another embodiment, motion may be detected based on data provided by motion sensors  194 . In one embodiment, such motion detection may include detecting whether host device  102  is moving along a relatively straight trajectory through space. For example, if host device  102  is moving along a relatively straight trajectory, then it is possible that certain objects appearing in the imaged scene may not be sufficiently blurred (e.g., objects in the scene that may be aligned with or moving substantially parallel to the straight trajectory). Thus, in such an embodiment, the motion detected by motion sensors  194  may be conditioned on host device  102  exhibiting, or not exhibiting, particular trajectories. 
     In yet another embodiment, both a motion detection process and motion sensors  194  may be used. Thus, using any of these various embodiments, a determination can be made as to whether or not each image frame was captured while at least a portion of the scene and host device  102  were in motion relative to each other (e.g., which may be caused by host device  102  moving relative to the scene, at least a portion of the scene moving relative to host device  102 , or both). 
     It is expected that the image frames for which motion was detected may exhibit some secondary blurring of the captured scene (e.g., blurred thermal image data associated with the scene) due to the thermal time constants of infrared sensors  132  (e.g., microbolometer thermal time constants) interacting with the scene movement. 
     In block  535 , image frames for which motion was detected are accumulated. For example, if motion is detected for a continuous series of image frames, then the image frames of the series may be accumulated. As another example, if motion is detected for only some image frames, then the non-moving image frames may be skipped and not included in the accumulation. Thus, a continuous or discontinuous set of image frames may be selected to be accumulated based on the detected motion. 
     In block  540 , the accumulated image frames are averaged to provide a blurred image frame. Because the accumulated image frames were captured during motion, it is expected that actual scene information will vary between the image frames and thus cause the scene information to be further blurred in the resulting blurred image frame (block  545 ). 
     In contrast, FPN (e.g., caused by one or more components of infrared imaging module  100 ) will remain fixed over at least short periods of time and over at least limited changes in scene irradiance during motion. As a result, image frames captured in close proximity in time and space during motion will suffer from identical or at least very similar FPN. Thus, although scene information may change in consecutive image frames, the FPN will stay essentially constant. By averaging, multiple image frames captured during motion will blur the scene information, but will not blur the FPN. As a result, FPN will remain more clearly defined in the blurred image frame provided in block  545  than the scene information. 
     In one embodiment, 32 or more image frames are accumulated and averaged in blocks  535  and  540 . However, any desired number of image frames may be used in other embodiments, but with generally decreasing correction accuracy as frame count is decreased. 
     Referring now to the defocus-based approach, in block  530 , a defocus operation may be performed to intentionally defocus the image frames captured by infrared sensors  132 . For example, in one embodiment, one or more actuators  199  may be used to adjust, move, or otherwise translate optical element  180 , infrared sensor assembly  128 , and/or other components of infrared imaging module  100  to cause infrared sensors  132  to capture a blurred (e.g., unfocused) image frame of the scene. Other non-actuator based techniques are also contemplated for intentionally defocusing infrared image frames such as, for example, manual (e.g., user-initiated) defocusing. 
     Although the scene may appear blurred in the image frame, FPN (e.g., caused by one or more components of infrared imaging module  100 ) will remain unaffected by the defocusing operation. As a result, a blurred image frame of the scene will be provided (block  545 ) with FPN remaining more clearly defined in the blurred image than the scene information. 
     In the above discussion, the defocus-based approach has been described with regard to a single captured image frame. In another embodiment, the defocus-based approach may include accumulating multiple image frames while the infrared imaging module  100  has been defocused and averaging the defocused image frames to remove the effects of temporal noise and provide a blurred image frame in block  545 . 
     Thus, it will be appreciated that a blurred image frame may be provided in block  545  by either the motion-based approach or the defocus-based approach. Because much of the scene information will be blurred by either motion, defocusing, or both, the blurred image frame may be effectively considered a low pass filtered version of the original captured image frames with respect to scene information. 
     In block  550 , the blurred image frame is processed to determine updated row and column FPN terms (e.g., if row and column FPN terms have not been previously determined then the updated row and column FPN terms may be new row and column FPN terms in the first iteration of block  550 ). As used in this disclosure, the terms row and column may be used interchangeably depending on the orientation of infrared sensors  132  and/or other components of infrared imaging module  100 . 
     In one embodiment, block  550  includes determining a spatial FPN correction term for each row of the blurred image frame (e.g., each row may have its own spatial FPN correction term), and also determining a spatial FPN correction term for each column of the blurred image frame (e.g., each column may have its own spatial FPN correction term). Such processing may be used to reduce the spatial and slowly varying (1/f) row and column FPN inherent in thermal imagers caused by, for example, 1/f noise characteristics of amplifiers in ROIC  402  which may manifest as vertical and horizontal stripes in image frames. 
     Advantageously, by determining spatial row and column FPN terms using the blurred image frame, there will be a reduced risk of vertical and horizontal objects in the actual imaged scene from being mistaken for row and column noise (e.g., real scene content will be blurred while FPN remains unblurred). 
     In one embodiment, row and column FPN terms may be determined by considering differences between neighboring pixels of the blurred image frame. For example,  FIG. 6  illustrates differences between neighboring pixels in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. Specifically, in  FIG. 6  a pixel  610  is compared to its  8  nearest horizontal neighbors: d 0 -d 3  on one side and d 4 -d 7  on the other side. Differences between the neighbor pixels can be averaged to obtain an estimate of the offset error of the illustrated group of pixels. An offset error may be calculated for each pixel in a row or column and the average result may be used to correct the entire row or column. 
     To prevent real scene data from being interpreted as noise, upper and lower threshold values may be used (thPix and −thPix). Pixel values falling outside these threshold values (pixels dl and d 4  in this example) are not used to obtain the offset error. In addition, the maximum amount of row and column FPN correction may be limited by these threshold values. 
     Further techniques for performing spatial row and column FPN correction processing are set forth in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/396,340 filed Mar. 2, 2009 which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
     Referring again to  FIG. 5 , the updated row and column FPN terms determined in block  550  are stored (block  552 ) and applied (block  555 ) to the blurred image frame provided in block  545 . After these terms are applied, some of the spatial row and column FPN in the blurred image frame may be reduced. However, because such terms are applied generally to rows and columns, additional FPN may remain such as spatially uncorrelated FPN associated with pixel to pixel drift or other causes. Neighborhoods of spatially correlated FPN may also remain which may not be directly associated with individual rows and columns. Accordingly, further processing may be performed as discussed below to determine NUC terms. 
     In block  560 , local contrast values (e.g., edges or absolute values of gradients between adjacent or small groups of pixels) in the blurred image frame are determined. If scene information in the blurred image frame includes contrasting areas that have not been significantly blurred (e.g., high contrast edges in the original scene data), then such features may be identified by a contrast determination process in block  560 . 
     For example, local contrast values in the blurred image frame may be calculated, or any other desired type of edge detection process may be applied to identify certain pixels in the blurred image as being part of an area of local contrast. Pixels that are marked in this manner may be considered as containing excessive high spatial frequency scene information that would be interpreted as FPN (e.g., such regions may correspond to portions of the scene that have not been sufficiently blurred). As such, these pixels may be excluded from being used in the further determination of NUC terms. In one embodiment, such contrast detection processing may rely on a threshold that is higher than the expected contrast value associated with FPN (e.g., pixels exhibiting a contrast value higher than the threshold may be considered to be scene information, and those lower than the threshold may be considered to be exhibiting FPN). 
     In one embodiment, the contrast determination of block  560  may be performed on the blurred image frame after row and column FPN terms have been applied to the blurred image frame (e.g., as shown in  FIG. 5 ). In another embodiment, block  560  may be performed prior to block  550  to determine contrast before row and column FPN terms are determined (e.g., to prevent scene based contrast from contributing to the determination of such terms). 
     Following block  560 , it is expected that any high spatial frequency content remaining in the blurred image frame may be generally attributed to spatially uncorrelated FPN. In this regard, following block  560 , much of the other noise or actual desired scene based information has been removed or excluded from the blurred image frame due to: intentional blurring of the image frame (e.g., by motion or defocusing in blocks  520  through  545 ), application of row and column FPN terms (block  555 ), and contrast determination of (block  560 ). 
     Thus, it can be expected that following block  560 , any remaining high spatial frequency content (e.g., exhibited as areas of contrast or differences in the blurred image frame) may be attributed to spatially uncorrelated FPN. Accordingly, in block  565 , the blurred image frame is high pass filtered. In one embodiment, this may include applying a high pass filter to extract the high spatial frequency content from the blurred image frame. In another embodiment, this may include applying a low pass filter to the blurred image frame and taking a difference between the low pass filtered image frame and the unfiltered blurred image frame to obtain the high spatial frequency content. In accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure, a high pass filter may be implemented by calculating a mean difference between a sensor signal (e.g., a pixel value) and its neighbors. 
     In block  570 , a flat field correction process is performed on the high pass filtered blurred image frame to determine updated NUC terms (e.g., if a NUC process has not previously been performed then the updated NUC terms may be new NUC terms in the first iteration of block  570 ). 
     For example,  FIG. 7  illustrates a flat field correction technique  700  in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. In  FIG. 7 , a NUC term may be determined for each pixel  710  of the blurred image frame using the values of its neighboring pixels  712  to  726 . For each pixel  710 , several gradients may be determined based on the absolute difference between the values of various adjacent pixels. For example, absolute value differences may be determined between: pixels  712  and  714  (a left to right diagonal gradient), pixels  716  and  718  (a top to bottom vertical gradient), pixels  720  and  722  (a right to left diagonal gradient), and pixels  724  and  726  (a left to right horizontal gradient) 
     These absolute differences may be summed to provide a summed gradient for pixel  710 . A weight value may be determined for pixel  710  that is inversely proportional to the summed gradient. This process may be performed for all pixels  710  of the blurred image frame until a weight value is provided for each pixel  710 . For areas with low gradients (e.g., areas that are blurry or have low contrast), the weight value will be close to one. Conversely, for areas with high gradients, the weight value will be zero or close to zero. The update to the NUC term as estimated by the high pass filter is multiplied with the weight value. 
     In one embodiment, the risk of introducing scene information into the NUC terms can be further reduced by applying some amount of temporal damping to the NUC term determination process. For example, a temporal damping factor λ between 0 and 1 may be chosen such that the new NUC term (NUC NEW ) stored is a weighted average of the old NUC term (NUC OLD ) and the estimated updated NUC term (NUC UPDATE ). In one embodiment, this can be expressed as NUC NEW =λ·NUC OLD +(1−λ)·(NUC OLD +NUC UPDATE ). 
     Although the determination of NUC terms has been described with regard to gradients, local contrast values may be used instead where appropriate. Other techniques may also be used such as, for example, standard deviation calculations. Other types flat field correction processes may be performed to determine NUC terms including, for example, various processes identified in U.S. Pat. No. 6,028,309 issued Feb. 22, 2000, U.S. Pat. No. 6,812,465 issued Nov. 2, 2004, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/114,865 filed May 5, 2008, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. 
     Referring again to  FIG. 5 , block  570  may include additional processing of the NUC terms. For example, in one embodiment, to preserve the scene signal mean, the sum of all NUC terms may be normalized to zero by subtracting the NUC term mean from each NUC term. Also in block  570 , to avoid row and column noise from affecting the NUC terms, the mean value of each row and column may be subtracted from the NUC terms for each row and column. As a result, row and column FPN filters using the row and column FPN terms determined in block  550  may be better able to filter out row and column noise in further iterations (e.g., as further shown in  FIG. 8 ) after the NUC terms are applied to captured images (e.g., in block  580  further discussed herein). In this regard, the row and column FPN filters may in general use more data to calculate the per row and per column offset coefficients (e.g., row and column FPN terms) and may thus provide a more robust alternative for reducing spatially correlated FPN than the NUC terms which are based on high pass filtering to capture spatially uncorrelated noise. 
     In blocks  571 - 573 , additional high pass filtering and further determinations of updated NUC terms may be optionally performed to remove spatially correlated FPN with lower spatial frequency than previously removed by row and column FPN terms. In this regard, some variability in infrared sensors  132  or other components of infrared imaging module  100  may result in spatially correlated FPN noise that cannot be easily modeled as row or column noise. Such spatially correlated FPN may include, for example, window defects on a sensor package or a cluster of infrared sensors  132  that respond differently to irradiance than neighboring infrared sensors  132 . In one embodiment, such spatially correlated FPN may be mitigated with an offset correction. If the amount of such spatially correlated FPN is significant, then the noise may also be detectable in the blurred image frame. Since this type of noise may affect a neighborhood of pixels, a high pass filter with a small kernel may not detect the FPN in the neighborhood (e.g., all values used in high pass filter may be taken from the neighborhood of affected pixels and thus may be affected by the same offset error). For example, if the high pass filtering of block  565  is performed with a small kernel (e.g., considering only immediately adjacent pixels that fall within a neighborhood of pixels affected by spatially correlated FPN), then broadly distributed spatially correlated FPN may not be detected. 
     For example,  FIG. 11  illustrates spatially correlated FPN in a neighborhood of pixels in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. As shown in a sample image frame  1100 , a neighborhood of pixels  1110  may exhibit spatially correlated FPN that is not precisely correlated to individual rows and columns and is distributed over a neighborhood of several pixels (e.g., a neighborhood of approximately 4 by 4 pixels in this example). Sample image frame  1100  also includes a set of pixels  1120  exhibiting substantially uniform response that are not used in filtering calculations, and a set of pixels  1130  that are used to estimate a low pass value for the neighborhood of pixels  1110 . In one embodiment, pixels  1130  may be a number of pixels divisible by two in order to facilitate efficient hardware or software calculations. 
     Referring again to  FIG. 5 , in blocks  571 - 573 , additional high pass filtering and further determinations of updated NUC terms may be optionally performed to remove spatially correlated FPN such as exhibited by pixels  1110 . In block  571 , the updated NUC terms determined in block  570  are applied to the blurred image frame. Thus, at this time, the blurred image frame will have been initially corrected for spatially correlated FPN (e.g., by application of the updated row and column FPN terms in block  555 ), and also initially corrected for spatially uncorrelated FPN (e.g., by application of the updated NUC terms applied in block  571 ). 
     In block  572 , a further high pass filter is applied with a larger kernel than was used in block  565 , and further updated NUC terms may be determined in block  573 . For example, to detect the spatially correlated FPN present in pixels  1110 , the high pass filter applied in block  572  may include data from a sufficiently large enough neighborhood of pixels such that differences can be determined between unaffected pixels (e.g., pixels  1120 ) and affected pixels (e.g., pixels  1110 ). For example, a low pass filter with a large kernel can be used (e.g., an N by N kernel that is much greater than 3 by 3 pixels) and the results may be subtracted to perform appropriate high pass filtering. 
     In one embodiment, for computational efficiency, a sparse kernel may be used such that only a small number of neighboring pixels inside an N by N neighborhood are used. For any given high pass filter operation using distant neighbors (e.g., a large kernel), there is a risk of modeling actual (potentially blurred) scene information as spatially correlated FPN. Accordingly, in one embodiment, the temporal damping factor λ may be set close to 1 for updated NUC terms determined in block  573 . 
     In various embodiments, blocks  571 - 573  may be repeated (e.g., cascaded) to iteratively perform high pass filtering with increasing kernel sizes to provide further updated NUC terms further correct for spatially correlated FPN of desired neighborhood sizes. In one embodiment, the decision to perform such iterations may be determined by whether spatially correlated FPN has actually been removed by the updated NUC terms of the previous performance of blocks  571 - 573 . 
     After blocks  571 - 573  are finished, a decision is made regarding whether to apply the updated NUC terms to captured image frames (block  574 ). For example, if an average of the absolute value of the NUC terms for the entire image frame is less than a minimum threshold value, or greater than a maximum threshold value, the NUC terms may be deemed spurious or unlikely to provide meaningful correction. Alternatively, thresholding criteria may be applied to individual pixels to determine which pixels receive updated NUC terms. In one embodiment, the threshold values may correspond to differences between the newly calculated NUC terms and previously calculated NUC terms. In another embodiment, the threshold values may be independent of previously calculated NUC terms. Other tests may be applied (e.g., spatial correlation tests) to determine whether the NUC terms should be applied. 
     If the NUC terms are deemed spurious or unlikely to provide meaningful correction, then the flow diagram returns to block  505 . Otherwise, the newly determined NUC terms are stored (block  575 ) to replace previous NUC terms (e.g., determined by a previously performed iteration of  FIG. 5 ) and applied (block  580 ) to captured image frames. 
       FIG. 8  illustrates various image processing techniques of  FIG. 5  and other operations applied in an image processing pipeline  800  in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. In this regard, pipeline  800  identifies various operations of  FIG. 5  in the context of an overall iterative image processing scheme for correcting image frames provided by infrared imaging module  100 . In some embodiments, pipeline  800  may be provided by processing module  160  or processor  195  (both also generally referred to as a processor) operating on image frames captured by infrared sensors  132 . 
     Image frames captured by infrared sensors  132  may be provided to a frame averager  804  that integrates multiple image frames to provide image frames  802  with an improved signal to noise ratio. Frame averager  804  may be effectively provided by infrared sensors  132 , ROIC  402 , and other components of infrared sensor assembly  128  that are implemented to support high image capture rates. For example, in one embodiment, infrared sensor assembly  128  may capture infrared image frames at a frame rate of 240 Hz (e.g., 240 images per second). In this embodiment, such a high frame rate may be implemented, for example, by operating infrared sensor assembly  128  at relatively low voltages (e.g., compatible with mobile telephone voltages) and by using a relatively small array of infrared sensors  132  (e.g., an array of 64 by 64 infrared sensors in one embodiment). 
     In one embodiment, such infrared image frames may be provided from infrared sensor assembly  128  to processing module  160  at a high frame rate (e.g., 240 Hz or other frame rates). In another embodiment, infrared sensor assembly  128  may integrate over longer time periods, or multiple time periods, to provide integrated (e.g., averaged) infrared image frames to processing module  160  at a lower frame rate (e.g., 30 Hz, 9 Hz, or other frame rates). Further information regarding implementations that may be used to provide high image capture rates may be found in U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/495,879 previously referenced herein. 
     Image frames  802  proceed through pipeline  800  where they are adjusted by various terms, temporally filtered, used to determine the various adjustment terms, and gain compensated. 
     In blocks  810  and  814 , factory gain terms  812  and factory offset terms  816  are applied to image frames  802  to compensate for gain and offset differences, respectively, between the various infrared sensors  132  and/or other components of infrared imaging module  100  determined during manufacturing and testing. 
     In block  580 , NUC terms  817  are applied to image frames  802  to correct for FPN as discussed. In one embodiment, if NUC terms  817  have not yet been determined (e.g., before a NUC process has been initiated), then block  580  may not be performed or initialization values may be used for NUC terms  817  that result in no alteration to the image data (e.g., offsets for every pixel would be equal to zero). 
     In blocks  818  and  822 , column FPN terms  820  and row FPN terms  824 , respectively, are applied to image frames  802 . Column FPN terms  820  and row FPN terms  824  may be determined in accordance with block  550  as discussed. In one embodiment, if the column FPN terms  820  and row FPN terms  824  have not yet been determined (e.g., before a NUC process has been initiated), then blocks  818  and  822  may not be performed or initialization values may be used for the column FPN terms  820  and row FPN terms  824  that result in no alteration to the image data (e.g., offsets for every pixel would be equal to zero). 
     In block  826 , temporal filtering is performed on image frames  802  in accordance with a temporal noise reduction (TNR) process.  FIG. 9  illustrates a TNR process in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. In  FIG. 9 , a presently received image frame  802   a  and a previously temporally filtered image frame  802   b  are processed to determine a new temporally filtered image frame  802   e . Image frames  802   a  and  802   b  include local neighborhoods of pixels  803   a  and  803   b  centered around pixels  805   a  and  805   b , respectively. Neighborhoods  803   a  and  803   b  correspond to the same locations within image frames  802   a  and  802   b  and are subsets of the total pixels in image frames  802   a  and  802   b . In the illustrated embodiment, neighborhoods  803   a  and  803   b  include areas of 5 by 5 pixels. Other neighborhood sizes may be used in other embodiments. 
     Differences between corresponding pixels of neighborhoods  803   a  and  803   b  are determined and averaged to provide an averaged delta value  805   c  for the location corresponding to pixels  805   a  and  805   b . Averaged delta value  805   c  may be used to determine weight values in block  807  to be applied to pixels  805   a  and  805   b  of image frames  802   a  and  802   b.    
     In one embodiment, as shown in graph  809 , the weight values determined in block  807  may be inversely proportional to averaged delta value  805   c  such that weight values drop rapidly towards zero when there are large differences between neighborhoods  803   a  and  803   b . In this regard, large differences between neighborhoods  803   a  and  803   b  may indicate that changes have occurred within the scene (e.g., due to motion) and pixels  802   a  and  802   b  may be appropriately weighted, in one embodiment, to avoid introducing blur across frame-to-frame scene changes. Other associations between weight values and averaged delta value  805   c  may be used in various embodiments. 
     The weight values determined in block  807  may be applied to pixels  805   a  and  805   b  to determine a value for corresponding pixel  805   e  of image frame  802   e  (block  811 ). In this regard, pixel  805   e  may have a value that is a weighted average (or other combination) of pixels  805   a  and  805   b , depending on averaged delta value  805   c  and the weight values determined in block  807 . 
     For example, pixel  805   e  of temporally filtered image frame  802   e  may be a weighted sum of pixels  805   a  and  805   b  of image frames  802   a  and  802   b . If the average difference between pixels  805   a  and  805   b  is due to noise, then it may be expected that the average change between neighborhoods  805   a  and  805   b  will be close to zero (e.g., corresponding to the average of uncorrelated changes). Under such circumstances, it may be expected that the sum of the differences between neighborhoods  805   a  and  805   b  will be close to zero. In this case, pixel  805   a  of image frame  802   a  may both be appropriately weighted so as to contribute to the value of pixel  805   e.    
     However, if the sum of such differences is not zero (e.g., even differing from zero by a small amount in one embodiment), then the changes may be interpreted as being attributed to motion instead of noise. Thus, motion may be detected based on the average change exhibited by neighborhoods  805   a  and  805   b . Under these circumstances, pixel  805   a  of image frame  802   a  may be weighted heavily, while pixel  805   b  of image frame  802   b  may be weighted lightly. 
     Other embodiments are also contemplated. For example, although averaged delta value  805   c  has been described as being determined based on neighborhoods  805   a  and  805   b , in other embodiments averaged delta value  805   c  may be determined based on any desired criteria (e.g., based on individual pixels or other types of groups of sets of pixels). 
     In the above embodiments, image frame  802   a  has been described as a presently received image frame and image frame  802   b  has been described as a previously temporally filtered image frame. In another embodiment, image frames  802   a  and  802   b  may be first and second image frames captured by infrared imaging module  100  that have not been temporally filtered. 
       FIG. 10  illustrates further implementation details in relation to the TNR process of block  826 . As shown in  FIG. 10 , image frames  802   a  and  802   b  may be read into line buffers  1010   a  and  1010   b , respectively, and image frame  802   b  (e.g., the previous image frame) may be stored in a frame buffer  1020  before being read into line buffer  1010   b . In one embodiment, line buffers  1010   a - b  and frame buffer  1020  may be implemented by a block of random access memory (RAM) provided by any appropriate component of infrared imaging module  100  and/or host device  102 . 
     Referring again to  FIG. 8 , image frame  802   e  may be passed to an automatic gain compensation block  828  for further processing to provide a result image frame  830  that may be used by host device  102  as desired. 
       FIG. 8  further illustrates various operations that may be performed to determine row and column FPN terms and NUC terms as discussed. In one embodiment, these operations may use image frames  802   e  as shown in  FIG. 8 . Because image frames  802   e  have already been temporally filtered, at least some temporal noise may be removed and thus will not inadvertently affect the determination of row and column FPN terms  824  and  820  and NUC terms  817 . In another embodiment, non-temporally filtered image frames  802  may be used. 
     In  FIG. 8 , blocks  510 ,  515 , and  520  of  FIG. 5  are collectively represented together. As discussed, a NUC process may be selectively initiated and performed in response to various NUC process initiating events and based on various criteria or conditions. As also discussed, the NUC process may be performed in accordance with a motion-based approach (blocks  525 ,  535 , and  540 ) or a defocus-based approach (block  530 ) to provide a blurred image frame (block  545 ).  FIG. 8  further illustrates various additional blocks  550 ,  552 ,  555 ,  560 ,  565 ,  570 ,  571 ,  572 ,  573 , and  575  previously discussed with regard to  FIG. 5 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 8 , row and column FPN terms  824  and  820  and NUC terms  817  may be determined and applied in an iterative fashion such that updated terms are determined using image frames  802  to which previous terms have already been applied. As a result, the overall process of  FIG. 8  may repeatedly update and apply such terms to continuously reduce the noise in image frames  830  to be used by host device  102 . 
     Referring again to  FIG. 10 , further implementation details are illustrated for various blocks of  FIGS. 5 and 8  in relation to pipeline  800 . For example, blocks  525 ,  535 , and  540  are shown as operating at the normal frame rate of image frames  802  received by pipeline  800 . In the embodiment shown in  FIG. 10 , the determination made in block  525  is represented as a decision diamond used to determine whether a given image frame  802  has sufficiently changed such that it may be considered an image frame that will enhance the blur if added to other image frames and is therefore accumulated (block  535  is represented by an arrow in this embodiment) and averaged (block  540 ). 
     Also in  FIG. 10 , the determination of column FPN terms  820  (block  550 ) is shown as operating at an update rate that in this example is 1/32 of the sensor frame rate (e.g., normal frame rate) due to the averaging performed in block  540 . Other update rates may be used in other embodiments. Although only column FPN terms  820  are identified in  FIG. 10 , row FPN terms  824  may be implemented in a similar fashion at the reduced frame rate. 
       FIG. 10  also illustrates further implementation details in relation to the NUC determination process of block  570 . In this regard, the blurred image frame may be read to a line buffer  1030  (e.g., implemented by a block of RAM provided by any appropriate component of infrared imaging module  100  and/or host device  102 ). The flat field correction technique  700  of  FIG. 7  may be performed on the blurred image frame. 
     In view of the present disclosure, it will be appreciated that techniques described herein may be used to remove various types of FPN (e.g., including very high amplitude FPN) such as spatially correlated row and column FPN and spatially uncorrelated FPN. 
     Other embodiments are also contemplated. For example, in one embodiment, the rate at which row and column FPN terms and/or NUC terms are updated can be inversely proportional to the estimated amount of blur in the blurred image frame and/or inversely proportional to the magnitude of local contrast values (e.g., determined in block  560 ). 
     In various embodiments, the described techniques may provide advantages over conventional shutter-based noise correction techniques. For example, by using a shutterless process, a shutter (e.g., such as shutter  105 ) need not be provided, thus permitting reductions in size, weight, cost, and mechanical complexity. Power and maximum voltage supplied to, or generated by, infrared imaging module  100  may also be reduced if a shutter does not need to be mechanically operated. Reliability will be improved by removing the shutter as a potential point of failure. A shutterless process also eliminates potential image interruption caused by the temporary blockage of the imaged scene by a shutter. 
     Also, by correcting for noise using intentionally blurred image frames captured from a real world scene (not a uniform scene provided by a shutter), noise correction may be performed on image frames that have irradiance levels similar to those of the actual scene desired to be imaged. This can improve the accuracy and effectiveness of noise correction terms determined in accordance with the various described techniques. 
     Referring now to  FIGS. 12 to 19 , various views are shown of a device attachment  1200  having an infrared sensor assembly  1202  in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure.  FIG. 12  is a rear-left-bottom perspective view of device attachment  1200 , and  FIG. 13  is a rear-left-bottom perspective view of device attachment  1200  and illustrates a user device  1250  releasably attached thereto, in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. 
     User device  1250  may be any type of portable electronic device that provides all or some of the functionality of host device  102  of  FIG. 1 . User device  1250  may be any type of portable electronic device that may be configured to communicate with device attachment  1200  to receive infrared images captured by infrared sensor assembly  1202 . For example, user device  1250  may be a smart phone (e.g., iPhone™ devices from Apple, Inc., Blackberry™ devices from Research in Motion, Ltd., Android™ phones from various manufacturers, or other similar mobile phones), a cell phone with some processing capability, a personal digital assistant (PDA) device, a tablet device (e.g., iPad™ from Apple, Inc., Galaxy Tab™ from Samsung Electronics, Ltd., or other similar portable electronic devices in a tablet form), a portable video game device (e.g., PlayStation PSP™ from Sony Computer Entertainment Corp., Nintendo DS™ from Nintendo, Ltd.), a portable media player (e.g., iPod Touch™ from Apple, Inc.), a laptop or portable computer, a digital camera, a camcorder, or a digital video recorder. 
     Device attachment  1200  may include a housing  1230  for releasably attaching to user device  1250 . In this regard, housing  1230  may comprise a tub  1232  (e.g., also referred to as a basin or recess) formed on a rear surface thereof and defined by a recessed rear wall  1234 , an inner wall  1236 , and side walls  1238 A- 1238 C. Tub  1232  may be shaped to at least partially receive user device  1250 , such that at least a portion of user device  1250  may be fittingly inserted into tub  1232  as shown in  FIG. 13 . In another embodiment, one or more of sidewalls  1238 A- 1238 C and inner wall  1236  may be pliable and comprise cantilevered top edges that extend toward the center of tub  1232 , such that the cantilevered edges cover a portion of the front side of user device  1250  when inserted into tub  1232 . In another embodiment, recessed rear wall  1234  may be hingedly attached to housing  1230 , such that recessed rear wall  1234  may be lifted open to provide access to, for example, a battery compartment. 
     When fittingly inserted into tub  1232 , user device  1250  may be securely yet removably attached to device attachment  1200 . In this regard, in some embodiments, housing  1230  may also comprise an engagement mechanism  1233  (e.g., a connector plug with a latch that releasably engages a connector receptacle or socket of user device  1250 , a hook that releasably engages a connector receptacle of user device  1250 , or other engagement mechanisms that releasably engage any suitable part of user device  1250  to aids in securing user device  1250  in place) for added security, as shown in  FIG. 15  illustrating a rear view of device attachment  1200 . 
     In various other embodiments, the device attachment  1200  may releasably attach to user device  1250  in any other suitable manner, instead of receiving user device  1250  in tub  1232  or similar structures. For example, the device attachment  1200  may be clipped on, clamped on, or otherwise releasably attach to one of the sides of user device  1250  (e.g., the top side of user device  1250 ) via a clamp or similar fastening mechanism. In another example, the device attachment  1200  may releasably attach to user device  1250  via a connector plug comprising a latch that releasably engages a connector receptacle of device  1250 . 
     Because access to some features of user device  1250 , such as various buttons, switches, connectors, cameras, speakers, and microphones, may be obstructed by housing  1230  when user device  1250  is attached, device attachment  1200  may comprise various replicated components and/or cutouts to allow users to access such features. For example, device attachment  1200  may comprise a camera cutout  1240 , replicated buttons  1242 A- 1242 C, a switch cutout  1244 , replicated microphone and speaker  1246 A- 1246 B, and/or replicated earphone/microphone jack  1248 . Various components of device attachment  1200  may be configured to relay signals between replicated components and user device  1250  (e.g., relay audio signals from user device  1250  to replicated speaker  1246 B, relay button depression signals from replicated buttons  1242 A- 1242 C to user device  1250 ). In some embodiments, cutouts and/or flexible cups (e.g., to allow users to press the buttons underneath) may be used instead of replicating buttons, switches, speakers, and/or microphones. 
     The location, the number, and the type of replicated components and/or cutouts may be specific to user device  1250 , and the various replicated components and cutouts may be implemented or not as desired for particular applications of device attachment  1200 . It will be appreciated that replicated components and/or cutouts may also be implemented as desired in other embodiments of the device attachment that do not comprise tub  1232  or similar structures for attaching to user device  1250 . 
     Device attachment  1200  may comprise infrared sensor assembly  1202  disposed within housing  1230  in a main portion  1231  thereof. Main portion  1231  may house internal components of device attachment  1200 , and in one embodiment, may be placed above inner wall  1236  in the top portion of housing  1230 . Infrared sensor assembly  1202  may be implemented in the same or similar manner as infrared sensor assembly  128  of  FIG. 4 . For example, infrared sensor assembly  1202  may include an FPA and an ROIC implemented in accordance with various embodiments disclosed herein. Thus, infrared sensor assembly  1202  may capture infrared image data (e.g., thermal infrared image data) and provide such data from its ROIC at various frame rates. 
     Infrared image data captured by infrared sensor assembly  1202  may be provided to processing module  1204  for further processing. Processing module  1204  may be implemented in the same or similar manner as processing module  160  described herein. In one embodiment, processing module  1204  may be electrically connected to infrared sensor assembly  1202  in the various manners described herein with respect to infrared sensor assembly  128 , processing module  160 , and infrared imaging module  100 . Thus, in one embodiment, infrared sensor assembly  1202  and processing module  1204  may be electrically connected to each other and packaged together to form an infrared imaging module (e.g., infrared imaging module  100 ) as described herein. In other embodiments, infrared sensor assembly  1202  and processing module  1204  may be electrically and/or communicatively coupled to each other within housing  1230  in other appropriate manners, including, but not limited to, in a multi-chip module (MCM) and other small-scale printed circuit boards (PCBs) communicating via PCB traces or a bus. 
     Processing module  1204  may be configured to perform appropriate processing of captured infrared image data, and transmit raw and/or processed infrared image data to user device  1250 . For example, when device attachment  1200  is attached to user device  1250 , processing module  1204  may transmit raw and/or processed infrared image data to user device  1250  via a wired device connector or wirelessly via appropriate wireless components further described herein. Thus, for example, user device  1250  may be appropriately configured to receive the infrared image data from processing module  1204  to display user-viewable infrared images (e.g., thermograms) to users and permit users to store infrared image data and/or user-viewable infrared images. That is, user device  1250  may be configured to run appropriate software instructions (e.g., a smart phone software application, also referred to as an “app”) to function as an infrared camera that permits users to frame and take infrared still images, videos, or both. Device attachment  1200  and user device  1250  may be configured to perform other infrared imaging functionalities, such as storing and/or analyzing thermographic data (e.g., temperature information) contained within infrared image data. 
     In this regard, various infrared image processing operations may be performed by processing module  1204 , a processor of user device  1250 , or both in a coordinated manner. For example, conversion of infrared image data into user-viewable images may be performed by converting the thermal data (e.g., temperature data) contained in the infrared image data into gray-scaled or color-scaled pixels to construct images that can be viewed by a person. User-viewable images may optionally include a legend or scale that indicates the approximate temperature of corresponding pixel color and/or intensity. Such a conversion operation may be performed by processing module  1204  before transmitting fully converted user-viewable images to user device  1250 , by a processor of user device  1250  after receiving infrared image data, by processing module  1208  performing some steps and a processor of user device  1250  performing the remaining steps, or by both processing module  1204  and a processor of user device  1250  in a concurrent manner (e.g., parallel processing). Similarly, various NUC processes described herein may be performed by processing module  1208 , a processor of user device  1250 , or both in a coordinated manner. Moreover, various other components of user device  1250  and device attachment  1200  may be used to perform various NUC processes described herein. For example, if user device  1250  is equipped with motion sensors, they may be used to detect an NUC process initiating event as described in connection with  FIGS. 5 and 8 . 
     Processing module  1204  may be configured to transmit raw and/or processed infrared image data to user device  1250  in response to a request transmitted from user device  1250 . For example, an app or other software/hardware routines running on user device  1250  may be configured to request transmission of infrared image data when the app is launched and ready to display user-viewable images on a display for users to frame and take infrared still or video shots. Processing module  1204  may initiate transmission of infrared image data captured by infrared sensor assembly  1202  when the request from the app on user device  1250  is received via wired connection (e.g., through a device connector) or wireless connection. In another embodiment, an app or other software/hardware routines on user device  1250  may request infrared image data when a user takes a still and/or video shot, but use visible-light image data captured by a visible-light camera that may be present on user device  1250  to present images for framing before the user takes a shot. In yet another embodiment, an app or other software/hardware routines may use infrared image data to present images for framing, but permit users to take visible-light still and/or video shots (e.g., to allow framing of visible light flash photography in a low or no light condition). 
     Device attachment  1200  may include a programmable button  1249  disposed at an accessible location (e.g., on the top side surface) of housing  1230 . Programmable button  1249  may be used, for example, by an app or other software/hardware routines on user device  1250  to provide a shortcut to a specific function or functions as desired for the app, such as to launch the app for infrared imaging or as a “shutter button” that users can press to take a still or video shot. Processing module  1204  may be configured to detect a depression of programmable button  1249 , and relay the detected button depression to user device  1250 . 
     Device attachment  1200  may include a lens assembly  1205  disposed, for example, on a front side surface  1237  of housing  1230  in main portion  1231 . In other embodiments, lens assembly  1205  may be disposed on housing  1230  at any other location suitable for providing an aperture for infrared radiation to reach infrared sensor array  1202 . Lens assembly  1205  may comprise a lens  1206  that may be made from appropriate materials (e.g., polymers or infrared transmitting materials such as silicon, germanium, zinc selenide, or chalcogenide glasses) and configured to pass infrared radiation through to infrared sensor assembly. Lens assembly  1205  may also comprise a shutter  1207  implemented in the same or similar manner as shutter  105  of host device  102 . In some embodiments, lens assembly  1205  may include other optical elements, such as infrared-transmissive prisms, infrared-reflective mirrors, and infrared filters, as desired for various applications of device attachment  1200 . For example, lens assembly  1205  may include one or more filters adapted to pass infrared radiation of certain wavelengths but substantially block off others (e.g., short-wave infrared (SWIR) filters, mid-wave infrared (MWIR) filters, long-wave infrared (LWIR) filters, and narrow-band filters). Such filters may be utilized to tailor infrared sensor assembly  1202  for increased sensitivity to a desired band of infrared wavelengths. 
     Device attachment  1200  may also include a battery  1208  disposed, for example, within housing  1230  between recessed rear wall  1234  and a front side surface  1237 . In other embodiments, battery  1208  may be disposed at any other suitable location, including main portion  1231  of housing  1230 , that provides room for housing battery  1208 . Battery  1208  may be configured to be used as a power source for internal components (e.g., infrared sensor assembly  1202 , processing module  1204 ) of device attachment  1200 , so that device attachment  1200  does not drain the battery of user device  1250  when attached. Further, battery  1208  may be configured to provide electrical power to user device  1250 , for example, through a device connector. Thus, battery  1208  may beneficially provide a backup power for user device  1250  to run and charge from. Conversely, various components of device attachment  1200  may be configured to use electrical power from the battery of user device  1200  (e.g., through a device connector), if a user desires to use functionalities of device attachment  1200  even when battery  1208  is drained. 
     Battery  1208  may be implemented as a rechargeable battery using a suitable technology (e.g., nickel cadmium (NiCd), nickel metal hydride (NiMH), lithium ion (Li-ion), or lithium ion polymer (LiPo) rechargeable batteries). In this regard, device attachment  1200  may include a power socket  1241  for connecting to (e.g., through a cable or wire) and receiving electrical power from an external power source (e.g., AC power outlet, DC power adapter, or other similar appropriate power sources) for charging battery  1208  and/or powering internal components of device attachment  1200 . 
     In some embodiments, device attachment  1200  may also accept standard size batteries that are widely available and can be obtained conveniently when batteries run out, so that users can keep using device attachment  1200  and/or user device  1250  by simply purchasing and installing standard batteries even when users do not have an appropriate battery charger or DC power adapter at hand. As described above, recessed inner wall  1234  or other part of housing  1230  may be hinged and/or removable to remove/install batteries. 
     As described above, device attachment  1200  may include a device connector (e.g., implemented in some embodiments in the same or similar manner as device connector plug  2052  of  FIG. 21  further described herein) that carries various signals and electrical power to and from user device  1250  when attached. The device connector may be disposed at a location that is suitably aligned with the corresponding device connector receptacle or socket of user device  1250 , so that the device connector can engage the corresponding device connector receptacle or socket of user device  1250  when device attachment  1200  is attached to user device  1250 . For example, if user device  1250  is equipped with a connector receptacle on its bottom side surface, the device connector may be positioned at an appropriate location on side wall  1238 C. As described in connection with engagement mechanism  1233 , the device connector may also include a mechanical fixture (e.g., a locking/latched connector plug) used to support and/or align user device. 
     The device connector may be implemented according to the connector specification associated with the type of user device  1250 . For example, the device connector may implement a proprietary connector (e.g., an Apple® dock connector for iPod™ and iPhone™ such as a “Lightning” connector, a 30-pin connector, or others) or a standardized connector (e.g., various versions of Universal Serial Bus (USB) connectors, Portable Digital Media Interface (PDMI), or other standard connectors as provided in user devices). 
     In one embodiment, the device connector may be interchangeably provided, so that device attachment  1200  may accommodate different types of user devices that accept different device connectors. For example, various types of device connector plugs may be provided and configured to be attached to a base connector on housing  1230 , so that a connector plug that is compatible with user device  1250  can be attached to the base connector before attaching device attachment  1200  to user device  1250 . In another embodiment, the device connector may be fixedly provided. 
     In some embodiments, another device connector may be implemented on housing  1230  to provide a connection to other external devices. For example, power socket  1241  may also serve as a connector that enables communication to and from (e.g., via an appropriate cable or wire) an external device such as a desktop computer or other devices not attached to device attachment  1200 , thus allowing device attachment  1250  to be used as an infrared imaging accessory for an external device as well. Also, if desired, power socket  1241  may be used to connect to user device  1250  as an alternative way of connecting device attachment to user device  1250 . 
     Device attachment  1200  may also communicate with user device  1250  via a wireless connection. In this regard, device attachment  1200  may include a wireless communication module  1209  configured to facilitate wireless communication between user device  1250  and processing module  1204  or other components of device attachment  1200 . In various embodiments, wireless communication module  1209  may support the IEEE 802.11 WiFi standards, the Bluetooth™ standard, the ZigBee™ standard, or other appropriate short range wireless communication standards. Thus, device attachment  1200  may be used with user device  1250  without relying on the device connector, if a connection through the device connector is not available or not desired. 
     In some embodiments, wireless communication module  1209  may be configured to manage wireless communication between processing module  1204  and other external devices, such as a desktop computer, thus allowing device attachment  1250  to be used as an infrared imaging accessory for an external device as well. 
     Device attachment  1250  may further include, in some embodiments, cooling fins  1247  configured to provide a more efficient cooling of internal components. Cooling fins  1247  may be positioned on an exterior side surface (e.g., the top side surface) of housing  1230  near internal components, and comprise a plurality of fins or blades to increase the surface area in contact with air. 
     In various embodiments, device attachment  1250  may also include various other components that may be implemented in host device  102  of  FIG. 1 , but may be missing in a particular type of user device that device attachment  1250  may be used with. For example, motion sensors may be implemented in device attachment  1250  in the same or similar manner as motion sensors  194  of host device  102 , if motion sensors are not implemented in user device  1250 . Motion sensors may be utilized by processing module  1204 , a processor of user device  1250 , or both, in performing an NUC operation as described herein. 
       FIGS. 20-22  show various views of a device attachment  2000  according to another embodiment of the disclosure. Device attachment  2000  may include a housing  2030  with a tub  2032  (e.g., also referred to as a basin or recess) shaped to at least partially receive a user device  2050 , a lens assembly  2005 , a camera cutout  2040 , a power socket  2041 , replicated buttons  2042 A- 2042 C, a switch cutout  2044 , cooling fins  2047  (e.g., heat sink and cooling fins), and replicated earphone/microphone jack  2048 , any one of which may be implemented in the same or similar manner as the corresponding components of device attachment  1200  of  FIGS. 12-19 , except for some dissimilarities in locations and shapes of some components as can be seen from  FIGS. 20-22 . Device attachment  2000  may include various internal components, such as an infrared sensor assembly, a processing module, and a wireless communication module, disposed within housing  2030 . Any one of such internal components may be implemented in the same or similar manner as the corresponding components of device attachment  1200 . 
     In this example, a fixed device connector plug  2052  may implement the device connector of device attachment  2000 , and may provide some additional support when user device  2050  is releasably yet securely inserted into tub  2032 . This example also shows a protective cover  2054 , which may protectively enclose at least some of the internal components of device attachment  2000 . Protective cover  2054  may comprise a translucent logo and a light source (e.g., LED light) for illuminating the translucent logo. In this regard, cooling fins  2047  may be further configured to form part of or coupled to a heat sink to provide a more efficient cooling of the light source in addition to cooling the internal components (e.g., electronics and light source to illuminate the logo and/or electronics associated with the infrared sensor assembly or infrared sensor of device attachment  2000 ). 
     Therefore, various embodiments of device attachment  1200 / 2000  may releasably attach to various conventional electronic devices, and beneficially provide infrared imaging capabilities to such conventional electronic devices. With device attachment  1200 / 2000  attached, mobile phones and other conventional electronic devices already in widespread use may be utilized for various advantageous applications of infrared imaging. 
     In some embodiments, infrared image data such as thermal images captured using device attachment  1200 / 2000  may be combined with non-thermal image data (e.g., visible light images such as red images, blue images, green images, near-infrared images, etc.). In one embodiment, the non-thermal image data may be captured by a visible-light camera that may be present on a mobile phone or other conventional electronic device that is releasably attached to device attachment  1200 / 2000 . In another embodiment, the non-thermal image data may be captured by a visible-light camera that may be present on device attachment  1200 / 2000 . 
       FIG. 23  shows an example of a process in which thermal and non-thermal images are combined. As shown in  FIG. 23 , an infrared imager such as infrared imaging module  6000  may be used to capture one or more thermal images  6007 . Infrared imaging module  6000  may, for example, be an implementation of infrared imaging module  100  of device attachment  1200 / 2000 . 
     A non-thermal camera module such as non-thermal camera module  6002  may be used to capture non-thermal images  6006 . Non-thermal camera module  6002  may be implemented as a small form factor non-thermal imaging module or imaging device having one or more sensors responsive to non-thermal radiation (e.g., radiation in the visible, near infrared, short-wave infrared or other non-thermal portion of the electromagnetic spectrum). For example, in some embodiments, camera module  6002  may be implemented with a charge-coupled device (CCD) sensor, an electron multiplying CCD (EMCCD) sensor, a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) sensor, a scientific CMOS (sCMOS) sensor, an intensified charge-coupled device (ICCD), or other sensors. As described in further detail below, non-thermal camera module  6002  may be a component of a user device such as device  1250  or may be a component of device attachment  1200 / 2000 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 23 , one or more thermal images  6007  and one or more non-thermal images  6006  may be provided to a processor such as processor  6004 . In various embodiments, processor  6004  may be a processor associated with device attachment  1200 / 2000  (e.g., processing module  1204 ), a processor associated with device  1250 , or processor  6004  may represent the combined processing capabilities of device  1250  and device attachment  1200 / 2000 . 
     Processor  6004  may fuse, superimpose, or otherwise combine non-thermal images  6006  with thermal images  6007  as further described herein to form processed images  6008 . Processed images  6008  may be provided to a display of device  1250 , stored in memory of device  1250  or device attachment  1200 , or transmitted to external equipment (as examples). 
       FIGS. 24, 25, and 26  show various exemplary embodiments for device  1250  and a releasably attached device component such as device attachment  1200  (identified only for purposes of example; any of device attachments  1200 ,  1201 ,  1203 ,  2000 , or others may be used interchangeably in any of the embodiments described herein where appropriate) that may be used when it is desired to capture and combine non-thermal and thermal images. 
     In the embodiment shown in  FIG. 24 , non-thermal camera module  6002  is implemented as a component of device  1250 . In this embodiment, non-thermal images  6006  are captured using non-thermal camera module  6002  of device  1250  and provided to device processor  6102 . Thermal images  6007  are captured using infrared imaging module  1202  of device attachment  1200  and are also provided to device processor  6102  wirelessly or through device connector  6020  (e.g., a device connector of the type described above in connection with  FIGS. 12-19 ) and a mating connector  6104  on device  1250 . Mating connector  6104  may be a proprietary connector, a standardized connector such as a Universal Serial Bus (USB) connector or a Portable Digital Media Interface (PDMI), or other standard connectors as provided in user devices. If desired, thermal images  6007  may undergo some processing using processing module  1204  before being provided to device processor  6102 . 
     In the embodiment shown in  FIG. 25 , non-thermal images  6006  are captured using non-thermal camera module  6002  of device  1250  and provided to device attachment processor  1204  wirelessly or through connectors  6104  and  6020 . In this embodiment, thermal images  6007  are also provided to processor  1204  from infrared imaging module  1202  to be combined with non-thermal images  6006  to form processed images  6008 . If desired, non-thermal images  6006  may undergo some processing using processor  6102  before being provided to device attachment processor  1204 . In this embodiment, processed images  6008  may be provided back to processor  6102  to be stored, displayed, or otherwise handled by processor  6102 . 
     In the embodiment shown in  FIG. 26 , non-thermal camera module  6002  is implemented as a component of device attachment  1200 . In this embodiment, both non-thermal images  6006  and thermal images  6007  are captured using imaging sensors in device attachment  1200 . In this embodiment, non-thermal images  6006  are captured using non-thermal imaging module  6002  of device attachment  1200 , thermal images  6007  are captured using infrared imaging module  1202 , and both thermal images  6007  and non-thermal images  6006  are provided to device attachment processor  1204  to be combined to form processed images  6008 . Non-thermal images  6006  and thermal images  6007  may be partially or completely combined as desired by device attachment processor  1204  before being provided to device processor  6102 , unprocessed non-thermal images  6006  and thermal images  6007  may be provided to device processor  6102  for processing and combining, or image processing operations for non-thermal images  6006  and thermal images  6007  may be shared by processors  1204  and  6102 . 
       FIG. 27  illustrates a process  6200  for capturing and combining thermal and non-thermal images using a device and a device attachment. 
     At block  6202 , thermal and non-thermal images may be captured. Thermal images may be captured using an infrared imaging sensor in a device attachment attached to a device. Non-thermal images may be captured using a non-thermal camera module in the device (see, e.g.,  FIGS. 24 and 25 ) or in the device attachment (see, e.g.,  FIG. 26 ). 
     At block  6204 , the thermal and non-thermal images captured at block  6202  may be processed. The thermal and non-thermal images may undergo individual processing operations and/or processing operations for combining, fusing, or superimposing the images. Processing the thermal and non-thermal images may include parallax corrections based on the distance between the non-thermal camera module and the infrared imaging sensor used to capture the images. The thermal and non-thermal images may be processed using a processor in the device (see, e.g.,  FIGS. 24, and 26 ) and/or using a processor in the device attachment (see, e.g.,  FIG. 25 ) to form processed (e.g., combined, fused, or superimpose) images as further described herein, for example, with reference to  FIGS. 35 and 36 . Processing the thermal images may also include performing various image correction operations such as a NUC process as described herein. 
     At block  6206 , suitable action may be taken with the processed images. Suitable action may include displaying the processed images (e.g., using a display of the device), storing the processed images (e.g., on the device and/or on the device attachment), and/or transmitting the processed images (e.g., between the device and the device attachment, or to external equipment). 
       FIGS. 28-29 and 30-31  are perspective views of other device attachments  1201  and  1203 , respectively, configured to receive various types of user devices. In the embodiments shown in  FIGS. 28-29 and 30-31 , device attachments  1201  and  1203  may also include both thermal and non-thermal imaging components, and may be implemented in accordance with any of the various features of device attachments  1200  and  2000  described herein. 
     In the embodiment of  FIG. 28 , a rear perspective view of a device attachment having a shape for receiving devices from Apple, Inc.® (e.g., iPhone™ devices, iPad™ devices, or iPod Touch™ devices) is shown. As shown in  FIG. 28 , device attachment  1200  may include a camera window  1243  through which the device camera (e.g., a non-thermal camera module such as a visible light camera module of the device) can capture images, and a plurality of imaging components such as infrared sensor  7000  and non-thermal camera module  7002 . If desired, device attachment  1201  may also include a mechanical shutter such as user operable shutter  7004 . User operable shutter  7004  may be moved by a user of device attachment  1200  to selectively block or unblock imaging components  7000  and/or  7002 . In some embodiments, user operable shutter  7004  may also power off or on device attachment  1200  when moved to block or unblock imaging components  7000  and  7002 . In some embodiments, user operable shutter  7004  may be used, for example, to protect imaging components  7000  and  7002  when not in use. Shutter  7004  may also be used as a temperature reference as part of a calibration process (e.g., a NUC process, radiometric calibration process, or other calibration processes) for infrared sensor  7000  as would be understood by one skilled in the art. 
     Infrared sensor  7000  may include an infrared imaging module such as infrared imaging module  100  and other suitable components of an infrared sensor (e.g., lenses, filters, and/or windows) as described herein. Infrared sensor  7000  and non-thermal camera module  7002  may be used to generate respective infrared (e.g., thermal) and non-thermal images to be used separately or in combination as described in connection with  FIGS. 23, 26, and 27  and/or other image combination processes described hereinafter. For example, infrared sensor  7000  may be an implementation of infrared imaging module  1202  and non-thermal camera module  7002  may be an implementation of non-thermal camera module  6002  (see, e.g.,  FIG. 26 ). 
     As shown in  FIG. 28 , device attachment  1250  may include a front portion  7007  and a rear portion  7009 . Front portion  7007  may be formed from a housing that encloses functional components of the device attachment such as a battery, connectors, imaging components, processors, memory, communications components, and/or other components of a device attachment as described herein. Rear portion  7009  may be a structural housing portion having a shape that forms a recess into which a user device can be releasably attached. 
       FIG. 29  is a front perspective view of the device attachment of  FIG. 28  showing how a user device  1250  from Apple, Inc.® may be releasably attached to device attachment  1201  (e.g., by inserting the device into a recess in a housing portion for the device attachment formed from a rear wall and at least one sidewall that at least partially surround the device). 
     In the embodiment of  FIG. 30 , a rear perspective view of a device attachment  1203  having a shape for receiving devices from Samsung Electronics, Ltd.® (e.g., Galaxy Tab™ devices, Galaxy S™ devices, Galaxy Note™ devices, other Galaxy™ devices, or other devices from Samsung). As shown in  FIG. 30 , device attachment  1203  may include a camera window  1245  through which the device camera (e.g., a non-thermal camera module such as a visible light camera module in the device) can capture images, and a plurality of imaging components such as infrared sensor  7001  and non-thermal camera module  7003 . If desired, device attachment  1200  may also include a mechanical shutter such as user operable shutter  7005 . User operable shutter  7005  may be moved by a user of device attachment  1203  to selectively block or unblock imaging components  7001  and  7003 . In some embodiments, user operable shutter  7005  may power off or on device attachment  1203  when moved to block or unblock imaging components  7001  and  7003 . In this type of arrangement, device attachment  1203  may also include an attachment member such as engagement member  7006  configured to extend around a portion of a user device to securely and releasably attach the device attachment  1203  to the user device. In one embodiment, non-thermal camera module  7003  may be omitted and shutter  7005  may include an extended portion in the location at which non-thermal camera module  7003  is shown that slides over infrared sensor  7001  when a user moves shutter  7005 . 
       FIG. 31  is a front perspective view of the device attachment  1203  of  FIG. 30  showing how a user device  1251  from Samsung Electronics, Ltd.® may be releasably attached to device attachment  1203  (e.g., by inserting the user device  1251  into a recess in a housing for the device attachment  1203  formed from a rear wall, at least one sidewall, and an attachment member  7006  that at least partially surround the device). 
     As shown in  FIGS. 29 and 31  (as examples), device attachments  1201 / 1203  may be arranged so that a display of the user device  1250 / 1251  remains visible and accessible to the user when device attachment  1201 / 1203  is attached to the device. 
     The examples of  FIGS. 28, 29, 30, and 31  are merely illustrative. If desired, attachment device  1200  may be configured to have a size and shape suitable for receiving a user device from any manufacturer. 
     Various embodiments in which non-thermal images are combined with thermal images as described above in connection with, for example,  FIGS. 23-27  are discussed herein in further detail in, for example,  FIGS. 34-39 . The examples discussed in connection with  FIGS. 34-39  describe combining or fusing thermal images with visible light images, however, it should be appreciated that the devices, processes and techniques described may be applied for combining or fusing any suitable thermal and non-thermal images. 
     Before discussing various embodiments in which non-thermal camera modules are used to generate non-thermal images for combination or fusion with thermal images,  FIGS. 32 and 33  describe a low power implementation for an infrared imaging module. 
     As discussed, in various embodiments, infrared imaging module  100  may be configured to operate at low voltage levels. In particular, infrared imaging module  100  may be implemented with circuitry configured to operate at low power and/or in accordance with other parameters that permit infrared imaging module  100  to be conveniently and effectively implemented in various types of host devices  102 , such as mobile devices and other devices. 
     For example,  FIG. 32  illustrates a block diagram of another implementation of infrared sensor assembly  128  including infrared sensors  132  and an LDO  8220  in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. As shown,  FIG. 32  also illustrates various components  8202 ,  8204 ,  8205 ,  8206 ,  8208 , and  8210  which may implemented in the same or similar manner as corresponding components previously described with regard to  FIG. 4 .  FIG. 32  also illustrates bias correction circuitry  8212  which may be used to adjust one or more bias voltages provided to infrared sensors  132  (e.g., to compensate for temperature changes, self-heating, and/or other factors). 
     In some embodiments, LDO  8220  may be provided as part of infrared sensor assembly  128  (e.g., on the same chip and/or wafer level package as the ROIC). For example, LDO  8220  may be provided as part of an FPA with infrared sensor assembly  128 . As discussed, such implementations may reduce power supply noise introduced to infrared sensor assembly  128  and thus provide an improved PSRR. In addition, by implementing the LDO with the ROIC, less die area may be consumed and fewer discrete die (or chips) are needed. 
     LDO  8220  receives an input voltage provided by a power source  8230  over a supply line  8232 . LDO  8220  provides an output voltage to various components of infrared sensor assembly  128  over supply lines  8222 . In this regard, LDO  8220  may provide substantially identical regulated output voltages to various components of infrared sensor assembly  128  in response to a single input voltage received from power source  8230 . 
     For example, in some embodiments, power source  8230  may provide an input voltage in a range of approximately 2.8 volts to approximately 11 volts (e.g., approximately 2.8 volts in one embodiment), and LDO  8220  may provide an output voltage in a range of approximately 1.5 volts to approximately 2.8 volts (e.g., approximately 2.5 volts in one embodiment). In this regard, LDO  8220  may be used to provide a consistent regulated output voltage, regardless of whether power source  8230  is implemented with a conventional voltage range of approximately 9 volts to approximately 11 volts, or a low voltage such as approximately 2.8 volts. As such, although various voltage ranges are provided for the input and output voltages, it is contemplated that the output voltage of LDO  8220  will remain fixed despite changes in the input voltage. 
     By regulating a single power source  8230  by LDO  8220 , appropriate voltages may be separately provided (e.g., to reduce possible noise) to all components of infrared sensor assembly  128  with reduced complexity. The use of LDO  8220  also allows infrared sensor assembly  128  to operate in a consistent manner, even if the input voltage from power source  8230  changes (e.g., if the input voltage increases or decreases as a result of charging or discharging a battery or other type of device used for power source  8230 ). 
     LDO  8220  may be implemented to provide a low voltage (e.g., approximately 2.5 volts). This contrasts with the multiple higher voltages typically used to power conventional FPAs, such as: approximately 3.3 volts to approximately 5 volts used to power digital circuitry; approximately 3.3 volts used to power analog circuitry; and approximately 9 volts to approximately 11 volts used to power loads. Also, in some embodiments, the use of LDO  8220  may reduce or eliminate the need for a separate negative reference voltage to be provided to infrared sensor assembly  128 . 
     Additional aspects of the low voltage operation of infrared sensor assembly  128  may be further understood with reference to  FIG. 33 .  FIG. 33  illustrates a circuit diagram of a portion of infrared sensor assembly  128  of  FIG. 32  in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. In particular,  FIG. 33  illustrates additional components of bias correction circuitry  8212  (e.g., components  9326 ,  9330 ,  9332 ,  9334 ,  9336 ,  9338 , and  9341 ) connected to LDO  8220  and infrared sensors  132 . For example, bias correction circuitry  8212  may be used to compensate for temperature-dependent changes in bias voltages in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The operation of such additional components may be further understood with reference to similar components identified in U.S. Pat. No. 7,679,048 issued Mar. 16, 2010 which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. Infrared sensor assembly  128  may also be implemented in accordance with the various components identified in U.S. Pat. No. 6,812,465 issued Nov. 2, 2004 which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     In various embodiments, some or all of the bias correction circuitry  8212  may be implemented on a global array basis as shown in  FIG. 33  (e.g., used for all infrared sensors  132  collectively in an array). In other embodiments, some or all of the bias correction circuitry  8212  may be implemented an individual sensor basis (e.g., entirely or partially duplicated for each infrared sensor  132 ). In some embodiments, bias correction circuitry  8212  and other components of  FIG. 33  may be implemented as part of ROIC  8202 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 33 , LDO  8220  provides a load voltage Vload to bias correction circuitry  8212  along one of supply lines  8222 . As discussed, in some embodiments, Vload may be approximately 2.5 volts which contrasts with larger voltages of approximately 9 volts to approximately 11 volts that may be used as load voltages in conventional infrared imaging devices. 
     Based on Vload, bias correction circuitry  8212  provides a sensor bias voltage Vbolo at a node  9360 . Vbolo may be distributed to one or more infrared sensors  132  through appropriate switching circuitry  9370  (e.g., represented by broken lines in  FIG. 33 ). In some examples, switching circuitry  9370  may be implemented in accordance with appropriate components identified in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,812,465 and 7,679,048 previously referenced herein. 
     Each infrared sensor  132  includes a node  9350  which receives Vbolo through switching circuitry  9370 , and another node  9352  which may be connected to ground, a substrate, and/or a negative reference voltage. In some embodiments, the voltage at node  9360  may be substantially the same as Vbolo provided at nodes  9350 . In other embodiments, the voltage at node  9360  may be adjusted to compensate for possible voltage drops associated with switching circuitry  9370  and/or other factors. 
     Vbolo may be implemented with lower voltages than are typically used for conventional infrared sensor biasing. In one embodiment, Vbolo may be in a range of approximately 0.2 volts to approximately 0.7 volts. In another embodiment, Vbolo may be in a range of approximately 0.4 volts to approximately 0.6 volts. In another embodiment, Vbolo may be approximately 0.5 volts. In contrast, conventional infrared sensors typically use bias voltages of approximately 1 volt. 
     The use of a lower bias voltage for infrared sensors  132  in accordance with the present disclosure permits infrared sensor assembly  128  to exhibit significantly reduced power consumption in comparison with conventional infrared imaging devices. In particular, the power consumption of each infrared sensor  132  is reduced by the square of the bias voltage. As a result, a reduction from, for example, 1.0 volt to 0.5 volts provides a significant reduction in power, especially when applied to many infrared sensors  132  in an infrared sensor array. This reduction in power may also result in reduced self-heating of infrared sensor assembly  128 . 
     In accordance with additional embodiments of the present disclosure, various techniques are provided for reducing the effects of noise in image frames provided by infrared imaging devices operating at low voltages. 
     For example, referring to  FIG. 33 , when LDO  8220  maintains Vload at a low voltage in the manner described herein, Vbolo will also be maintained at its corresponding low voltage and the relative size of its output signals may be reduced. As a result, noise, self-heating, and/or other phenomena may have a greater effect on the smaller output signals read out from infrared sensors  132 , resulting in variations (e.g., errors) in the output signals. 
     To compensate for such phenomena, infrared sensor assembly  128 , infrared imaging module  100 , and/or host device  102  may be implemented with various array sizes, frame rates, and/or frame averaging techniques. For example, as discussed, a variety of different array sizes are contemplated for infrared sensors  132 . In some embodiments, infrared sensors  132  may be implemented with array sizes ranging from 32 by 32 to 160 by 120 infrared sensors  132 . Other example array sizes include 80 by 64, 80 by 60, 64 by 64, and 64 by 32. Any desired array size may be used. 
     Advantageously, when implemented with such relatively small array sizes, infrared sensor assembly  128  may provide image frames at relatively high frame rates without requiring significant changes to ROIC and related circuitry. For example, in some embodiments, frame rates may range from approximately 120 Hz to approximately 480 Hz. 
     In some embodiments, the array size and the frame rate may be scaled relative to each other (e.g., in an inversely proportional manner or otherwise) such that larger arrays are implemented with lower frame rates, and smaller arrays are implemented with higher frame rates. For example, in one embodiment, an array of 160 by 120 may provide a frame rate of approximately 120 Hz. In another embodiment, an array of 80 by 60 may provide a correspondingly higher frame rate of approximately 240 Hz. Other frame rates are also contemplated. 
     By scaling the array size and the frame rate relative to each other, the particular readout timing of rows and/or columns of the FPA may remain consistent, regardless of the actual FPA size or frame rate. In one embodiment, the readout timing may be approximately 63 microseconds per row or column. 
     As previously discussed with regard to  FIG. 8 , the image frames captured by infrared sensors  132  may be provided to a frame averager  804  that integrates multiple image frames to provide image frames  802  (e.g., processed image frames) with a lower frame rate (e.g., approximately 30 Hz, approximately 60 Hz, or other frame rates) and with an improved signal to noise ratio. In particular, by averaging the high frame rate image frames provided by a relatively small FPA, image noise attributable to low voltage operation may be effectively averaged out and/or substantially reduced in image frames  802 . Accordingly, infrared sensor assembly  128  may be operated at relatively low voltages provided by LDO  8220  as discussed without experiencing additional noise and related side effects in the resulting image frames  802  after processing by frame averager  804 . 
     Although a single array of infrared sensors  132  is illustrated, it is contemplated that multiple such arrays may be used together to provide higher resolution image frames (e.g., a scene may be imaged across multiple such arrays). Such arrays may be provided in multiple infrared sensor assemblies  128  and/or provided in the same infrared sensor assembly  128 . Each such array may be operated at low voltages as described, and also may be provided with associated ROIC circuitry such that each array may still be operated at a relatively high frame rate. The high frame rate image frames provided by such arrays may be averaged by shared or dedicated frame averagers  804  to reduce and/or eliminate noise associated with low voltage operation. As a result, high resolution infrared images may be obtained while still operating at low voltages. 
     In various embodiments, infrared sensor assembly  128  may be implemented with appropriate dimensions to permit infrared imaging module  100  to be used with a small form factor socket  104 , such as a socket used for mobile devices. For example, in some embodiments, infrared sensor assembly  128  may be implemented with a chip size in a range of approximately 4.0 mm by approximately 4.0 mm to approximately 5.5 mm by approximately 5.5 mm (e.g., approximately 4.0 mm by approximately 5.5 mm in one example). Infrared sensor assembly  128  may be implemented with such sizes or other appropriate sizes to permit use with socket  104  implemented with various sizes such as: 8.5 mm by 8.5 mm, 8.5 mm by 5.9 mm, 6.0 mm by 6.0 mm, 5.5 mm by 5.5 mm, 4.5 mm by 4.5 mm, and/or other socket sizes such as, for example, those identified in Table 1 of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/495,873 previously referenced herein. 
     In some embodiments, such as those described above in connection with, for example,  FIGS. 23-27 , infrared imaging modules  100  may be configured to produce infrared images that can be combined with non-thermal images such as visible spectrum images produce high resolution, high contrast, and/or targeted contrast combined images of a scene, for example, that include highly accurate radiometric data (e.g., infrared information) corresponding to one or more objects in the scene. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 34 ,  FIG. 34  shows a block diagram of imaging system  4000  adapted to image scene  4030  in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. For example, system  4000  may represent a combination of any of the user devices and any of the device attachments described herein. System  4000  may include one or more imaging modules, such as visible spectrum imaging module  4002   a  and infrared imaging module  4002   b  (which may respectively represent any of the non-thermal camera modules and infrared imaging modules described herein, or combinations thereof, for example), processor  4010  (which may represent any of the processors described herein, or combinations thereof, for example), memory  4012  (e.g., one or more memory devices provided in any of the user devices and/or device attachments described herein and implemented in a similar manner as memory  196  of host device  102 , for example), a communication module  4014 , a display  4016 , and other components  4018 . Where appropriate, elements of system  4000  may be implemented in the same or similar manner as other devices and systems described herein and may be configured to perform various NUC processes and other processes as described herein. 
     For example, system  4000  may form a portion of a device attachment  1200 . For example, visible spectrum imaging module  4002   a  may be an implementation of a non-thermal camera module and/or infrared imaging module  4002   b  may be an implementation of an infrared sensor. Although system  4000  is described as including visible spectrum imaging module  4002   a , it should be appreciated that visible spectrum imaging module  4002   a  may be substituted with any suitable non-thermal camera module. As such, descriptions of combining visible spectrum images with thermal images herein may be similarly applied to combining thermal images with non-thermal images other than visible spectrum images (e.g., near-infrared images, short-wave infrared images, etc.). 
     As shown in  FIG. 34 , scene  4030  (e.g., illustrated as a top plan view) may include various predominately stationary elements, such as building  4032 , windows  4034 , and sidewalk  4036 , and may also include various predominately transitory elements, such as vehicle  4040 , cart  4042 , and pedestrians  4050 . Building  4032 , windows  4034 , sidewalk  4036 , vehicle  4040 , cart  4042 , and pedestrians  4050  may be imaged by visible spectrum imaging module  4002   a , for example, whenever scene  4030  is visibly illuminated by ambient light (e.g., daylight) or by an artificial visible spectrum light source, for example, as long as those elements of scene  4030  are not otherwise obscured by smoke, fog, or other environmental conditions. Building  4032 , windows  4034 , sidewalk  4036 , vehicle  4040 , cart  4042 , and pedestrians  4050  may be imaged by infrared imaging module  4002   b  to provide real-time imaging and/or low-light imaging of scene  4030  when scene  4030  is not visibly illuminated (e.g., by visible spectrum light), for example. 
     In some embodiments, imaging system  4000  can be configured to combine visible spectrum images from visible spectrum imaging module  4002   a  captured at a first time (e.g., when scene  4030  is visibly illuminated), for example, with infrared images from infrared imaging module  4002   b  captured at a second time (e.g., when scene  4030  is not visibly illuminated), for instance, in order to generate combined images including radiometric data and/or other infrared characteristics corresponding to scene  4030  but with significantly more object detail and/or contrast than typically provided by the infrared or visible spectrum images alone. In other embodiments, the combined images can include radiometric data corresponding to one or more objects within scene  4030 , for example, and visible spectrum characteristics, such as a visible spectrum color of the objects (e.g., for predominantly stationary objects), for example. In some embodiments, both the infrared images and the combined images can be substantially real time images or video of scene  4030 . In other embodiments, combined images of scene  4030  can be generated substantially later in time than when corresponding infrared and/or visible spectrum images have been captured, for example, using stored infrared and/or visible spectrum images and/or video. In still further embodiments, combined images may include visible spectrum images of scene  4030  captured before or after corresponding infrared images have been captured. 
     In each embodiment, visible spectrum images including elements of scene  4030  such as building  4032 , windows  4034 , and sidewalk  4036 , can be processed to provide visible spectrum characteristics that, when combined with infrared images, allow easier recognition and/or interpretation of the combined images. 
     In various embodiments, one or more components of system  4000  may be combined and/or implemented or not, depending on application requirements. For example, processor  4010  may be combined with any of imaging modules  4002   a - b , memory  4012 , display  4016 , and/or communication module  4014 . In another example, processor  4010  may be combined with any of imaging modules  4002   a - b  with only certain operations of processor  4010  performed by circuitry (e.g., a processor, logic device, microprocessor, microcontroller, etc.) within any of the infrared imaging modules. 
     Thus, one or more components of system  4000  may be mounted in view of scene  4030  to provide real-time and/or enhanced infrared monitoring of scene  4030  in low light situations. 
     Turning to  FIG. 35 ,  FIG. 35  illustrates a flowchart of a process  4100  to enhance infrared imaging of a scene in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. For example, one or more portions of process  4100  may be performed by processor  4010  and/or each of imaging modules  4002   a - b  of system  4000  and utilizing any of optical elements  4004   a - b , memory  4012 , communication module  4014 , display  4016 , or other components  4018 , where each of imaging modules  4002   a - b  and/or optical elements  40104   a - b  may be mounted in view of at least a portion of scene  4030 . In some embodiments, some elements of system  4000  may be mounted in a distributed manner (e.g., be placed in different areas inside or outside of scene  4030 ) and be coupled wirelessly to each other using one or more communication modules  4014 . In further embodiments, imaging modules  4002   a - b  may be situated out of view of scene  4030  but may receive views of scene  4030  through optical elements  4004   a - b.    
     It should be appreciated that system  4000  and scene  4030  are identified only for purposes of giving examples and that any other suitable system may include one or more components mounted in view of any other type of scene and perform all or part of process  4100 . It should also be appreciated that any step, sub-step, sub-process, or block of process  4100  may be performed in an order or arrangement different from the embodiment illustrated by  FIG. 35 . For example, although process  4100  describes visible spectrum images being captured before infrared images are captured, in other embodiments, visible spectrum images may be captured after infrared images are captured. 
     In some embodiments, any portion of process  4100  may be implemented in a loop so as to continuously operate on a series of infrared and/or visible spectrum images, such as a video of scene  4030 . In other embodiments, process  4100  may be implemented in a partial feedback loop including display of intermediary processing (e.g., after or while receiving infrared and/or visible spectrum images, performing preprocessing operations, generating combined images, performing post processing operations, or performing other processing of process  4100 ) to a user, for example, and/or including receiving user input, such as user input directed to any intermediary processing step. 
     At block  4102 , system  4000  may receive (e.g., accept) user input. For example, display  4016  and/or other components  4018  may include a user input device, such as a touch-sensitive screen, keyboard, mouse, dial, or joystick. Processor  4010  of system  4000  may be configured to prompt for user input. For example, system  4000  may prompt a user to select a blending or a high contrast mode for generating combined images of scene  4030 , and upon receiving user input, system  4000  may proceed with a selected mode. 
     At block  4104 , system  4000  may determine one or more threshold values for use in process  4100 . For example, processor  4010  and/or imaging modules  4002   a - b  may be configured to determine threshold values from user input received in block  4102 . In one embodiment, processor  4010  may be configured to determine threshold values from images and/or image data captured by one or more modules of system  4000 . In various embodiments, processor  4010  may be configured to use such threshold values to set, adjust, or refine one or more control parameters, blending parameters, or other operating parameters as described herein. For example, threshold values may be associated with one or more processing operations, such as blocks  4120 - 4140  of  FIG. 35 , for example. 
     At block  4110 , system  4000  may capture one or more visible spectrum images. For example, processor  4010  and/or visible spectrum imaging module  4002   a  may be configured to capture a visible spectrum image of scene  4030  at a first time, such as while scene  4030  is visibly illuminated. In one embodiment, processor  4010 , visible spectrum imaging module  4002   a , and/or other components  4018  may be configured to detect context data, such as time of day and/or lighting or environmental conditions, and determine an appropriate first time by determining that there is sufficient ambient light and environmental clarity to capture a visible spectrum image with enough detail and/or contrast to discern objects or to generate a combined image with sufficient detail and/or contrast for a particular application of system  4000 , such as intrusion monitoring or fire safety monitoring. In other embodiments, processor  4010  and/or visible spectrum imaging module  4002   a  may be configured to capture visible spectrum images according to user input and/or a schedule. Visible spectrum imaging module  4002   a  may be configured to capture visible images in a variety of color spaces/formats, including a raw or uncompressed format. In other embodiments, visible spectrum images (or other non-thermal images) may be captured using an additional device such as a user device (e.g., user device  1250 ) that is releasably attached to system  4000 . 
     At block  4112 , system  4000  may receive and/or store visible spectrum images and associated context information. For example, processor  4010  and/or visible spectrum imaging module  4002   a  may be configured to receive visible spectrum images of scene  4030  from a sensor portion of visible spectrum imaging module  4002   a , to receive context data from other components  4018 , and then to store the visible spectrum images with the context data in a memory portion of visible spectrum imaging module  4002   a  and/or memory  4012 . 
     Context data may include various properties and ambient conditions associated with an image of scene  4030 , such as a timestamp, an ambient temperature, an ambient barometric pressure, a detection of motion in scene  4030 , an orientation of one or more of imaging modules  4002   a - b , a configuration of one or more of optical elements  4004   a - b , the time elapsed since imaging has begun, and/or the identification of objects within scene  4030  and their coordinates in one or more of the visible spectrum or infrared images. 
     Context data may guide how an image may be processed, analyzed, and/or used. For example, context data may reveal that an image has been taken while an ambient light level is high. Such information may indicate that a captured visible spectrum image may need additional exposure correction pre-processing. In this and various other ways, context data may be utilized (e.g., by processor  4010 ) to determine an appropriate application of an associated image. Context data may also supply input parameters for performing image analytics and processing as further described in detail below. In different embodiments, context data may be collected, processed, or otherwise managed at a processor (e.g., processor  4010 ) directly without being stored at a separate memory. 
     Visible spectrum images may be stored in a variety of color spaces/formats that may or may not be the color space/format of the received visible spectrum images. For example, processor  4010  may be configured to receive visible spectrum images from visible spectrum imaging module  4002   a  in an RGB color space, then convert and save the visible spectrum images in a YCbCr color space. In other embodiments, processor  4010  and/or visible spectrum imaging module  4002   a  may be configured to perform other image processing on received visible spectrum images prior to storing the images, such as scaling, gain correction, color space matching, and other preprocessing operations described herein with respect to block  4120 . 
     At block  4114 , system  4000  may optionally be configured to wait a period of time. For example, processor  4010  may be configured to wait until scene  4030  is not visibly illuminated (e.g., in the visible spectrum), or until scene  4030  is obscured in the visible spectrum by environmental conditions, for instance, before proceeding with process  4100 . In other embodiments, processor  4010  may be configured to wait a scheduled time period or until a scheduled time before proceeding with process  4100 . The time and/or time period may be adjustable depending on ambient light levels and/or environmental conditions, for example. In some embodiments, the period of time may be a substantial period of time, such as twelve hours, days, weeks, or other time period that is relatively long compared to a typical time for motion of objects (e.g., vehicles, pedestrians) within scene  4030 . 
     At block  4116 , system  4000  may capture one or more infrared images. For example, processor  4010  and/or infrared imaging module  4002   b  may be configured to capture an infrared image of scene  4030  at a second time, such as while scene  4030  is not visibly illuminated, or after a particular time period enforced in block  4114 . 
     In some embodiments, the second time may be substantially different from the first time referenced in block  4110 , relative to the time typically needed for a transient object to enter and leave scene  4030 , for example. Processor  4010  and/or infrared imaging module  4002   b  may be configured to detect context data, such as time, date, and lighting conditions, and determine an appropriate second time by determining that ambient light levels are too low to capture a visible spectrum image with sufficient detail and/or contrast to discern objects in scene  4030  according to a particular application of system  4000 . In some embodiments, processor  4010  and/or infrared imaging module  4002   b  may be configured to determine an appropriate second time by analyzing one or more visible spectrum and/or infrared images captured by imaging modules  4002   a - b . In other embodiments, processor  4010  and/or infrared imaging module  4002   b  may be configured to capture infrared images according to user input and/or a schedule. Infrared imaging module  4002   b  may be configured to capture infrared images in a variety of color spaces/formats, including a raw or uncompressed format. Such images may include radiometric data encoded into a radiometric component of the infrared images. 
     At block  4118 , system  4000  may receive and/or store infrared images and associated context information. For example, processor  4010  and/or infrared imaging module  4002   b  may be configured to receive infrared images of scene  4030  from a sensor portion of infrared imaging module  4002   a , to receive context data from other components  4018 , and then to store the infrared images with the context data in a memory portion of infrared imaging module  4002   b  and/or memory  4012 . Context data may include various properties and ambient conditions associated with an image, for example, and may guide how an image may be processed, analyzed, and/or used. 
     Infrared images may be stored in a variety of color spaces/formats that may or may not be the color space/format of the received infrared images. For example, processor  4010  may be configured to receive infrared images from infrared imaging module  4002   b  in a raw radiometric data format, then convert and save the infrared images in a YCbCr color space. In some embodiments, radiometric data may be encoded entirely into a luminance (e.g., Y) component, a chrominance (e.g., Cr and Cb) component, or both the luminance and chrominance components of the infrared images, for example. In other embodiments, processor  4010  and/or infrared imaging module  4002   b  may be configured to perform other image processing on received infrared images prior to storing the images, such as scaling, gain correction, color space matching, and other preprocessing operations described herein with respect to block  4120 . 
     At block  4120 , system  4000  may perform a variety of preprocessing operations. For example, one or more of imaging modules  4002   a - b  and/or processor  4010  may be configured to perform one or more preprocessing operations on visible spectrum and/or infrared images of scene  4030  captured by imaging modules  4002   a - b.    
     Preprocessing operations may include a variety of numerical, bit, and/or combinatorial operations performed on all or a portion of an image, such as on a component of an image, for example, or a selection of pixels of an image, or on a selection or series of images. In one embodiment, processing operations may include operations for correcting for differing FOVs and/or parallax resulting from imaging modules  4002   a - b  having different FOVs or non-co-linear optical axes. Such corrections may include image cropping, image morphing (e.g., mapping of pixel data to new positions in an image), spatial filtering, and resampling, for example. In another embodiment, a resolution of the visible spectrum and/or infrared images may be scaled to approximate or match a resolution of a corresponding image (e.g., visible spectrum to infrared, or infrared to visible spectrum), a portion of an image (e.g., for a picture-in-picture (PIP) effect), a resolution of display  4016 , or a resolution specified by a user, monitoring system, or particular image processing step. Resolution scaling may include resampling (e.g., up-sampling or down-sampling) an image, for example, or may include spatial filtering and/or cropping an image. 
     In another embodiment, preprocessing operations may include temporal and/or spatial noise reduction operations, which may be performed on visible spectrum and/or infrared images, and which may include using a series of images, for example, provided by one or both of imaging modules  4002   a - b . In a further embodiment, a NUC process may be performed on the captured and stored images to remove noise therein, for example, by using various NUC techniques disclosed herein. In another embodiment, other calibration processes for infrared images may be performed, such as profiling, training, baseline parameter construction, and other statistical analysis on one or more images provided by one or both of imaging modules  4002   a - b . Calibration parameters resulting from such processes may be applied to images to correct, calibrate, or otherwise adjust radiometric data in infrared images, for example, or to correct color or intensity data of one or more visible spectrum images. 
     In one embodiment, an image may be analyzed to determine a distribution of intensities for one or more components of the image. An overall gain and/or offset may be determined for the image based on such a distribution, for example, and used to adjust the distribution so that it matches an expected (e.g., corrected) or desired (e.g., targeted) distribution. In other embodiments, an overall gain and/or offset may be determined so that a particular interval of the distribution utilizes more of the dynamic range of the particular component or components of the image. 
     In some embodiments, a dynamic range of a first image (e.g., a radiometric component of an infrared image) may be normalized to the dynamic range of a second image (e g a luminance component of a visible spectrum image). In other embodiments, a dynamic range of a particular image may be adjusted according to a histogram equalization method, a linear scaling method, or a combination of the two, for example, to distribute the dynamic range according to information contained in a particular image or selection of images. 
     In further embodiments, adjustments and/or normalizations of dynamic ranges or other aspects of images may be performed while retaining a calibration of a radiometric component of an infrared image. For example, a dynamic range of a non-radiometric component of an infrared image may be adjusted without adjusting the dynamic range of the radiometric component of infrared image. In other embodiments, the radiometric component of an infrared image may be adjusted to emphasize a particular thermal interval, for example, and the adjustment may be stored with the infrared image so that accurate temperature correspondence (e.g., a pseudo-color and/or intensity correspondence) may be presented to a user along with a user-viewable image corresponding to the thermal image and/or a combined image including infrared characteristics derived from the infrared image. 
     In other embodiments, preprocessing operations may include converting visible spectrum and/or infrared images to a different or common color space. In other embodiments, images in a raw or uncompressed format may be converted to a common RGB or YCbCr color space. In some embodiments, a pseudo-color palette, such as a pseudo-color palette chosen by a user in block  4102 , may be applied as part of the preprocessing operations performed in block  4120 . As with the dynamic range adjustments, application of color palettes may be performed while retaining a calibration of a radiometric component of an infrared image, for example, or a color space calibration of a visible spectrum image. 
     In another embodiment, preprocessing operations may include decomposing images into various components. For example, an infrared image in a color space/format including a raw or uncompressed radiometric component may be converted into an infrared image in a YCbCr color space. The raw radiometric component may be encoded into a luminance (e.g., Y) component of the converted infrared image, for example, or into a chrominance (e.g., Cr and/or Cb) component of the converted infrared image, or into the luminance and chrominance components of the converted infrared image. In some embodiments, unused components may be discarded, for example, or set to a known value (e.g., black, white, grey, or a particular primary color). Visible spectrum images may also be converted and decomposed into constituent components, for example, in a similar fashion. The decomposed images may be stored in place of the original images, for example, and may include context data indicating all color space conversions and decompositions so as to potentially retain a radiometric and/or color space calibration of the original images 
     More generally, preprocessed images may be stored in place of original images, for example, and may include context data indicating all applied preprocessing operations so as to potentially retain a radiometric and/or color space calibration of the original images. 
     At block  4130 , system  4000  may generate one or more combined images from the captured and/or preprocessed images. For example, one or more of imaging modules  4002   a - b  and/or processor  4010  (or, if desired, a processor of a releasably attached user device) may be configured to generate combined images of scene  4030  from visible spectrum and infrared images captured by imaging modules  4002   a - b . In one embodiment, the visible spectrum images may be captured prior to the infrared images. In an alternative embodiment, the infrared images may be captured prior to the visible spectrum images. Such combined images may serve to provide enhanced imagery as compared to imagery provided by the visible spectrum or infrared images alone. 
     In one embodiment, processor  4010  may be configured to generate combined images according to a true color mode. For example, a combined image may include a radiometric component of an infrared image of scene  4030  blended with a corresponding component of a visible spectrum image according to a blending parameter. In such embodiments, the remaining portions of the combined image may be derived from corresponding portions of the visible spectrum and/or infrared images of scene  4030 . 
     In another embodiment, processor  4010  may be configured to generate combined images according to a high contrast mode. For example, a combined image may include a radiometric component of an infrared image and a blended component including infrared characteristics of scene  4030  blended with high spatial frequency content, derived from visible spectrum and/or infrared images, according to a blending parameter. 
     More generally, processor  4010  may be configured to generate combined images that increase or refine the information conveyed by either the visible spectrum or infrared images viewed by themselves. Combined images may be stored in memory  4012 , for example, for subsequent post-processing and/or presentation to a user or a monitoring system, for instance, or may be used to generate control signals for one or more other components  4018 . 
     At block  4140 , system  4000  may perform a variety of post-processing operations on combined images. For example, one or more of imaging modules  4002   a - b  and/or processor  4010  may be configured to perform one or more post-processing operations on combined images generated from visible spectrum and infrared characteristics of scene  4030 , for example, derived from images captured by imaging modules  4002   a - b.    
     Similar to the preprocessing operations described with respect to block  4120 , post-processing operations may include a variety of numerical, bit, and/or combinatorial operations performed on all or a portion of an image, such as on a component of an image, for example, or a selection of pixels of an image, or on a selection or series of images. For example, any of the dynamic range adjustment operations described above with respect to preprocessing operations performed on captured images may also be performed on one or more combined images. In one embodiment, a particular color-palette, such as a night or day-time palette, or a pseudo-color palette, may be applied to a combined image. For example, a particular color-palette may be designated by a user in block  4102 , or may be determined by context or other data, such as a current time of day, a type of combined image, or a dynamic range of a combined image. 
     In other embodiments, post-processing operations may include adding high resolution noise to combined images in order to decrease an impression of smudges or other artifacts potentially present in the combined images. In one embodiment, the added noise may include high resolution temporal noise (e.g., “white” signal noise). In further embodiments, post-processing operations may include one or more noise reduction operations to reduce or eliminate noise or other non-physical artifacts introduced into the combined images by image processing, for example, such as aliasing, banding, dynamic range excursion, and numerical calculation-related bit-noise. 
     In some embodiments, post-processing operations may include color-weighted (e.g., chrominance-weighted) adjustments to luminance values of an image in order to ensure that areas with extensive color data are emphasized over areas without extensive color data. For example, where a radiometric component of an infrared image is encoded into a chrominance component of a combined image, in block  4130 , for example, a luminance component of the combined image may be adjusted to increase the luminance of areas of the combined image with a high level of radiometric data. A high level of radiometric data may correspond to a high temperature or temperature gradient, for example, or an area of an image with a broad distribution of different intensity infrared emissions (e.g., as opposed to an area with a narrow or unitary distribution of intensity infrared emissions). Other normalized weighting schemes may be used to shift a luminance component of a combined image for pixels with significant color content. In alternative embodiments, luminance-weighted adjustments to chrominance values of an image may be made in a similar manner. 
     More generally, post-processing operations may include using one or more components of a combined image to adjust other components of a combined image in order to provide automated image enhancement. In some embodiments, post-processing operations may include adjusting a dynamic range, a resolution, a color space/format, or another aspect of combined images to match or approximate a corresponding aspect of a display, for example, or a corresponding aspect expected by a monitoring system or selected by a user. 
     Post-processed combined images may be stored in place of original combined images, for example, and may include context data indicating all applied post-processing operations so as to potentially retain a radiometric and/or color space calibration of the original combined images. 
     At block  4150 , system  4000  may generate control signals related to the combined images. For example, processor  4010  may be configured to generate control signals adapted to energize and/or operate any of an alarm, a siren, a messaging system, a security light, or one or more of other components  4018 , according to conditions detected from the enhanced imagery provided by the combined images. Such control signals may be generated when a combined image contains a detected object or condition, such as one or more of pedestrians  4050  and/or vehicle  4040  entering or idling in scene  4030 , for example. In other embodiments, processor  4010  may be configured to generate control signals notifying a monitoring system of detected objects or conditions in scene  4030 . 
     At block  4152 , system  4000  may display images to a user. For example, processor  4010  may be configured to convert visible spectrum, infrared, and/or combined images (e.g., from block  4130  and/or  4140 ) into user-viewable combined images and present the user-viewable combined images to a user utilizing display  4016 . In other embodiments, processor  4010  may also be configured to transmit combined images, including user-viewable combined images, to a monitoring system (e.g., using communication module  4014 ) for further processing, notification, control signal generation, and/or display to remote users. As noted above, embodiments of process  4100  may include additional embodiments of block  4152 , for example. In some embodiments, one or more embodiments of block  4152  may be implemented as part of one or more feedback loops, for example, which may include embodiments of blocks  4102  and/or  4104 . 
     At block  4154 , system  4000  may store images and other associated data. For example, processor  4010  may be configured to store one or more of the visible spectrum, infrared, or combined images, including associated context data and other data indicating pre-and-post-processing operations, to memory  4012 , for example, or to an external or portable memory device. 
       FIG. 36  illustrates a flowchart of a process  4200  to combine thermal images and non-thermal images of a scene in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. For example, one or more portions of process  4200  may be performed by processor  4010  and/or each of imaging modules  4002   a - b  of system  4000  and utilizing any of optical elements  4004   a - b , memory  4012 , communication module  4014 , display  4016 , or other components  4018 , where each of imaging modules  4002   a - b  and/or optical elements  4004   a - b  may be mounted in view of at least a portion of scene  4030 . In some embodiments, process  4200  may be implemented as an embodiment of block  6204  in process  6200  of  FIG. 27 , for example, to generate processed images such as multi-spectrum images from captured thermal infrared images and non-thermal images captured in block  6202  in process  6200 . 
     It should also be appreciated that any step, sub-step, sub-process, or block of process  4200  may be performed in an order or arrangement different from the embodiment illustrated by  FIG. 36 . For example, although process  4200  describes distinct blending and high-contrast modes, in other embodiments, captured images may be combined using any portion, order, or combination of the blending and/or high-contrast mode processing operations. In some embodiments, any portion of process  4200  may be implemented in a loop so as to continuously operate on a series of infrared and/or visible spectrum images, such as a video of a scene. 
     At block  4230 , processor  4010  may receive captured thermal images and non-thermal images (e.g., thermal infrared images and visible spectrum images). The thermal images and non-thermal images may be captured in various manners described for block  6202  of process  6200 , for example. Once the captured thermal images and non-thermal images are received, processor  4010  may determine a mode for generating combined images. Such mode may be selected by a user in block  4102  of  FIG. 35 , for example, or may be determined according to context data or an alternating mode, for instance, where the mode of operation alternates between configured modes upon a selected schedule or a particular monitoring system expectation. 
     In the embodiment illustrated by  FIG. 36 , the processor may determine a true color mode, including one or more of blocks  4233  and  4235 , or a high contrast mode, including one or more of blocks  4232 ,  4234 , and  4236 . In other embodiments, process  4200  may include other selectable modes including processes different from those depicted in  FIG. 36 , for example, or may include only a single mode, such as a mode including one or more adjustable blending parameters. In embodiments with multiple possible modes, once a mode is determined, process  4200  may proceed with the selected mode. 
     At block  4233 , system  4000  may perform various pre-combining operations on one or more of the thermal images and non-thermal images. For example, if a true color mode is determined in block  4230 , processor  4010  may be configured to perform pre-combining operations on one or more thermal images and/or non-thermal images received in block  4230 . In one embodiment, pre-combining operations may include any of the pre-processing operations described with respect to block  4120  of  FIG. 35 . For example, the color spaces of the received images may be converted and/or decomposed into common constituent components. 
     In other embodiments, pre-combining operations may include applying a high pass filter, applying a low pass filter, a non-linear low pass filer (e.g., a median filter), adjusting dynamic range (e.g., through a combination of histogram equalization and/or linear scaling), scaling dynamic range (e.g., by applying a gain and/or an offset), and adding image data derived from these operations to each other to form processed images. For example, a pre-combining operation may include extracting details and background portions from a radiometric component of an infrared image using a high pass spatial filter, performing histogram equalization and scaling on the dynamic range of the background portion, scaling the dynamic range of the details portion, adding the adjusted background and details portions to form a processed infrared image, and then linearly mapping the dynamic range of the processed infrared image to the dynamic range of a display. In one embodiment, the radiometric component of the infrared image may be a luminance component of the infrared image. In other embodiments, such pre-combining operations may be performed on one or more components of visible spectrum images. 
     As with other image processing operations, pre-combining operations may be applied in a manner so as to retain a radiometric and/or color space calibration of the original received images. Resulting processed images may be stored and/or may be further processed according to block  4235 . 
     At block  4235 , processor  4010  may blend one or more non-thermal (e.g., visible spectrum images or other non-thermal images) with one or more thermal images. For example, processor  4010  may be configured to blend one or more visible spectrum images with one or more thermal infrared images, where the one or more visible spectrum and/or thermal infrared images may be processed versions (e.g., according to block  4233 ) of images originally received in block  4230 . 
     In one embodiment, blending may include adding a radiometric component of an infrared image to a corresponding component of a visible spectrum image, according to a blending parameter. For example, a radiometric component of an infrared image may be a luminance component (e.g., Y) of the infrared image. In such an embodiment, blending the infrared image with a visible spectrum image may include proportionally adding the luminance components of the images according to a blending parameter ζ and the following first blending equation:
 
 YCI=ζ*YVSI +(1−ζ)* YIRI  
 
     where YCI is the luminance component of the combined image, YVSI is the luminance of the visible spectrum image, YIRI is the luminance component of the infrared image, and ζ varies from 0 to 1. In this embodiment, the resulting luminance component of the combined image is the blended image data. 
     In other embodiments, where a radiometric component of an infrared image may not be a luminance component of the infrared image, blending an infrared image with a visible spectrum image may include adding chrominance components of the images according to the first blending equation (e.g., by replacing the luminance components with corresponding chrominance components of the images), and the resulting chrominance component of the combined image is blended image data. More generally, blending may include adding (e.g., proportionally) a component of an infrared image, which may be a radiometric component of the infrared image, to a corresponding component of a visible spectrum image. Once blended image data is derived from the components of the visible spectrum and infrared images, the blended image data may be encoded into a corresponding component of the combined image, as further described with respect to block  4238 . In some embodiments, encoding blended image data into a component of a combined image may include additional image processing steps, for example, such as dynamic range adjustment, normalization, gain and offset operatinns, and color space conversions, for instance. 
     In embodiments where radiometric data is encoded into more than one color space/format component of an infrared image, the individual color space/format components of the infrared and visible spectrum images may be added individually, for example, or the individual color space components may be arithmetically combined prior to adding the combined color space/format components. 
     In further embodiments, different arithmetic combinations may be used to blend visible spectrum and infrared images. For example, blending an infrared image with a visible spectrum image may include adding the luminance components of the images according to a blending parameter ζ and the following second blending equation:
 
 YCI=ζ*YVSI+YIRI  
 
     where YCI, YVSI, and YIRI are defined as above with respect to the first blending equation, and ζ varies from 0 to values greater than a dynamic range of an associated image component (e.g., luminance, chrominance, radiometric, or other image component). As with the first blending equation, the second blending equation may be used to blend other components of an infrared image with corresponding components of a visible spectrum image. In other embodiments, the first and second blending equations may be rewritten to include per-pixel color-weighting or luminance-weighting adjustments of the blending parameter, for example, similar to the component-weighted adjustments described with respect to block  4140  of  FIG. 35 , in order to emphasize an area with a high level of radiometric data. 
     In some embodiments, image components other than those corresponding to a radiometric component of an infrared image may be truncated, set to a known value, or discarded. In other embodiments, the combined image components other than those encoded with blended image data may be encoded with corresponding components of either the visible spectrum or the infrared images. For example, in one embodiment, a combined image may include a chrominance component of a visible spectrum image encoded into a chrominance component of the combined image and blended image data encoded into a luminance component of the combined image, where the blended image data comprises a radiometric component of an infrared image blended with a luminance component of the visible spectrum image. In alternative embodiments, a combined image may include a chrominance component of the infrared image encoded into a chrominance component of the combined image. 
     A blending parameter value may be selected by a user, or may be determined by the processor according to context or other data, for example, or according to an image enhancement level expected by a coupled monitoring system. In some embodiments, the blending parameter may be adjusted or refined using a knob, joystick, or keyboard coupled to the processor, for example, while a combined image is being displayed by a display. From the first and second blending equations, in some embodiments, a blending parameter may be selected such that blended image data includes only infrared characteristics, or, alternatively, only visible spectrum characteristics. 
     In addition to or as an alternative to the processing described above, processing according to a true color mode may include one or more processing steps, ordering of processing steps, arithmetic combinations, and/or adjustments to blending parameters as disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/477,828 filed Jun. 3, 2009 which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. For example, blending parameter ζ may be adapted to affect the proportions of two luminance components of an infrared image and a visible spectrum image. In one aspect, ζ may be normalized with a value in the range of 0 (zero) to 1, wherein a value of 1 produces a blended image (e.g., blended image data, and/or a combined image) that is similar to the visible spectrum image. On the other hand, if ζ is set to 0, the blended image may have a luminance similar to the luminance of the infrared image. However, in the latter instance, the chrominance (Cr and Cb) from the visible image may be retained. Each other value of ζ may be adapted to produce a blended image where the luminance part (Y) includes information from both the visible spectrum and infrared images. For example, ζ may be multiplied to the luminance part (Y) of the visible spectrum image and added to the value obtained by multiplying the value of 1−ζ to the luminance part (Y) of the infrared image. This added value for the blended luminance parts (Y) may be used to provide the blended image (e.g., the blended image data, and/or the combined image). 
     In one embodiment, a blending algorithm may be referred to as true color infrared imagery. For example, in daytime imaging, a blended image may comprise a visible spectrum color image, which includes a luminance element and a chrominance element, with its luminance value replaced by the luminance value from a thermal infrared image. The use of the luminance data from the thermal infrared image causes the intensity of the true visible spectrum color image to brighten or dim based on the temperature of the object. As such, the blending algorithm provides thermal IR imaging for daytime or visible light images. 
     After one or more visible spectrum images (or other non-thermal images) are blended with one or more infrared images such as thermal images, processing may proceed to block  4238 , where blended data may be encoded into components of the combined images in order to form the combined images. 
     At block  4232 , processor  4010  may derive high spatial frequency content from one or more of the thermal images and non-thermal images. For example, if a high contrast mode is determined in block  4230 , processor  4010  may be configured to derive high spatial frequency content from one or more of the thermal images and non-thermal images received in block  4230 . 
     In one embodiment, high spatial frequency content may be derived from an image by performing a high pass filter (e.g., a spatial filter) operation on the image, where the result of the high pass filter operation is the high spatial frequency content. In an alternative embodiment, high spatial frequency content may be derived from an image by performing a low pass filter operation on the image, and then subtracting the result from the original image to get the remaining content, which is the high spatial frequency content. In another embodiment, high spatial frequency content may be derived from a selection of images through difference imaging, for example, where one image is subtracted from a second image that is perturbed from the first image in some fashion, and the result of the subtraction is the high spatial frequency content. For example, optical elements of a camera may be configured to introduce vibration, focus/de-focus, and/or movement artifacts into a series of images captured by one or both of an infrared camera and a non-thermal camera. High spatial frequency content may be derived from subtractions of adjacent or semi-adjacent images in the series. 
     In some embodiments, high spatial frequency content may be derived from only the non-thermal images or only from the thermal images. In other embodiments, high spatial frequency content may be derived from only a single thermal or non-thermal image. In further embodiments, high spatial frequency content may be derived from one or more components of thermal images and/or non-thermal images, such as a luminance component of a visible spectrum image, for example, or a radiometric component of a thermal infrared image. Resulting high spatial frequency content may be stored temporarily and/or may be further processed according to block  4234 . 
     At block  4234 , processor  4010  may de-noise one or more thermal images. For example, processor  4010  may be configured to de-noise, smooth, or blur one or more infrared images using a variety of image processing operations. In one embodiment, removing high spatial frequency noise from thermal images allows processed thermal images to be combined with high spatial frequency content derived according to block  4232  with significantly less risk of introducing double edges (e.g., edge noise) to objects depicted in combined images. 
     In one embodiment, removing noise from thermal images may include performing a low pass filter (e.g., a spatial and/or temporal filter) operation on the image, where the result of the low pass filter operation is a de-noised or processed thermal image. In a further embodiment, removing noise from one or more thermal images may include down-sampling the thermal images and then up-sampling the images back to the original resolution. 
     In another embodiment, processed thermal images may be derived by actively blurring thermal images. For example, optical elements  4004   b  may be configured to slightly de-focus one or more thermal images captured by infrared imaging module  4002   b . The resulting intentionally blurred thermal images may be sufficiently de-noised or blurred so as to reduce or eliminate a risk of introducing double edges into combined images, as further described below. In other embodiments, blurring or smoothing image processing operations may be performed by processor  4010  on thermal images received at block  4230  as an alternative or supplement to using optical elements  4004   b  to actively blur infrared images. Resulting processed infrared images may be stored temporarily and/or may be further processed according to block  4236 . 
     At block  4236 , processor  4010  may blend high spatial frequency content with one or more thermal images. For example, the processor may be configured to blend high spatial frequency content derived in block  4232  with one or more thermal images, such as the processed thermal images provided in block  4234 . 
     In one embodiment, high spatial frequency content may be blended with thermal images by superimposing the high spatial frequency content onto the thermal images, where the high spatial frequency content replaces or overwrites those portions of the thermal images corresponding to where the high spatial frequency content exists. For example, the high spatial frequency content may include edges of objects depicted in images, but may not exist within the interior of such objects. In such embodiments, blended image data may simply include the high spatial frequency content, which may subsequently be encoded into one or more components of combined images, as described in block  4238 . 
     For example, a radiometric component of a thermal image may be a chrominance component of the thermal image, and the high spatial frequency content may be derived from the luminance and/or chrominance components of a visible spectrum image. In this embodiment, a combined image may include the radiometric component (e.g., the chrominance component of the thermal image) encoded into a chrominance component of the combined image and the high spatial frequency content directly encoded (e.g., as blended image data but with no thermal image contribution) into a luminance component of the combined image. By doing so, a radiometric calibration of the radiometric component of the thermal image may be retained. In similar embodiments, blended image data may include the high spatial frequency content added to a luminance component of the thermal images, and the resulting blended data encoded into a luminance component of resulting combined images. 
     In other embodiments, high spatial frequency content may be derived from one or more particular components of one or a series of non-thermal images and/or thermal images, and the high spatial frequency content may be encoded into corresponding one or more components of combined images. For example, the high spatial frequency content may be derived from a luminance component of a visible spectrum image, and the high spatial frequency content, which in this embodiment is all luminance image data, may be encoded into a luminance component of a combined image. 
     In another embodiment, high spatial frequency content may be blended with thermal images using a blending parameter and an arithmetic equation, such as the first and second blending equations, above. For example, in one embodiment, the high spatial frequency content may be derived from a luminance component of a visible spectrum image. In such an embodiment, the high spatial frequency content may be blended with a corresponding luminance component of a thermal image according to a blending parameter and the second blending equation to produce blended image data. The blended image data may be encoded into a luminance component of a combined image, for example, and the chrominance component of the thermal image may be encoded into the chrominance component of the combined image. In embodiments where the radiometric component of the infrared image is its chrominance component, the combined image may retain a radiometric calibration of the thermal image. In other embodiments, portions of the radiometric component may be blended with the high spatial frequency content and then encoded into a combined image. 
     More generally, the high spatial frequency content may be derived from one or more components of a thermal image and/or a non-thermal image. In such an embodiment, the high spatial frequency content may be blended with one or more components of the thermal image to produce blended image data (e.g., using a blending parameter and a blending equation), and a resulting combined image may include the blended image data encoded into corresponding one or more components of the combined image. In some embodiments, the one or more components of the blended data do not have to correspond to the eventual one or more components of the combined image (e.g., a color space/format conversion may be performed as part of an encoding process). 
     A blending parameter value may be selected by a user or may be automatically determined by the processor according to context or other data, for example, or according to an image enhancement level expected by a coupled monitoring system. In some embodiments, the blending parameter may be adjusted or refined using a control component (e.g., a switch, button, or touch screen) of system  4000 , for example, while a combined image is being displayed by display  4016 . In some embodiments, a blending parameter may be selected such that blended image data includes only thermal characteristics, or, alternatively, only non-thermal characteristics. A blending parameter may also be limited in range, for example, so as not to produce blended data that is out-of-bounds with respect to a dynamic range of a particular color space/format or a display. 
     In addition to or as an alternative to the processing described above, processing according to a high contrast mode may include one or more processing steps, ordering of processing steps, arithmetic combinations, and/or adjustments to blending parameters as disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/437,645 filed Apr. 2, 2012 which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. For example, the following equations may be used to determine the components Y, Cr and Cb for the combined image with the Y component from the high pass filtered visible spectrum image and the Cr and Cb components from the thermal image.
 
 hp _ y _ vis =highpass( y _ vis )
 
( y _ ir,cr _ ir,cb _ ir )=colored(lowpass( ir _signal_linear))
 
     which in another notation could be written as:
 
 hp   y     vis   =highpass( y   vis )
 
( v   ir   cr   ir   ,cb   ir )=colored (lowpass( ir   signal linear ))
 
     In the above equations, highpass(y_vis) may be high spatial frequency content derived from high pass filtering a luminance component of a visible spectrum image. Colored(lowpass(ir_signal_linear)) may be the resulting luminance and chrominance components of the thermal image after the thermal image is low pass filtered. In some embodiments, the thermal image may include a luminance component that is selected to be 0.5 times a maximum luminance (e.g., of a display and/or a processing step). In related embodiments, the radiometric component of the thermal image may be the chrominance component of the thermal image. In some embodiments, the y_ir component of the thermal image may be dropped and the components of the combined image may be (hp_y_vis, cr_ir, cb_ir), using the notation above. 
     In another embodiment, the following equations may be used to determine the components Y, Cr and Cb for a combined image with the Y component from the high pass filtered visible spectrum image and the Cr and Cb components from the thermal image.
 
comb_ y=y _ ir +alpha× hp _ y _ vis  
 
comb_ cr=cr _ ir  
 
comb_ cb=cb _ ir  
 
     which in another notation could be written as:
 
comb y   =y   ir +alpha* hp   y     vis    
 
comb cr   =cr   ir  
 
comb cb   =cb   ir  
 
     The variation of alpha thus gives the user an opportunity to decide how much contrast is needed in the combined image. With an alpha of close to zero, the thermal image alone will be shown, but with a very high alpha, very sharp contours can be seen in the combined image. Theoretically, alpha can be an infinitely large number, but in practice a limitation will probably be necessary, to limit the size of alpha that can be chosen to what will be convenient in the current application. In the above equations, alpha may correspond to a blending parameter ζ. 
     Once the high spatial frequency content is blended with one or more thermal images, processing may proceed to block  4238 , where blended data may be encoded into components of the combined images in order to form the combined images. 
     At block  4238 , processor  4010  may encode the blended data into one or more components of the combined images. For example, processor  4010  may be configured to encode blended data derived or produced in accordance with blocks  4235  and/or  4236  into a combined image that increases, refines, or otherwise enhances the information conveyed by either the thermal images or non-thermal images viewed by themselves. 
     In some embodiments, encoding blended image data into a component of a combined image may include additional image processing steps, for example, such as dynamic range adjustment, normalization, gain and offset operations, noise reduction, and color space conversions, for instance. 
     In addition, processor  4010  may be configured to encode other image data into combined images. For example, if blended image data is encoded into a luminance component of a combined image, a chrominance component of either a non-thermal image or a thermal image may be encoded into a chrominance component of a combined image. Selection of a source image may be made through user input, for example, or may be determined automatically based on context or other data. More generally, in some embodiments, a component of a combined image that is not encoded with blended data may be encoded with a corresponding component of a thermal image or a non-thermal image. By doing so, a radiometric calibration of a thermal image and/or a color space calibration of a visible spectrum image may be retained in the resulting combined image, for example. Such calibrated combined images may be used for enhanced thermal infrared imaging applications, particularly where constituent thermal images and non-thermal images of a scene are captured at different times and/or disparate ambient lighting levels. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 37 , a block diagram is illustrated of a compact imaging system  5300  adapted to image a scene in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. For example, system  5300  may include imaging modules  4002   a - c  (e.g., all of which may be implemented, for example, with any of the features of infrared imaging module  100 ) all physically coupled to common substrate  5310  and adapted to image a scene (e.g., scene  4030  in  FIG. 34 ) in a variety of spectrums. In some embodiments, processor  4010 , memory  4012 , communication module  4014 , and one or more other components  4018  may or may not be physically coupled to common substrate  5310 . 
     In the embodiment shown in  FIG. 37 , system  5300  includes dual module socket  5320  physically coupled to common substrate  5310  and adapted to receive two imaging modules  4002   a - b  and align them to each other. In some embodiments, dual module socket  5320  may include features similar to those found in socket  104  of  FIG. 3 . In further embodiments, dual module socket  5320  may include retainer springs, clips, or other physical restraint devices adapted to visibly indicate proper insertion of imaging modules through their physical arrangement or shape. In further embodiments, dual module socket  5320  may be adapted to provide one or more of tip, tilt, or rotational alignment of imaging modules  4002   a - b  that is greater (e.g., more aligned) than if the imaging modules are directly soldered to common substrate  5310  or if they are inserted into multiple single module sockets. Dual module socket  5320  may include common circuitry and/or common restrain devices used to service imaging modules  4002   a - b , thereby potentially reducing an overall size of system  5300  as compared to embodiments where imaging modules  4002   a - b  have individual sockets. Additionally, dual module socket  5320  may be adapted to reduce a parallax error between images captured by imaging modules  4002   a - b  by spacing the imaging modules closer together. 
     Also shown is single module socket  5324  receiving imaging module  4002   c  spaced from dual module socket  5320  and imaging modules  4002   a - b . Imaging module  4002   c  may be sensitive to a spectrum that is the same as, that overlaps, or is different from that sensed by either or both of imaging modules  4002   a - b , for example. In embodiments where imaging module  4002   c  is sensitive to a spectrum in common with either of imaging modules  4002   a - b , system  5300  may be adapted to capture additional images of a commonly viewed scene and image portions of the scene in stereo (e.g., 3D) in that spectrum. In such embodiments, the spatial distance between imaging module  4002   c  and either of imaging modules  4002   a - b  increases the acuity of the stereo imaging by increasing the parallax error. In some embodiments, system  5300  may be configured to generate combined images including stereo imaging characteristics of a commonly-viewed scene derived from one or more images captured by imaging modules  4002   a - c . In other embodiments, stereo imaging may be used to determine distances to objects in a scene, to determine autofocus parameters, to perform a range calculation, to automatically adjust for parallax error, to generate images of range-specific atmospheric adsorption of infrared and/or other spectrums in a scene, and/or for other stereo-imaging features. 
     In embodiments where imaging module  4002   c  is sensitive to a spectrum outside that sensed by imaging modules  4002   a - b , system  5300  may be configured to generate combined images including characteristics of a scene derived from three different spectral views of the scene. In such embodiments, highly accurate facial recognition operations may be performed using multi-spectrum images or combined images of a human face. 
     Although system  5300  is depicted with dual module socket  5320  separate from single module socket  5324 , in other embodiments, system  5300  may include a triple (or higher order) module socket adapted to receive three or more imaging modules. Moreover, where planar compactness is desired, adjacent modules may be arranged in a multi-level staggered arrangement such that their optical axes are placed closer together than their planar area would normally allow. For example, dual module socket  5320  may be adapted to receive visible spectrum imaging module  4002   a  on a higher (e.g., up out of the page of  FIG. 37 ) level than infrared imaging modules  4002   b  and overlap non-optically sensitive areas of infrared imaging module  4002   b.    
     Additionally shown in  FIG. 37  is illuminator socket  5322  receiving illuminator module/vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL)  5330 . System  5300  may be configured to use VCSEL  5330  to illuminate at least portions of a scene in a spectrum sensed by one or more of imaging modules  4002   a - c . In some embodiments, VCSEL  5330  may be selectively tunable and/or directionally aimed by coupled microelectromechanical lenses and other systems controlled by one or more of processor  4010  and imaging modules  4002   a - c . Illuminator socket  5322  may be implemented to have the same or similar construction as single module socket  5324 , for example, or may be implemented as a multi-module socket. In some embodiments, a thermal image may be used to detect a “hot” spot in an image, such as an image of a breaker box. An illuminator module may be used to illuminate a label of a breaker to potentially pin point the cause of the hot spot. In other embodiments, an illuminator module may facilitate long range license plate imaging, particularly when the illuminator is relatively collimated laser light source. In some embodiments, stereo imaging may be used to determine aiming points for VCSEL  5330 . 
     In some embodiments, any one of processor  4010  and imaging modules  4002   a - c  may be configured to receive user input (e.g., from one or more of other components  4018 , a touch sensitive display coupled to system  5300 , and/or any of the various user input devices discussed herein) indicating a portion of interest imaged by a first imaging module (e.g., infrared imaging module  4002   b ), control the illumination module (e.g., VCSEL  5330 ) to illuminate at least the portion-of-interest in a spectrum sensed by a second imaging module (e.g., visible spectrum imaging module  4002   a ), receive illuminated captured images of the portion-of-interest from the second imaging module, and generate a combined image comprising illuminated characteristics of the scene derived from the illuminated captured images. 
       FIG. 38  illustrates a block diagram of a mounting system  5400  for imaging modules adapted to image a scene in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. For example, imaging modules  4002   a - b  may be implemented with a common housing  5440  (e.g., similar to housing  120  in  FIG. 3 , in some embodiments) to make their placement on substrate  5310  more compact and/or more aligned. As shown in  FIG. 38 , system  5400  may include common housing socket  5420 , processing modules  5404   a - b , sensor assemblies  5405   a - b , FPAs  5406   a - b , common housing  5440 , and lens barrels  5408   a - b  (e.g., similar to lens barrel  110  in  FIG. 3 ). Common housing  5440  may be used to further align, for example, components of imaging modules  4002   a - b  with their optical axes, rather than individual imaging modules. In the embodiment shown in  FIG. 38 , the imaging modules may retain separate optics (e.g., lens barrel  120  and optical elements  180  in  FIG. 3 ) but be placed close together to minimize parallax error. In other embodiments, common housing  5440  may be placed over entire imaging modules  4002   a - b  (e.g., that retain their own individual housings), and may be part of a housing for a portable host device, for example. 
       FIG. 39  illustrates a block diagram of an arrangement  5600  of imaging modules adapted to image a scene in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. For example, in  FIG. 39 , at least portions of two imaging modules  4002   a - b  may be arranged in a staggered arrangement, where portions of sensor assembly  5605   b  of imaging module  4002   b  (e.g., potentially including FPA  5606   b ) overlap portions of sensor assembly  5605   a  of imaging module  4002   a  (e.g., but not overlap any portion of FPA  5606   a ). 
     In some embodiments, imaging modules  4002   a - b  may be implemented with a common processing module/circuit board  5604  (e.g., similar to processing module  160  and circuit board  170  in  FIG. 3 , in some embodiments). Common processing module/circuit board  5604  may be implemented as any appropriate processing device (e.g., logic device, microcontroller, processor, ASIC, a digital signal processor (DSP), an image signal processor (ISP), or other device, including multi-channel implementations of the above) able to execute instructions and/or perform image processing operations as described herein. In some embodiments, common processing module/circuit board  5604  may be adapted to use the MIPI® standard, for example, and/or to store visible spectrum and infrared images to a common data file using a common data format, as described herein. In further embodiments, processor  4010  may be implemented as a common processing module. 
       FIG. 40  illustrates an embodiment for device  10000  including device  1250  and a releasably attached device component such as device attachment  10100  (identified only for purposes of example; any of device attachments  1200 ,  1201 ,  1203 ,  2000 , or others described herein may be used interchangeably in any of the embodiments described herein where appropriate) that may be used when it is desired to capture and combine non-thermal and/or thermal images. Furthermore, other arrangements of device  10000  are contemplated, such as those illustrated in  FIGS. 25-26 , but with the addition of supplementary components  10110  integrated with device attachment  10100 . 
     Many of the components referenced in  FIG. 40  are discussed and may be implemented similarly to those referred to in  FIG. 24 . In addition, as shown in  FIG. 40 , device attachment  10100  may include one or more supplementary components  10110 . Supplementary components  10110  may include a variety of other types of sensors, such as ambient temperature sensors, ambient humidity sensors, contact patch moisture sensors, pin-type moisture sensors, laser range finders, active illuminators (e.g., visible spectrum, near infrared, far infrared, and/or multi-spectral illuminators, implemented with LEDs, diode lasers, VCSELs, and/or other components and/or devices), associated cabling, internal and/or external wired and/or wireless interfaces, and/or other types of sensors configured to supplement the functionality of device attachment  10100 . Examples of such supplementary components and sensors are provided in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/841,036 filed Aug. 20, 2007 and entitled “MOISTURE METER WITH NON-CONTACT INFRARED THERMOMETER,” and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/938,388 filed Feb. 11, 2014 and entitled “MEASUREMENT DEVICE WITH THERMAL IMAGING CAPABILITIES AND RELATED METHODS,” which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. 
     For example, device attachment  10100  may be adapted to provide functionality beneficial to the typical use of a ventilation system inspector, which in some embodiments could include the functionality of an ambient humidity sensor and/or a contact patch and/or pin-type moisture sensor to detect moisture leaks within insulation of a ventilation system. In one embodiment, a user (e.g., a ventilation inspector specialist) could use device attachment  10100  with device  1250  to provide a compact handheld device that may be configured to detect thermal anomalies with infrared imaging module  1202  (e.g., as augmented by visible spectrum image data provided by non-thermal camera module  6002 ), detect ambient humidity anomalies with an ambient humidity sensor integrated with supplementary components  10110 , and/or to detect moisture levels within insulation, drywall, and/or other material located at or near the temperature and/or ambient humidity anomalies with a wired, wireless, and/or integrated moisture sensor associated and/or integrated with supplementary components  10110 . In other embodiments, other ventilation and/or environmental sensors may be wirelessly associated and/or integrated with supplementary components  10110 . In various embodiments, device  1250  and/or device attachment  10100  may include other components, such as a GPS or other type of geo-spatial location sensors and/or orientation sensors, for example, such that device  10000  may be configured to link imaging data and supplementary sensor data to a particular location and/or orientation of device  10000 . 
     In another example, device attachment  10100  may be adapted to provide functionality beneficial to the typical use of an electrical and/or electronics inspector, which in some embodiments could include the functionality of a digital oscilloscope, a voltage meter, current meter, Ohm meter (e.g., collectively a digital multi-meter), a spectrum analyzer, a variable band antenna, and/or other types of electronic or electrical systems sensor. In one embodiment, a user (e.g., an electrical or electronic systems inspector specialist) could use device attachment  10100  with device  1250  to provide a compact handheld device that may be configured to detect thermal anomalies with infrared imaging module  1202  (e.g., as augmented by visible spectrum image data provided by non-thermal camera module  6002 ), detect voltages, currents, signal transients, and/or other types of electrical and/or electronic anomalies in a device&#39;s electronic system or a building&#39;s electrical system with corresponding sensors associated and/or integrated with supplementary components  10110 . In other embodiments, other electrical, electronic, and/or other physical parameter sensors may be wirelessly associated and/or integrated with supplementary components  10110 . In various embodiments, device  1250  and/or device attachment  10100  may include geo-spatial location and/or orientation sensors, for example, such that device  10000  may be configured to link imaging data and supplementary sensor data to a particular location and/or orientation of device  10000 . 
     As described herein, processing of the image, sensor, or other types of data provided by the various components illustrated in  FIG. 40  may be performed by device processor  6102  and/or a device processor integrated with device attachment  10100 , and/or a remote processor in communication with device  10000 . In some embodiments, operation of a particular selection of supplementary components  10110  may be facilitated by an application executed by device processor  6102 , for example, and displayed to a user using a display of device  1250 . In further embodiments, device attachment  10100  may include one or more displays or indicators separate from a display of device  1250 , for example, to supplement a display of device  1250  with data and/or other types of information or alerts associated with supplementary components  10110 . In one embodiment, device  1250  may be implemented as a smart phone and be configured to execute an application downloaded from a server or from device attachment  10100  that facilitates use of non-thermal camera module  6002 , infrared imaging module  1202 , and/or supplementary components  10110 , along with other functionality integrated with smart phone  1250  (e.g., network access, wireless interfaces, microphone, speaker, vibration actuator, accelerometer, gyroscope, user interfaces, random number generators, security devices, and/or other functionality integrated with a smart phone. 
     Where applicable, various embodiments provided by the present disclosure can be implemented using hardware, software, or combinations of hardware and software. Also where applicable, the various hardware components and/or software components set forth herein can be combined into composite components comprising software, hardware, and/or both without departing from the spirit of the present disclosure. Where applicable, the various hardware components and/or software components set forth herein can be separated into sub-components comprising software, hardware, or both without departing from the spirit of the present disclosure. In addition, where applicable, it is contemplated that software components can be implemented as hardware components, and vice-versa. 
     Software in accordance with the present disclosure, such as non-transitory instructions, program code, and/or data, can be stored on one or more non-transitory machine readable mediums. It is also contemplated that software identified herein can be implemented using one or more general purpose or specific purpose computers and/or computer systems, networked and/or otherwise. Where applicable, the ordering of various steps described herein can be changed, combined into composite steps, and/or separated into sub-steps to provide features described herein. 
     Embodiments described above illustrate but do not limit the invention. It should also be understood that numerous modifications and variations are possible in accordance with the principles of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is defined only by the following claims.