Patent ID: 7477309

Claim:
An infrared camera system comprising: an infrared illumination source operable to transmit infrared optical energy in the direction of a subject when an ambient infrared light level is determined to be insufficient; a lens configured to collect optical energy conveyed from the subject; a filter providing a plurality of pass bands associated with different center wavelengths within an infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, said filter being operable to pass filter optical energy collected by said lens in accordance with any selected one of its plurality of pass bands; an optical detector operable to generate an electrical signal representing an image of the subject in response to optical energy collected by said lens, pass filtered by said filter in accordance with a desired pass band selectable from among the plurality of pass bands, and subsequently incident on said optical detector; a control device operable to select the desired pass band from among the plurality of pass bands provided by said filter, wherein said control device comprises a microprocessor and wherein said microprocessor selects the desired pass band based on at least one of an ambient visible light level and an ambient infrared light level; a visible light sensor operable to measure the ambient visible light level; and an infrared light sensor operable to measure the ambient infrared light level; wherein said infrared illumination source is operated to transmit infrared optical energy in the direction of the subject when the ambient infrared light level measured by said infrared light sensor is determined by said microprocessor to be insufficient.